WEBVTT

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Welcome to Therese Makes History, Season 1 The

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Dairy Lane Project. Season 1, Episode 8, Turner's

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Lane, The Walsh Family. This episode and Season

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1 has been supported by Turf Co. and McGoldrick's

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Real Estate. Gavin Rogers initiated and started

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Turf Co. 40 years ago. It's the biggest agricultural

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employer in our region. Tim's family have been

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operating their real estate business since 1987

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in Bury. They offer many lifestyle properties,

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beautiful homes and farms located in our region.

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And I'm really grateful to Tim for coming on

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board and supporting this great project. We're

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getting so much feedback and we're well over

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2 ,000 downloads. At episode 8, we might generate

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some more, let's hope. Today I'm in conversation

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with Colin Walsh, known as Cole or Walshy. He

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was born in Nowra in 1959. His family have been

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dairy farming in Turner's Lane since the late

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50s. Colin's father was Francis Peter Walsh,

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who was born in 1915 in Nowra. His mother was

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Jean Margaret Bryce. born in 1921 at Bury Hospital.

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Colin's paternal side dates back five generations,

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beginning in Cork, Ireland, where on the 29th

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of October, 1824, John Walsh, an Irish Catholic

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convict, was put on the ship Asia IV, allotted

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to labour for Alexander Bury. His father -in

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-law was Michael O'Meara. or O'Mara, another

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Irish Catholic convict who worked for Alexander

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Berry on his estate looking after cows on the

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meadow. Both worked for Berry for three years.

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John Walsh married Michael's daughter Catherine

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and they had three children and a baby when he

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died of an alcohol -related injury. His horse

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returned home without him after a visit to the

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tavern nearby at Jamboree. During this period

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working for Alexander Berry, the convicts complained

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of lack of food. Michael O'Mara, or O'Meara,

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was sent back to prison in Sydney. His daughter

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Catherine sought a priest in Sydney to negotiate

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his release back to Berry under her guardianship,

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which was arranged. John's son Peter Walsh was

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born in 1852 and married Julia O'Sullivan. from

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Albion Park, Gerringong Way. Peter is Colin's

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great -grandfather and he died in 1926. His son

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Thomas, Colin's grandfather, was born in 1885

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and he married Mary Stewart. The maternal side,

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the Bryce family, migrated from Scotland to the

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Illawarra in 1852. They were Presbyterians. William

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Bryce and his brother Alexander brought their

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new brides with assistance from their uncle Russell

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at Jamboree. Their sister Anne also came out

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settling in Tomarong. Colin's maternal grandfather

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was Edward James Bryce, born 1896 in Tomarong.

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He married Dolyce Dignam in 1922. She actually

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carried some Chinese heritage. in her genes.

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Known as Dolly, she passed away at age 39 in

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1935 with a fever from childbirth. He was left

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to raise four children, assisted by his elder

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daughter Jean, who was 15 years of age, Colin's

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mother. They were living at Far Meadow then.

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Edward remarried Nora Turner. Her full name was

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Hannah Nora Turner. who the children referred

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to as Aunty because she was a bit younger than

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Edward. I present to you Episode 8 in conversation

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with Colin Walsh. I hope you enjoy it. So, Col,

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thanks for coming in today and talking all things

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dairy with me for the podcast. You come from

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a generational family of dairy farmers. Who were

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the original family members that dairy farmed

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and where did they dairy farm? Well, my father

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was born up at Kangaroo River, up during Yonge

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Creek Road, like Kangaroo Valley. And he farmed

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there. He went to school up at Kangaroo River.

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And when he was 12, he left school because he

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was the eldest in the family of seven. Started

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on the farm when he was 12, chopping trees down

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and that sort of thing. So what was his full

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name? Francis Peter Walsh, known as Frank, of

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course. your parents let's just take that back

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a bit so he was farming on his father's property

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yeah up at King River yeah so Tom's family yeah

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Tom Walsh yeah do you recall how large that property

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might have been oh look it wouldn't have been

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a big property was up in the up in the back blocks

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probably 160 acres which was probably relatively

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big for that at times was he part of that original

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you know when the berries passed away and they

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started selling yeah they would have been the

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family owned the property for quite a long time

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We, our family, Frank, that is, was the last

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member of the family to use it. His brother B

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dairied it until he moved to Sydney and then

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we sort of took over running it. And we had dry

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stock up there. Because there's a bit of land

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everywhere here with your family. So Tom's father

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would have been... Well, I don't know. See, it's

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gone back a generation past my knowledge. So

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we're going back four generations now. Yeah.

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Which is about right. Yeah. Okay, so... Your

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father started his journey at Kangaroo Valley.

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Yes, that's right, yeah. So let's talk about

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him. So what do you recall? How long was he there

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and do you know anything about the dairy farm

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itself? Well, it would have been a small farm

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and they would have probably just had cream,

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like they would have had pigs. Most people just

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sold the butterfat, the cream and that sort of

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thing and the milk went to the pigs, the leftovers,

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the whey. They would have made butter and taken

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it into town. It would have been a co -op in

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Kangaroo Valley, I imagine, where they went by

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horse and cart. Yeah, so it was pre -mechanisation.

