For Ryan and Abby Moseby, converting his family’s sheep and beef farm to dairy 10 years ago was quite simply a matter of needs must if the farm was to remain viable for future generations.
The couple milk 750 crossbred dairy cows on Kanadale Farm located near Mataura. The farm has been in the family since 1874 and Ryan and Abby are the fifth generation to farm it.
They couple own 465ha and lease a further 95ha.
"[It’s] not all effective. We have planted all of our gullies and unproductive land into trees in recent years, so around 60ha is now planted in a mix of pines and riparian," Ryan said.
The farm runs from flat to steeper country and a small to medium-sized cow is best suited to their country.
The couple were nominated for Year of the Farmer for their standout result as the supreme winners of the Ballance Farm Environment Awards in 2018 and for the hard work they have put into the conversion of Kanadale in order to future-proof it for the generations to come.
For a time in the early 1900s, Kanadale was run as a dairy farm, but it has otherwise operated as a sheep and beef farm.
"It could run at best around 4300 stock units as a sheep and beef operation. So, it was going to be pretty tricky to go forward with that and try and sustain both Abby and I, and my parents," Ryan said.
The couple both come from a rural banking background and understood the realities of sheep and beef farming at that scale, and were also fortunate to have a strong base of understanding around the financial workings of the dairying model.
"We didn’t see any point in muddling around with sheep at our scale."
They set out to convert the farm in 2013 and enlisted the help of many experts to ensure the conversion was done once and done right.
The learning curve of the past 10 years has been "massive".
"It’s all been a massive challenge. I had no dairying experience. I didn’t even know how to turn the milking shed on when we first started," he said, laughing.
Animal health has been a big area to ensure peak production and the couple credit their vet Claire Hunter for her solid advice.
"It didn’t matter how stupid or simple my question was, we would have a chat over the phone about things and then a couple of days later Iwould get a follow-up email with further considerations.
"I have probably chewed the ear off a few people over the years — we were in a sink-or-swim situation. We were establishing a business in a new industry during a challenging financial climate with next-to-no experience. Getting accurate advice was crucial to ensuring success," Ryan said.
The first two seasons the couple began milking was when the payout dropped to $4.40 per kilogram of milk solids and the following year was $3.90. This season’s recent payout drops has the couple reflecting on those tough start-out years.
"They taught us some good lessons early on and set us up with some good on-farm spending habits. You learn very quickly how to milk cows efficiently when you are in survival mode."
The couple run a fully self-contained business with a low-input pasture-based system. All of the stock are wintered on the property and the neighbouring lease block and supplementary baleage and silage is made on the property.
In recent years the couple have purchased three neighbouring blocks.
"That growth wouldn’t have happened if we had stayed farming sheep," he said.
Entering competitions such as the Ballance Awards was a way for the couple to seek out good, independent advice that was free.
"It wasn’t really our thing, but after being hassled for a couple of years to enter we thought ‘Bugger it, it’s a good opportunity to get a different set of eyes to look over what we’re doing and see if we could make any tweaks’."
Taking out the supreme title was a "big surprise".
Working to a budget has been key and employing a "law of averages" mindset when making major financial decisions.
"We are the fifth generation and everything we do is with a long-term view for the generations to come, not just for the next five minutes," Ryan said.
— Alice Scott
