The Dee family farm at Macorna under water last October.
It might have been just over 12 months since floods crippled the region but the memory and the cost still lingers in the front of many farmers’ minds.
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For Macorna dairy farmers Adrian, Col, Adam, Mark and Mandy Dee, the sight of water sitting across 90 per cent of their 1130ha dairy farm is something they never thought they would ever see, nor did they think 12 months later they would still be feeling the effects.
The October 2022 floods wiped out 100 per cent of the business’ hay and silage at an estimated cost of $750,000.
“The wet conditions leading up to the flood meant we were unable to get any silage off so it was a 100 per cent loss for us and it was pretty devastating,” Adam said.
They did have a small amount of quality silage from the previous season left over but the family had to pivot and source whatever hay and silage they could find.
“There was not a lot of quality of hay around and we really had a lot of trouble finding anything that was quality,” Adam said.
Because the floodwater sat in some spots for up to six weeks, it killed the seed bed and impacted on soil fertility which also impacted on their ability to recover post-flood.
“Our young stock were solely dependent on hay this year and they didn’t do as well as they normally would,” Adam said.
“We have noticed the heifers are calving in smaller and lighter than where we would like and that obviously affects their production and health and we are still playing catch up there.”
The floodwater also brought with it a heap of weed seeds, mainly Bathurst burrs, which covered the farm as far as they eye could see.
The October 2022 floods wiped out the Dee family’s silage and hay.
“We had never seen anything like it ever before. We were just covered in burrs and we basically had to spray everything,” Adam said.
The weed burden was too much for a motorbike and spray unit and waiting for a contractor only exacerbated the problem.
“In the end we decided to buy our own spray rig,” Adam said.
“We made the decision to never have to go through waiting for a spray contractor ever again and it is good to know we can spray whenever we need to.”
In autumn, to mitigate some of the flood damage, the family tried growing some silage but again they found the quality wasn’t that great.
This season however it is a different story.
“We already have some vetch and hay silage in the pit and this week’s 40mm rain will push back our silage harvest a bit time-wise but it certainly won’t hurt the paddocks we have locked up for hay,” Adam said.
The Dee family are currently milking around 450 cows which will push up to 500 over summer.
In 2021 the family commissioned a Lely robotic compost barn and it has revolutionised the way they now manage their business.
Featuring eight Lely Astronaut A5 robotic milkers, the cows are averaging 2.8 milkings a day and producing around 40 litres with a 3.4 protein and 4.3 fat test.
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