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Yeah, oh, yeah, yeah. All I know is at Camden

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Park they had Suffolk Punches. Right. As a type

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of horse. And I've seen some photographs down

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here. They look a bit similar, but maybe... Do

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you know what sort of draft horses they might

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have been? No, I don't really know. Although

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they crossed the creek to Geringon Creek to go

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into Kingaroo Valley via the shortcut, they don't

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go via the road, so they always took the shortest

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route. So you said Geringon Creek? Yeah, that's

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Geringon Creek, that's right. Yes. Can you imagine

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what it might have been like to bring that butter

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to... Oh, it would have been... On the slides,

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on the slides. That's right, yeah, and drays

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and things like that. It would have been a mammoth

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job. I don't know, whatever it would have been

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done once a week. Because they wouldn't have

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had a lot of cows then. No, no, no, no, no. Like

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it was just, look, this country is bush. If you'd

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been up there, like it was all bush. Like it

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went back to the sandstone cliffs, which is part

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of the National Park now. So it would have been

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about 170 acres, which I would have said when

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I was there, half it would have been cleared.

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The netting was to keep the rabbits out from

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eating the grass. they used to grow and that

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sort of thing. Okay, let's just slow that down.

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So the netted paddock, what do they do there?

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Oh, it was just a big paddock. It was a flat

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area. So up at Kangaroo Valley, it's very hilly.

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So any land that was flat and easy to farm, like

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cultivate and do whatever, so they probably tried

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to grow most of their pasture there. And they

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probably tried to keep the cattle in that area

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to try and control them. And the net was just

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to keep the kangaroos and wallabies. And there

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were all sorts of wildlife out of it, so they

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could probably graze their cattle there. So they

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didn't eat all the grass? Yeah, yeah. They must

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have had a bit of wildlife up there. Oh, yeah,

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they would have, yeah, yeah. Rabbit plagues,

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perhaps? Rabbit plagues, of course, yeah. That's

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probably what the net was in, hares and things

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like that, yeah. Did you ever remember rabbiting

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yourself? Oh, not myself, no. Well, I suppose

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we did. We used to set traps. That was at the

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home farm where we are now. Yes. We used to have

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lots of rabbit burrows, so we'd set traps and

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go out rabbiting. Yeah, that was interesting.

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So let's just clarify again, your dad's name?

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Francis Peter Walsh. And who did he marry? Jean

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Margaret Bryce. Okay, so Bryce's Lane. Yeah,

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that's been named after my mum's family because

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Uncle Jim, that's her brother, Jim Bryce, he

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donated the land to the Shalabanshire Council

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because the only access to Farm Meadow used to

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be via Swamp Road. which used to regularly get

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flooded. So he had a lot of land up on the high

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ground. How much land? Well, he would have had

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probably... And we're talking about Koolangatta.

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Yeah, this is Koolangatta, yeah, Koolangatta

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Mountain. Keep up with this, folks. I try to.

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It's hard, you know, you've got to... Yeah, well,

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that's true. But most of the families married

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locals and they met at dances or, you know, bands,

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you know, band dances they used to have. So your

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dad... How long was he up in Kangaroo Valley?

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Well, probably until his 20s, I'd say. And then

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when he met Mum, he moved and worked on their

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property at Far Meadow on Bryce's Road. So your

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father was schooled at... Upper Kangaroo River

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School. It's not there now. There's no building

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there now. There's only remains of it. Describe

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what you know about the school he went to, your

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dad. I don't know a lot, but it was just a small

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school, small building, all ride horses to school.

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That being the oldest, I suppose he led the way.

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What about the dance hall there? Oh, Upper Kangaroo

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River, yes. Well... Which was part of the community.

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Yeah. It was the school, church. Yeah, there

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was a church further down the road, actually,

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yeah. The Walshes were Catholics, of course.

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Yes, so... Irish Catholics. Which was a bit different,

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wasn't it? Yeah, it was, yeah. Because there

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was a lot... There wasn't the original migration.

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I'd forgotten about it, but there was a church

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there, and Bruce Cobb bought the land. The road

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was changed, and so it used to go on one side

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of the church, then it went on the other side

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of the church. How big a road this is, so...

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So I'm just not sure which religion. the church

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belonged to. Where would your father have met

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your mother? Oh, look at a dance. I'm not sure

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which one. So they used to go, you know, Tomrong,

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Upper Kangaroo River, Far Meadow. My mum had

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her 21st birthday at the Koolangatta village.

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So before it was sort of fell into ruins and

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then the bishops came along and did it up again.

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But she always tells me about her 21st birthday

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being at Koolangatta village. So when you talk

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about the bishops doing Koolangatta, the village

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up, you mean bishops' family? Yeah, bishops'

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family, yeah. Colt Bishop and his family. And

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when was that restored? But it was around the

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70s they did it up again. And who were the bishops?

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They paid for it, did they? Yeah, well, they

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were just the family that owned it. I think they've

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owned it since they got it granted to them from

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the Berries, I imagine. So your dad moved...

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From Kangaroo Valley, who were some of his siblings?

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Oh, well, it was B, his brother. He dairied.

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Like, Dad moved away. He moved over to Farmetta

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and worked on the family farm over there for

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the Bryces. When Uncle Jim went to the war, he

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was an Air Force pilot. There's Bede. Bede Walsh,

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yeah. And then there's Sheila Walsh, Mick Walsh,

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Vonnie Walsh, who he was then, Veronica. That's

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Vonnie Muller, who reached 100 the other day.

