Dairy future may be Gyr

It was a photo and an article on the Indian breed, the Gyr.

"It showed an interesting looking cow with a hump, long ears and large udder that had just broken the world record for milk production having done 100 litres in one day," Ms Barry said.

"After doing more research on the breed, I decided to give it a try and ordered some straws to put into our Friesian and crossbred cows.

"I've since purchased pure Gyr stock from NSW and Queensland and continue to use Gyr semen in my crossbreds and Friesians every year.'

That's led to a current herd of 30 pure and part-bred Gyr cattle.

"My aim, in the beginning, was to create a cow to cope with climate variability, something that was feed efficient and potentially would work in a herd in Queensland."

After running a 600 cow high input conventional operation for many years, about three years ago Carlie and husband Owen switched to a less intensive, lower cost but more profitable and sustainable organic operation.

"We were looking to breed a cow that would do well in this system," she said.

"I am also looking to expand into a small scale on-farm milk processing and having a unique niche, in this case organic Jersey and Gyr milk, to give us a point of difference over other products currently on the market."

A former Fonterra area manager, past President of the Victorian Young Farmers, Ms Barry also stood for a Dairy Australia board position last year.

The Barrys run the Woolvie Jerseys and Milking Gyr organic operation in the Camperdown region.

They have 400 hectares of leased and purchased land, having started as share farmers with 200 cows in 2010.

They are currently milking a 250-strong herd.

"We've recently downscaled to one farm for efficiency and work/life balance allowing us to focus on some off-farm projects,"

These include expanding the beef and contracting side of the business, commercial fodder growing and operating a paddock to plate beef enterprise with dairy cross beef stock.

It has taken a little longer to reach the goal of milking the Gyrs, but Ms Barry said she was finding a way around the challenges that had presented themselves.

"I guess I went into it with a bit naively, in the beginning, because I probably thought it would be easy and I would be able to run them with the Jerseys.

"The first cross Gyrs are half Friesian anyway, so I thought they were going to be easy to milk, but we have had challenges around their temperament in the dairy."

The Gyrs preferred a "one-on-one approach.

"They are a breed that thrives of human interaction; they are originally from India, where they are designed to live with a family.

"It's more like milking camels, than milking Jerseys."

She said she intended to set up a small milking shed on the home farm and run the Gyrs through a race rather than the herringbone system.

"The other thing I found was the higher the percentage of Gyr blood, the quieter they are."

She said she would continue to bring the herd back to a pure Gyr bloodline.

The Gyrs had adapted to the climate and conditions around Camperdown.

"It's best to bring them down this time of year; then they have all of late spring, summer and autumn to adapt.

"They are bred to live off sticks and leaves, they are really feed efficient."

But she found pure newborn calves didn't handle the cold that easily, "unlike a Jersey calf that can be born in the middle of winter, and just run off."

She said she was now thinking about also breeding the animals for warmer climates.

She said there was growing demand from farms in the Middle East and Thailand.

'I feel there is a lot of potential, down the track, to introduce some genetics into those operations, down the track, its a matter of fine-tuning and getting the perfect milking animal.

'In Brazil, they have fine-tuned that perfect milking animal, but we can't import any of those genetics to Australia.

"It would be a lot easier if I could import those genetics direct from Brazil, but I can't do that, so I have to start from scratch."

"A lot of the animals I have bought from Queensland and NSW trace back to imports from India in the 1960's."

Ms Barry said she believed she and Owen were the only dairy farmers running Gyrs for milking in Australia.

"I've always like to try something a bit different, and it keeps us interested in dairy farming as well.

"The work-life balance can be a challenge, but if you have some passion, if you like breeding, it keeps you interested in it.

"It's important to be passionate about it, you need to be if you are getting up early every day."