Day 3

We started out our third day in Australia in the small town of Warrnambool. Some of the students took advantage of a nearby McDonald’s to get some breakfast before we started off on our adventure for the day. Our first stop was at the Midfield Group, where we met with Dean, the General Manager of the organization. He briefed us on the company and told us about the different types of products that they export to different countries around the world for different purposes. They have dairy and beef operations, and they take sheep for slaughter. They export these products not only to the United States, but also around the world. It was interesting to compare the size of their company and how they got started and comparing it to different American companies. Dean emphasized on the issue with animal welfare and how they try to make their company as transparent as possible, having cameras installed all throughout the floors of their farms and in their business areas. Instead of covering up the issue of animal issue, they set the standard for it and show their customers that they are treating the animals with due care. He also discussed the difference of employment opportunities available at their company. In their region, their unemployment rate is around 3%, so they take as many employees as they can get, paying them very well compared to United States companies.

We then traveled a few miles out of town to visit one of Midfield Group’s dairy farms, which is currently milking 1,686 cows. Their goal for the end of the year is to be milking around 2,000 head. They have a rotary milking parlor, with 60 stalls within their parlor. The farm we visited was around 3 years old and has lots of pasture space for the cows to walk on. The dairy farm manger, Alex, took us on a tour of their operation and showed us their pasture space and says their cows walk an average of 3 kilometers which is about 1.8 miles in a day. They have other farms owned by the Midfield Group that cows can walk up to 10 kilometers a day. We also got a chance to see their Total Mixed Ration mix, which uses bread and fodder beets. They used to include the full beets, but it took the cows a while to consume the beets, so they now use a chipper to break them into parts. After we finished at the dairy farm, we loaded back into the bus to go to Hamilton, where we ate lunch at a café.

Our final stop of the day was at the farm of Michael and Kathy Blake, Bally Glunin Park. Michael had tons of information to share with us and gave us fun facts about his sheep and beef operation that they run. He had a lot to say about farm safety and biosecurity, and some of the new policies that could affect the industry. He was involved in a lot of different studies that lasted up to 20 years that have made an impact on the Australian sheep industry. 

They have around 8,000 Merino sheep, and 250 head beef. He then showed us the shearing set-up they have, and how they skirt their wool. They have an entire shed that is set up just for shearing the sheep. They have accommodations for the shearers, such as bathrooms and a kitchen, which a lot of people don’t have for their shearers. After we finished at their sheep operation, we headed back into Hamilton, where we went into town for supper by ourselves and enjoyed a night of sleep for another busy day tomorrow.

Caleb, Callie and Sarah