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Had a birthday party. She's the last surviving

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member of that seven children there. So then

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there was Tom and Ted. They were twins. So that's

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your father's family, the Walsh's. Yeah. And

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he married... A Bryce. A Bryce. From Farmetta.

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And beed, stayed and dairy farmed. For a while

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until he moved to Sydney. And what era are we

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talking about there? Oh, it would have been in

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the 40s. So when Jim went to war. Did he live?

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Yes, he did. Yes, he came back to the farm. And

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because he was the oldest son, that's when Mum

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and Dad decided to move to Jasper's Brush to

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farm there in 1958. They moved to Turner's Lane,

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where we are currently farming now. Were there

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dairy cows when he went to Bryce's? Oh, yeah,

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they were farming there. They had a dairy farm

00:13:03.820 --> 00:13:07.320
going. That's Ned, not my mum's. father, he was

00:13:07.320 --> 00:13:09.620
farming there and they'd been farming for years

00:13:09.620 --> 00:13:11.620
there. I think originally they came from Tomarrong

00:13:11.620 --> 00:13:14.299
to, a lot of brides at Tomarrong came to Farm

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Meadow. How many cows do you know who was milking?

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Oh, probably 60, you know, like, I know when

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we milked, the last time we milked in Kangaroo

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Valley, our family milked about 30. And so we

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must have been just starting up at Jasper's Brush

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because he gave us some of his cows when he's

00:13:33.019 --> 00:13:35.100
finished deering at Kangaroo Valley, up at Kangaroo

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River. he left his cows and some of his machinery

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at our farm. So when he went to Sydney. So that

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would have been after about 1960, something like

00:13:45.600 --> 00:13:48.860
that. So getting back to the 40s, what sort of

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cows were... Oh, Ayrshears. The Bryces were famous

00:13:51.659 --> 00:13:53.340
for their Ayrshears. Most people with a Scottish

00:13:53.340 --> 00:13:57.000
background, like Bryce, obviously, milked Ayrshears.

00:13:57.740 --> 00:14:00.940
And like some people milked Jersey. See, what

00:14:00.940 --> 00:14:03.519
everyone milks now, the Holstein, Friesian. was

00:14:03.519 --> 00:14:05.620
virtually non -existent back in the 40s, you

00:14:05.620 --> 00:14:09.399
know, like, so most people built jerseys, air

00:14:09.399 --> 00:14:11.419
shears, you know, coming from whatever came over

00:14:11.419 --> 00:14:12.759
on the first fleet, sort of thing, like, you

00:14:12.759 --> 00:14:16.500
know. But then you bred, there was a breed invented

00:14:16.500 --> 00:14:19.299
in perhaps January. Well, that's correct, which

00:14:19.299 --> 00:14:22.460
my, the youngest vultures, Tom and Ted, were

00:14:22.460 --> 00:14:25.080
famous breeders of the Australian Laura Shorthorn,

00:14:25.200 --> 00:14:27.779
AIS as they were known then. Why were they famous?

00:14:28.139 --> 00:14:30.720
Oh, well, they used to show cattle, like, so

00:14:30.720 --> 00:14:33.639
they were out at Farm Meadow as well. Like just

00:14:33.639 --> 00:14:35.299
down the road from where Dad was, they bought

00:14:35.299 --> 00:14:38.080
a property there. Do you know how many acres

00:14:38.080 --> 00:14:43.559
that was? Oh, it'd be 150, say. And they farmed

00:14:43.559 --> 00:14:45.799
there, not far from the Bryce's farm out at Farm

00:14:45.799 --> 00:14:49.700
Meadow. And they then moved to Jamboree and they

00:14:49.700 --> 00:14:52.960
became stud breeders of Australian Illawarra

00:14:52.960 --> 00:14:55.299
shorthorns. They were one of the most famous

00:14:55.299 --> 00:14:58.899
Illawarra breeders in Australia back then. So

00:14:58.899 --> 00:15:01.240
these are the twins? The twins, yeah. They farmed

00:15:01.240 --> 00:15:03.480
together all their life. They farmed together

00:15:03.480 --> 00:15:08.080
at Far Meadow and then they moved up to Jamboree.

00:15:08.720 --> 00:15:12.059
Do you know much about how that breeding came

00:15:12.059 --> 00:15:16.259
to be? Well, I guess the cattle were a cross

00:15:16.259 --> 00:15:20.399
between the dairy shorthorn. They were instrumental

00:15:20.399 --> 00:15:23.019
in this breed? Yeah, oh, very much so in the

00:15:23.019 --> 00:15:26.759
early stages. They used to go to shows and show

00:15:26.759 --> 00:15:30.590
at Kiama, which was the biggest illawarra. They've

00:15:30.590 --> 00:15:33.289
since become known as Illawarra's. They used

00:15:33.289 --> 00:15:35.289
to be AIS, Australian Illawarra's Shorthall,

00:15:35.330 --> 00:15:38.789
and they shortened the name to Illawarra's. So

00:15:38.789 --> 00:15:42.049
they used to be very big, and they'd go to Sydney

00:15:42.049 --> 00:15:45.490
at the old showgrounds every year for the Royal

00:15:45.490 --> 00:15:48.370
Easter show. And do you have any memorabilia

00:15:48.370 --> 00:15:52.049
from those periods of time? I do have some, not

00:15:52.049 --> 00:15:55.009
a lot. We weren't into stud cattle, our family,

00:15:55.169 --> 00:15:58.870
but they certainly were. Yes. And stud registers

00:15:58.870 --> 00:16:02.230
and things. Yeah, we've got some books at home,

00:16:02.289 --> 00:16:08.049
original stud books. People were coming to look

00:16:08.049 --> 00:16:10.789
at the cows from around the country perhaps?

