More than Milk

🐮 NEW EPISODE MONDAY 🐮 Andrea Vallance started with no bad habits (aka very minimal dairy experience) but alongside a love of learning, a desire to share it forward and an unwavering passion for her community she has had an incredible career in dairy!! You won’t want to miss it 🎧 Available Spotify & Apple, or anywhere you get your podcasts or use the direct link you can find in the bio.

Jess and the whole team at Cherrylock are in full swing preparing for @idwaustralia Are you in full preparation mode ? Or just going along to watch ??? Let me know 👇🏼 Catch up on Episode 65, and hear all about how Jess prepares for International Dairy Week as well as some of her favourite show cows!!

2024: What a year!! It’s been one of the toughest years physically, mentally, and emotionally, but also one of the most rewarding, heartwarming, and uplifting! I was incredibly lucky to travel and attend some amazing events, including the YDN Study Tour in NZ with @demodairy.foundation, the @australiandairyconference, @thrivingwomen2024 Conference, @dairynsw YDN Conference, @dairyfarmersvictoria Conference, @nswwomenindairy Bale Up Conference, and the SA Innovation Day. And of course, I had the pleasure of taking the 3rd year of @creamofthecrop_au to Northern Victoria! I also spent some time with @australiandairy as part of their Farmer Ambassador Training, and had so many opportunities to speak at conferences, meetings, podcasts and a variety of events throughout the year. On a personal note, I took quite a few weeks off the farm to recover from a full ACL replacement and meniscus repairs. It was a big recovery, but it gave me the chance to dive even deeper into the industry, build connections, organise plenty of events, and work with some incredible people. The podcast has gone from strength to strength! While I didn’t get as many episodes out as I’d hoped, we’ve had so many inspiring, honest, funny, and heartfelt conversations. I’m thrilled to have reached over 50,000 downloads this year! Thank you to everyone who’s shared their story with me, and to all of you who listen, support, and encourage me to keep following my dreams. As for the farm, it’s been a challenging year with limited grass growth and drought conditions, but we’re so proud of how the cows have handled it. They’ve maintained great condition and are still producing heaps of quality milk! Thank you, 2024, for the lessons, the challenges, and the wins 🐮

Coming into December I knew my calendar was almost fully booked with end of year commitments for us, the kids, the farm and life. We’ve prioritised family time with a heap of Christmas celebrations, but still have been busy on farm - We’re drying off the cows, with selective dry cow treatment and everyone getting teat seal - Quarterly herd test to help make decisions about drying cows off early or selling them - Feeding, Feeding, Feeding !!! Although we are still moving the cows around the farm there isn’t any grass left so we’re supplementing with silage & almonds The last six months (it’s probably more like this whole year realistically) I’ve juggled my way through, getting one task ticked off the list whilst seemingly adding more and more balls into the air… I knew it was unsustainable but yet continued to push through. It’s one of my worst traits to be honest, knowing what I should do and yet continuing to do the complete opposite. I was already exhausted; physically, emotionally and mentally and add that to a full calendar and plenty of big things happening behind the scenes I knew I needed to drop some balls. Unfortunately the podcast had to be one of them… placed gently onto the ground, no cracks, dints or broken bits, but simply ready to be picked up again when the time was right. As December comes to a close I’m grateful for the break! The podcast whilst is something I LOVE doing, really is just an expensive hobby. Don’t stress I’m not stopping anytime soon but I need to make it manageable and sustainable for me & my family. Stay tuned for my yearly recap - it’s been a HUGE one 🐮

November saw us finish silage harvest and start to feed plenty of it 🌱 - although there wasn’t as much silage harvested as we would have hoped, the quality was brilliant so that’s a win!! - we love using small squares for the calves so we’ve baled enough hay to fill the shed and clean up some paddocks - grass growth has really dropped off so feeding has once again began with the diets including almond hulls and silage - summer crops have really started for grow and we’re continuing to monitor the summer crops for bugs - we’ve had some hectic storms and were lucky enough to get over 30mm of rain over the weekend which will be too late for the grass growth but will help the summer crops 💪🏼 - the rush towards the end of year is in full swing with plenty of commitments for my wider industry roles and with the kids! Shared some incredible stories on the podcast 🐮 Celina Pellett 🐮 Julie Moore

October was all about the cows enjoying the last of the quality grass! - We’ve been balancing grazing grass and cutting silage with excess grass going into bales whilst trying to maintain plenty of milk in the vat - 2 paddocks of summer crops are in, but with the lack of rain across the month germination has been very slow 🤞🏼 for decent rain to get it booming - We entered the On Farm Challenge for the Southwest Victorian Jersey Breeders Club & we’re very happy with the continuing improvement of our herd - I spent a wonderful few days in Gippsland preparing for @creamofthecrop_au 2025 🫶 - Spent time advocating for and representing farmers having the opportunity to meet plenty of new people, share stories and learn plenty of new things! Shared incredible stories on the podcast 🐮 Daniel Bacon 🐮 Nick Hutchinson

Maybe you’ve heard of an On Farm Challenge but wondered what it actually means?!?! For animals that are registered or are eligible to be registered with Breed Society’s, the On Farm Challenge provide an opportunity for breeders to showcase their best cows in their working environment, assessing the structural correctness without the need to groom, lead or attend a show allowing for an even playing field for all breeders to be judged. Daniel Bacon was the 2024 Judge of the Southwest Jersey Breeders Challenge with winners progressing to the Great Southern Awards with @jerseyaustralia But if you love cows, want to learn more about cows and are interested in taking part in an on farm challenge, get in touch with and join your local Cattle Breed Society!

Designed to inspire and support young farmers to take the next step in their careers @proudtobeadairyfarmer_aus provides an opportunity to experience farm visits, tour processing sites and gain valuable insights from multiple industry experts and guest speakers over three days in Melbourne and Gippsland. If you are a young person working in dairy, aged between 20-35 based anywhere in Australia, apply now for an incredible experience fully funded thanks to @fonterra.au and @gardinerdairy 🐮 Applications close on 6 November so be quick!

Life in September 🌱 - We took advantage of the recent window of beautiful weather and baled our first round of silage, although it wasn’t as much quantity as we would like the quality was 👌🏼 - We are still closely monitoring grass growth and are always prioritising feeding cows first but hope to cut more excess grass in the coming days and weeks - I attended the @nswwomenindairy Bale Up conference with incredible opportunity to learn, network and experience the sights and big city lights of Sydney - Spent time sharing my passion for dairy at a local primary school and for storytelling in dairy at @sgdairyexpo - Enjoyed plenty of family time with school holidays, with everything from farm work to Mario party and the occasional sleep in - Shared incredible chats with 🐮 Nick Mignanelli 🐮 Jess Gavenlock 🐮 Vic Mulcahy

Need some motivation to start a new week?!? Take Nicks advice - Make some decisions, don’t ruminate on it & send it!!

It’s a couple days late but August was all about GRASS - We’re finally grazing grass, but we’re still monitoring the growth closely - Spent plenty of time planning for ‘what if’s’ creating feed budgets and planning summer crops and silage - I attended @thrivingwomen2024 which is one of my favourite events of the year, taking the opportunity to visit some incredible dairy businesses in SA - We battled some crazy weather with sideways rain, hail and winds but luckily only had minimal damage - Shared incredible chats with 🐮 Emma Poole 🐮 Sally Bethune

Ever wondered how @bethunelanedairy Belgian Chocolate + Milk is made ?? In Episode 63, Sally shares just how they make their signature Belgian Chocolate + Milk as well as why and how they’ve created the value add business. Available on @spotifyaunz, @applepodcasts and anywhere you get your podcasts!