Mentors paved a career path, but it wasn’t a straight line

“He was one of the most approachable people in the community for people who had come in from outside, and also the most generous with his time.”

In December 2018, James left his job in field services to work alongside Andy on the Powell family farm at Cooriemungle.

Andy’s father Ross (Po) was stepping back and James came onboard as assistant manager with plans to eventually buy into the business.

The move was designed to help Andy maintain his interests off-farm while running the business and raising a family.

All that changed in April 2019 when Ross, 71, and Andy, 32, both experienced Port Campbell surf lifesavers, died while trying to rescue a tourist washed out to sea near the Twelve Apostles.

Family, friends and the community were devastated, but the cows still needed to be milked and James was there to help out.

“It was hard, but at the same time, the family wanted it to continue as a dairy farm, and I didn’t want to let them down,” he said.

James stayed on to support Ross’s widow Val and Andy’s widow Amber during the transition and took over as farm manager under new owners in October 2019.

“Andy was a really close mate and both he and Po meant a lot to a lot of people,” he said.

“Those first 12 months were really hard. There were little daily reminders all over the farm.

“They wrote their names in nearly every bit of concrete they poured.

“I’d get frustrated and stressed with every problem because you’d know that wouldn’t happen if they were here. They had 70 years’ knowledge of the farm and knew it intimately.

“It was a difficult, challenging time, but I’ll never forget them.”

Fulfilling the family’s wishes for the land to continue as a dairy farm, new private investor owners took over in October 2019 and established the corporate-run Cooriemungle Operations.

The corporate entity also runs other dairy farms, sheep and cropping farms and horticulture.

Dairy destiny

James had been destined for a career in dairy — though getting there was a roundabout journey.

Raised on a dairy farm at Cohuna, after completing a Bachelor of Ag Science at the University of Melbourne, James tried working in a few different industries, but eventually found out he really enjoyed dairy farming.

“I went full circle back to it,” he said.

Apart from Ross and Andy, he had many good mentors along the way, including Shawn and Tracey Hollingsworth at Kerang and Pat and Michelle Quinn in northern Victoria.

In 2010, he moved to the south-west to take on a management role with a corporate farm.

His now wife Penny’s family was from the region, and his sister Erin Gardiner was a local vet now married to a dairy farmer.

“I found it totally different and very challenging,” James said.

“I didn’t value the network I had in northern Victoria until I didn’t have it. Up there I knew who to call to fix anything, but I had to rebuild that network all over again.”

He also found that dairy farming wasn’t necessarily the same in different locations.

“Coming from northern Victoria to here — it’s the same product in the vat, but getting it there was so different.

“I was managing perennial ryegrasses instead of annuals. I came from a PMR or TMR system to a perennial ryegrass system which I hadn’t had any experience with.

“There were different ways to manage tracks, different little strategies to avoid having lame cows and get the right outcomes.”

The Port Campbell Dairy Discussion Group was a lifeline.

“It was the first place I got to meet people outside of shops,” James said.

It was also where he got to meet Andy, who was later recruited by James’s school teacher wife Penny to contribute to the Timboon P-12 agriculture program.

Farm growth

The farm has grown under the new owners; the herd is up from 480 to 650 and a new 60-unit rotary dairy was commissioned in June 2023.

Two neighbouring farms were purchased, bringing it to about 550 hectares.

“We’re working towards better utilisation of the land and hope to expand further in the future,” James said.

A new feedpad is being built — which James describes as logical for a herd this size — and a clear-roof shelter is on the agenda.

The owners have sights set on milking 1000 cows.

“At the moment we have a one-herd system, but with future growth, we will probably have to look at a split herd,” James said.

“I’m trying to avoid that because it creates more work, but eventually, we will need to.”

In September 2022, James took over management of the entity’s Eastern Creek Road farm, which has a similar 60-unit rotary dairy and milks nearly 500 cows.

The two farms have a combined staff of eight, no longer relying on backpackers for help.

“We’ve had good backpackers, but also some bad experiences, so I’d rather have a good local team and do it ourselves,” James said.

“We have a really good system in place and our team concentrates on feeding, milking and caring for the animals, and we have a good network of contractors.”

They share milking duties in the automated one-person dairy, with staff only milking about five times a week.

James usually milks once a week to keep an eye on the cows.

“We work on people’s strengths to make it an enjoyable workplace,” he said.

Staff have recently undergone calf rearing training to ensure everyone operates the same way.

“Everyone is on board with feeding colostrum within the right timeframe for it to be effective and we’re seeing great results,” James said.

The farm has split calving, but if it reverted to a seasonal system, they would look at introducing a three in two days milking program.

James now takes a bigger picture overview of the farm, though he still likes to work with the cows.

“I like to have happy, relaxed animals with lots of grass,” he said.

“Managing is challenging mentally, and it’s exciting when you get good results.”

The farm has been progressing well, but like all businesses in south-west Victoria, has suffered due to the drought.

“We had been going well until recently,” James said.

“We rely on surface water run-off for our stock and dairy water and we’ve had none since winter 2023.

“We’re being very careful with what we have with both feed and water and asking favours from neighbours with water.

“We were very lucky we had a fantastic silage season last year, but the real risk for us is water.

The farm very recently expanded the milking platform by an additional 80ha, which has been a lifeline in the current challenging conditions.

“The farm is lightly stocked, which puts us in a good position for getting through this year,” James said.