00:16:10.830 --> 00:16:12.769
Yeah, definitely. They were selling them? Definitely.

00:16:12.769 --> 00:16:15.429
And there was a strong association with America

00:16:15.429 --> 00:16:19.129
as well because Tom Walsh in particular used

00:16:19.129 --> 00:16:23.649
to judge at an e -judge in America at different

00:16:23.649 --> 00:16:26.799
shows over there. And there used to be... A fair

00:16:26.799 --> 00:16:29.720
bit of interest, they called them, in America

00:16:29.720 --> 00:16:31.500
they had what they called milking shorthorns.

00:16:31.860 --> 00:16:35.220
And so they wanted to get a bit more milk into

00:16:35.220 --> 00:16:36.840
the cattle, and so they were using genetics from

00:16:36.840 --> 00:16:41.580
Australia. So they were very keen on the Australian

00:16:41.580 --> 00:16:45.639
Illawarra shorthorns, or Illawarra. And they

00:16:45.639 --> 00:16:48.299
imported a lot of semen back over to America

00:16:48.299 --> 00:16:51.350
from Australia. to try and get more milk production

00:16:51.350 --> 00:16:53.590
into what they call their dairy shorthorns. And

00:16:53.590 --> 00:16:56.149
they also come from England as well, shorthorn

00:16:56.149 --> 00:16:58.929
cattle obviously, were originally come from England.

00:17:00.029 --> 00:17:03.429
And those cows would have been, as he sold cows,

00:17:03.649 --> 00:17:08.809
as he sold calves, they would have been exported

00:17:08.809 --> 00:17:10.950
around the country on the trains? Oh yeah, all

00:17:10.950 --> 00:17:12.970
around Australia. Tom and Ted would have been,

00:17:13.210 --> 00:17:15.869
Meadowhaven was their stud name, and it was a

00:17:15.869 --> 00:17:18.690
very famous stud. And they would have sold cattle

00:17:18.690 --> 00:17:22.809
to all states of Australia over the years. That

00:17:22.809 --> 00:17:25.690
would have been quite an operation before transport.

00:17:26.069 --> 00:17:27.990
Yeah, it would have been, yeah. On the road.

00:17:28.269 --> 00:17:31.970
Yeah, that's right. So cattle transport evolved

00:17:31.970 --> 00:17:35.630
over time, you know, just like everything. What

00:17:35.630 --> 00:17:38.529
about the railways? So Kiama Railway would have

00:17:38.529 --> 00:17:41.190
been? Well, in the old days of the droughts,

00:17:41.190 --> 00:17:44.650
we used to buy hay. which used to come on the

00:17:44.650 --> 00:17:47.109
railway, and the hay bales were tied up with

00:17:47.109 --> 00:17:49.890
wire. So I always remember in one of the biggest

00:17:49.890 --> 00:17:53.009
droughts, would have been probably late 60s,

00:17:53.009 --> 00:17:57.789
70s, something like that, we bought hay, and

00:17:57.789 --> 00:18:00.230
it used to come down on the rail trains, on the

00:18:00.230 --> 00:18:03.089
carriages, flat tops. We had to go in and pick

00:18:03.089 --> 00:18:04.430
it up on loads on the trucks, and I remember

00:18:04.430 --> 00:18:07.700
going in there. and trying to grab the bales

00:18:07.700 --> 00:18:10.180
and they were wired, like a type of wire. I'd

00:18:10.180 --> 00:18:12.039
never seen or heard of anything like that before.

00:18:12.440 --> 00:18:14.259
So to load it on the trucks to bring it back

00:18:14.259 --> 00:18:16.880
out. So obviously that must have been the cheapest

00:18:16.880 --> 00:18:19.740
or easiest way to bring the hay down when we

00:18:19.740 --> 00:18:23.000
didn't have big B -doubles and semi -trailers

00:18:23.000 --> 00:18:25.380
like we do today. Do you recall any injuries

00:18:25.380 --> 00:18:29.200
with that wire? No, mostly he had the pliers,

00:18:29.279 --> 00:18:31.500
of course, you know, like had the pliers to cut

00:18:31.500 --> 00:18:34.609
them. And the old bales used to be tied up with

00:18:34.609 --> 00:18:37.269
what they called sisal. And then they went on

00:18:37.269 --> 00:18:40.430
to polypropylene. But you needed pliers to cut

00:18:40.430 --> 00:18:42.890
the wire. What was sisal made of? Oh, I don't

00:18:42.890 --> 00:18:45.670
know. It was just a sort of a rope, fine sort

00:18:45.670 --> 00:18:49.130
of a rope. And it was a bit thicker and strandier.

00:18:49.650 --> 00:18:51.970
What were the size of the bales? Oh, they used

00:18:51.970 --> 00:18:54.250
to be fairly big in those days. Like, you know,

00:18:54.289 --> 00:18:57.369
probably three foot long sort of thing. And probably

00:18:57.369 --> 00:19:00.210
up to 50 kilos, some of the bales. So, yeah.

00:19:00.779 --> 00:19:02.579
Well, like, tell me about the dairy. Well, the

00:19:02.579 --> 00:19:05.859
dairy industry is sort of like pre -bulk fats.

00:19:06.259 --> 00:19:08.220
Like, everyone used to milk, like, well, originally

00:19:08.220 --> 00:19:10.759
everyone used to make butter and separate it.

00:19:11.019 --> 00:19:13.880
But then there was a Sydney liquid milk market.

00:19:14.200 --> 00:19:16.660
And so people used to sell fresh milk then and

00:19:16.660 --> 00:19:19.759
produce fresh milk and put it in cans and it'd

00:19:19.759 --> 00:19:22.299
go to the local factory. And then the local factory

00:19:22.299 --> 00:19:24.480
in Wombatary used to put it into railway tankers.

00:19:25.000 --> 00:19:27.180
And then they'd send that to Sydney for the growing

00:19:27.180 --> 00:19:31.420
fresh milk market in Sydney. that's where milk

00:19:31.420 --> 00:19:33.519
quotas come in. Like, there was always a fear

00:19:33.519 --> 00:19:36.460
of there being a shortage of milk. So those people

00:19:36.460 --> 00:19:39.180
close to Sydney, and Nara was included in that

00:19:39.180 --> 00:19:43.160
area, and Bega wasn't. So anyhow, all the areas

00:19:43.160 --> 00:19:46.359
close to Sydney, like Taree, you know, Richmond,

00:19:46.660 --> 00:19:50.059
you know, those sort of areas, Camden, of course,

00:19:50.099 --> 00:19:53.220
and the Shoalhaven, they got what were called

00:19:53.220 --> 00:19:55.180
milk quotas. I'm not sure whether you were allocated

00:19:55.180 --> 00:19:57.640
a milk quota or you had to apply for it. And

00:19:57.640 --> 00:19:59.779
that was very similar to the time when bulk milk

00:19:59.779 --> 00:20:03.720
tankers come in. So that was a big changeover

00:20:03.720 --> 00:20:07.579
from milk cans to bulk milk tanks on farm. And

00:20:07.579 --> 00:20:09.119
then a milk tanker came and picked the milk up.

00:20:09.420 --> 00:20:13.319
So a lot of people didn't. Bulk milk tanks were

00:20:13.319 --> 00:20:16.140
expensive. And a lot of people didn't change

00:20:16.140 --> 00:20:18.140
over from the milk cans. You've probably heard

00:20:18.140 --> 00:20:19.759
this before. It would have been the end of the

00:20:19.759 --> 00:20:24.000
60s probably where milk cans went out. You couldn't

00:20:24.000 --> 00:20:26.299
supply the Sydney liquid milk market unless you

00:20:26.299 --> 00:20:29.099
had a bulk milk fat. So, you know, cans were

00:20:29.099 --> 00:20:32.160
redundant. And a lot of people didn't swap over

00:20:32.160 --> 00:20:36.559
their farms from milk cans to bulk milk tanks.

00:20:36.740 --> 00:20:38.779
How expensive was that transition? Well, I'm

00:20:38.779 --> 00:20:40.599
not sure if you had to buy a quota or not, or

00:20:40.599 --> 00:20:43.660
was it allocated? Like, whether you had to buy

00:20:43.660 --> 00:20:46.839
a bulk milk tank and buy a quota at the same

00:20:46.839 --> 00:20:49.740
time, I think quotas were traded. So whether

00:20:49.740 --> 00:20:51.680
a lot of farmers thought it wasn't worth the

00:20:51.680 --> 00:20:54.740
expense, What do you remember about those twins,

00:20:54.960 --> 00:20:58.779
who are your uncles? Uncles, yeah. And when did

00:20:58.779 --> 00:21:04.240
they pass? Oh, well, one passed in his 70s, so

00:21:04.240 --> 00:21:08.460
that would be 20 years ago. Tom, that was Ted

00:21:08.460 --> 00:21:11.519
passed first, then Tom passed last, which would

00:21:11.519 --> 00:21:15.359
only be five or six years ago. So he was in his

00:21:15.359 --> 00:21:21.930
90s. Did they ever marry? Ted married? And Ellen,

00:21:22.089 --> 00:21:23.730
but they never had any children. And Tom married

00:21:23.730 --> 00:21:25.750
Shirley, who was a local girl for you from now,

00:21:25.849 --> 00:21:28.269
right? Do you have any last names, sorry? Oh,

00:21:28.390 --> 00:21:34.230
well, Shirley was a Knox, I think, and Ellen

00:21:34.230 --> 00:21:37.670
was a Rain from around Geringong way, a lot of

00:21:37.670 --> 00:21:40.849
their relations. From your interaction with them?

00:21:40.869 --> 00:21:42.930
Oh, just great characters, well -known in the,

00:21:42.990 --> 00:21:45.289
you know, most of the Walsh's were known for

00:21:45.289 --> 00:21:49.900
their drinking. And their ability to spin a yarn.

00:21:50.480 --> 00:21:52.720
But they used to frequent the Jamboree pub a

00:21:52.720 --> 00:21:54.319
fair bit. I mean, Ted more than he should have.

00:21:55.059 --> 00:21:57.579
So that's the Irish Catholics we're talking about.

00:21:57.619 --> 00:22:00.099
Yeah, that's right. Actually, one of the rumours,

00:22:00.099 --> 00:22:01.480
one of the stories, I don't know if this is true,

00:22:01.700 --> 00:22:04.000
is that how the Walshers got some of their money

00:22:04.000 --> 00:22:07.380
to buy the land up at Kingaroo River was that

00:22:07.380 --> 00:22:10.480
they used to run a still up in the bush. But

00:22:10.480 --> 00:22:12.240
I don't know anything about that. That's the

00:22:12.240 --> 00:22:14.500
only thing. I've got no idea if that's true or

00:22:14.500 --> 00:22:17.140
not true. Well, that was the sort of thing that

00:22:17.140 --> 00:22:19.799
was not uncommon. No, that's right. You know,

00:22:19.819 --> 00:22:22.460
you're up in the back blocks and you could, you

00:22:22.460 --> 00:22:24.920
know, whether they use potatoes or whatever to

00:22:24.920 --> 00:22:29.299
brew up something. Did you ever see a slide yourself

00:22:29.299 --> 00:22:31.180
or the driver? Oh, yeah, we used to have one.

00:22:31.240 --> 00:22:34.500
Yeah, we used to have one on the farm. We had

00:22:34.500 --> 00:22:37.099
a slide, which we used to grow corn. And, of

00:22:37.099 --> 00:22:40.390
course, you cut the corn by hand, you know. The

00:22:40.390 --> 00:22:43.549
new generation would faint at what we used to

00:22:43.549 --> 00:22:47.089
do, cut the cane knives and corn cutters and

00:22:47.089 --> 00:22:49.089
used to go and cut the corn and put it on the

00:22:49.089 --> 00:22:53.970
slide and then take it back to the silo where

00:22:53.970 --> 00:22:56.390
you had a chaff cutter and then feed the corn

00:22:56.390 --> 00:22:59.089
by hand into the chaff cutter. Hence that's why

00:22:59.089 --> 00:23:01.690
some farmers lost their fingers, you know, like

00:23:01.690 --> 00:23:05.390
if you got caught on the corn. So who supplied

00:23:05.390 --> 00:23:09.890
you with the equipment? The cane cutters, I suppose.

00:23:09.910 --> 00:23:11.509
There would have been a produce store in Berry

00:23:11.509 --> 00:23:14.450
or Nowra, which, you know, you would have...

00:23:14.450 --> 00:23:17.529
In the old days, like the co -ops where you send

00:23:17.529 --> 00:23:19.950
the milk, they used to have a produce store and

00:23:19.950 --> 00:23:22.670
you'd buy feed there and you'd get equipment

00:23:22.670 --> 00:23:26.130
from there. So you're on the dairy farm growing

00:23:26.130 --> 00:23:29.750
up in Jaspers Brush. Yeah, that's right. So 58,

00:23:30.029 --> 00:23:32.450
Mum and Dad moved to Jaspers Brush from Farm

00:23:32.450 --> 00:23:35.819
Meadow. And I was born in 59, so I've actually

00:23:35.819 --> 00:23:39.099
been there all my life. I'm 65 now, so... You're

00:23:39.099 --> 00:23:42.420
only young. Yeah, that's right. So what are your

00:23:42.420 --> 00:23:47.880
first memories of dairying? Well, we used to

00:23:47.880 --> 00:23:50.019
have a little walk -through dairy, which we only

00:23:50.019 --> 00:23:53.160
used to have three double -up bales, so you could

00:23:53.160 --> 00:23:56.980
only milk at maximum six at a time. And I used

00:23:56.980 --> 00:23:59.160
to get over there and milk when I was a youngster.

00:24:00.640 --> 00:24:02.140
Did they have their legs tied up or anything?

00:24:02.180 --> 00:24:05.119
Yeah, we used to have a leg rope or a chain with

00:24:05.119 --> 00:24:07.619
a hook on the end of it, which we used to put

00:24:07.619 --> 00:24:09.380
on their legs just to pull their leg back so

00:24:09.380 --> 00:24:11.099
it made it easy to get the milking machines on.

00:24:11.240 --> 00:24:15.420
How many cows? Oh, look, well, probably 60, 60

00:24:15.420 --> 00:24:20.099
cows. What breed? Oh, they would have been a

00:24:20.099 --> 00:24:21.980
mixture. They would have been some of the ones

00:24:21.980 --> 00:24:24.259
that Uncle Dee gave us from Upper Kangaroo River

00:24:24.259 --> 00:24:26.960
when he finished. So they would have been a mixture

00:24:26.960 --> 00:24:32.480
of some early Friesians. and Guernseys and Ayrshires.

00:24:32.559 --> 00:24:33.420
There would have been a lot of Ayrshires. There

00:24:33.420 --> 00:24:35.579
was a lot of Ayrshires around those days. They

00:24:35.579 --> 00:24:37.559
would have been just called crossbreeds, I suppose,

00:24:37.640 --> 00:24:40.079
a mixture of all those different breeds that

00:24:40.079 --> 00:24:44.200
were around. Did they have horns? They would

00:24:44.200 --> 00:24:45.720
have. The Ayrshires would have had horns, but

00:24:45.720 --> 00:24:48.220
most people started cutting them off because

00:24:48.220 --> 00:24:51.039
it was too dangerous, obviously. Did you remember

00:24:51.039 --> 00:24:54.420
having the cows cutting their horns off? Oh,

00:24:54.420 --> 00:24:58.329
yeah. We used to dehorn the cattle. Tell me how

00:24:58.329 --> 00:25:02.730
that works. Well, it depends. So when I was around

00:25:02.730 --> 00:25:06.430
10, back would have been in 1970, we used to

00:25:06.430 --> 00:25:08.349
put a paste on the calves' horns to get rid of

00:25:08.349 --> 00:25:10.450
their horns. But if they didn't, if they weren't

00:25:10.450 --> 00:25:13.089
taken off as calves, you had to do them as heifers

00:25:13.089 --> 00:25:15.690
and you'd just use the big de -horners which

00:25:15.690 --> 00:25:17.849
you'd put on them, which was a bit bloodthirsty.

00:25:19.189 --> 00:25:21.069
These days you have to give them anaesthetic

00:25:21.069 --> 00:25:22.730
if you want to de -aunt cattle, adult cattle,

00:25:22.930 --> 00:25:26.089
and even young cattle, I believe. In the old

00:25:26.089 --> 00:25:28.009
days there was no anaesthetic. You always did

00:25:28.009 --> 00:25:30.490
it in the wintertime when the flies weren't around.

00:25:31.269 --> 00:25:34.890
So describe how it looked, the dairy. So you're

00:25:34.890 --> 00:25:37.809
dairying, you've got a walk -through. Yeah, a

00:25:37.809 --> 00:25:39.769
walk -through. So it was just a simple set -up

00:25:39.769 --> 00:25:43.230
where some of them had some feeders in them where

00:25:43.230 --> 00:25:46.380
the cattle would eat a bit of... crushed barley

00:25:46.380 --> 00:25:48.819
or crushed wheat or grain or oats whatever did

00:25:48.819 --> 00:25:51.660
you have a hay shed well we did yeah it got burnt

00:25:51.660 --> 00:25:54.680
down the hay shed didn't not long after we um

00:25:54.680 --> 00:25:58.140
moved there so my brother peter was playing with

00:25:58.140 --> 00:26:00.119
matches when he was four so that would have been

00:26:00.119 --> 00:26:05.859
about 1964 and the um and the hay shed got burnt

00:26:05.859 --> 00:26:08.839
down but the tractor didn't get burnt so yeah

00:26:08.839 --> 00:26:11.039
but anyhow we did have a hay shed yeah so i used

00:26:11.039 --> 00:26:12.880
to store a bit of hay in there it was beside

00:26:12.880 --> 00:26:15.430
the silo where we You used to put the grain if

00:26:15.430 --> 00:26:18.869
you put the corn. So tell me how that worked

00:26:18.869 --> 00:26:22.269
as a kid. How big was it, one silo? Yeah, just

00:26:22.269 --> 00:26:25.029
one concrete silo. Actually, my father, when

00:26:25.029 --> 00:26:26.950
he was young, I was only told, found out this

00:26:26.950 --> 00:26:30.309
recently, used to go around with one of the Brennans

00:26:30.309 --> 00:26:33.509
or Abernathys and build concrete silos as a job

00:26:33.509 --> 00:26:36.230
for earning extra income. Because, you know,

00:26:36.250 --> 00:26:38.130
there's a lot of concrete silos around the district

00:26:38.130 --> 00:26:40.269
still, so they're obviously well constructed.

00:26:41.130 --> 00:26:44.500
Do you recall seeing a lot of... The silos in

00:26:44.500 --> 00:26:46.759
the landscape? Oh yeah, everywhere. And they

00:26:46.759 --> 00:26:49.140
used to be used too. I remember using the silos.

00:26:49.599 --> 00:26:52.240
So you'd have a chaff cutter, and if you didn't

00:26:52.240 --> 00:26:54.039
have a chaff cutter, this was coming about the

00:26:54.039 --> 00:26:57.440
80s or the end of the 70s, there was machinery

00:26:57.440 --> 00:26:59.740
then, corn harvesters, which used to chop the

00:26:59.740 --> 00:27:02.220
corn up and then you'd blow it into the silo.

00:27:02.220 --> 00:27:04.039
But as it was blown in, you had to get in the

00:27:04.039 --> 00:27:07.000
silo and throw the corn around by hand with pitchforks

00:27:07.000 --> 00:27:09.400
and then tramp it down so it'd get rid of the

00:27:09.400 --> 00:27:13.890
air so it didn't go off. Were you tramping? Oh,

00:27:13.890 --> 00:27:15.910
yeah, yeah. All the kids were involved in that,

00:27:15.970 --> 00:27:18.049
so as many as possible. Although there wasn't

00:27:18.049 --> 00:27:20.450
a lot of room in there. So one time some clown

00:27:20.450 --> 00:27:22.309
who used to work for us actually stuck a pitchfork

00:27:22.309 --> 00:27:26.349
in my hand, you know, pretending to throw silage

00:27:26.349 --> 00:27:29.609
at me. So I put my hand up to protect myself

00:27:29.609 --> 00:27:32.490
and he stuck the pitchfork in me. So, yeah, he

00:27:32.490 --> 00:27:35.430
didn't last long. What happened to you? Well,

00:27:35.509 --> 00:27:39.150
I actually got... I must have needed a tetanus

00:27:39.150 --> 00:27:41.089
shot because not long after I got a massive headache

00:27:41.089 --> 00:27:43.269
and I had to go to hospital and they said that

00:27:43.269 --> 00:27:45.490
I needed a tetanus shot because it was aching

00:27:45.490 --> 00:27:48.630
like hell. So there would have been a milk run.

00:27:48.789 --> 00:27:51.809
You would have remembered a milk run. Yeah. Collecting

00:27:51.809 --> 00:27:53.950
cans. Cans, yeah. I used to go on the milk run

00:27:53.950 --> 00:27:56.329
up all the lanes, like, in the holidays, which

00:27:56.329 --> 00:27:58.670
was fantastic. You know, Strong's Run, Strong's

00:27:58.670 --> 00:28:01.329
Road, Crozier's Road. Like, there used to be

00:28:01.329 --> 00:28:05.460
nothing, 10, 12 dairy farms up each lane. A light

00:28:05.460 --> 00:28:07.400
truck, I suppose you'd call it, with a tarp over

00:28:07.400 --> 00:28:10.660
it. And the Cairns used to be all left in a little

00:28:10.660 --> 00:28:13.940
sort of a hut at the entrance to the laneway

00:28:13.940 --> 00:28:18.319
from the farms. So there was all the Mitchells

00:28:18.319 --> 00:28:21.079
and the Strongs and all the people up Strongs

00:28:21.079 --> 00:28:24.960
Road. Look, there's so many Francis's. But you'd

00:28:24.960 --> 00:28:26.700
have to pick up the forwards and drop off the

00:28:26.700 --> 00:28:28.920
empty ones. And they had to have their names

00:28:28.920 --> 00:28:30.539
stamped on them. And it was always a kerfuffle

00:28:30.539 --> 00:28:32.529
if they got the wrong... Didn't get the right

00:28:32.529 --> 00:28:34.750
milk cans back because I used to wash them at

00:28:34.750 --> 00:28:37.970
the dairy factory or rinse them out. So you just

00:28:37.970 --> 00:28:39.269
had to make sure they were clean. So they had

00:28:39.269 --> 00:28:41.670
to come back. So when the truck went to the factory,

00:28:41.710 --> 00:28:44.509
they picked up the empty ones. So who had that?

00:28:44.809 --> 00:28:47.329
Your dad had the contract, did he? Oh, not for

00:28:47.329 --> 00:28:49.750
picking up the milk, no. But you went? Yeah,

00:28:49.769 --> 00:28:52.750
I went on it as an excursion, basically, like

00:28:52.750 --> 00:28:54.710
a trip. Mitchells used to have the contract.

00:28:54.849 --> 00:28:56.690
I don't know if his name was Mitchells. Tom Mitchell,

00:28:56.829 --> 00:28:59.289
I think his name was. Where was he? Well, he

00:28:59.289 --> 00:29:01.109
just was a truck contractor. I don't think they

00:29:01.109 --> 00:29:02.710
had their own farm, although they could have.

00:29:03.289 --> 00:29:06.390
And he'd go along and have a contract. pick up

00:29:06.390 --> 00:29:08.450
the milk cans. So once he came to our place,

00:29:08.490 --> 00:29:11.210
I went with him to head off. So it was interesting

00:29:11.210 --> 00:29:14.670
seeing all the farms. Yes. And how, what did

00:29:14.670 --> 00:29:18.069
anything stand out for you? Oh, just the number

00:29:18.069 --> 00:29:21.789
of cans. Like the size difference between the

00:29:21.789 --> 00:29:23.890
big farms and the small farms. You know, some

00:29:23.890 --> 00:29:25.789
people only have two or three milk cans and some

00:29:25.789 --> 00:29:29.680
of them have 20. And we're just... It was interesting

00:29:29.680 --> 00:29:32.019
to see who... I guess it was to do with how many

00:29:32.019 --> 00:29:33.720
cows they milked and how much land they had and

00:29:33.720 --> 00:29:35.200
all that sort of thing. So it was just an interesting

00:29:35.200 --> 00:29:37.420
learning curve. And you'd get imagining then,

00:29:37.500 --> 00:29:40.460
wouldn't you? Yeah, you'd imagine how many cows

00:29:40.460 --> 00:29:42.599
they milked and how big their family was or whatever.

00:29:43.720 --> 00:29:46.460
And where did you go to school? Oh, I went to

00:29:46.460 --> 00:29:48.680
school in St Michael's at Nara. Oh, that was

00:29:48.680 --> 00:29:51.900
existing? Yeah, when I was... And how did you

00:29:51.900 --> 00:29:54.299
get into school? Well, on the bus. Yeah, caught

00:29:54.299 --> 00:29:57.529
the bus to Turner's Lane. There was a fair few.

00:29:57.609 --> 00:30:00.069
Our cousins, the Mullers, were over at Maroo.

00:30:00.670 --> 00:30:02.970
So there was a cousin, Brian, who was the same

00:30:02.970 --> 00:30:06.170
age as me, and there was Mark Duncan. He was

00:30:06.170 --> 00:30:08.589
the same age as me too. His father owned them.

00:30:08.970 --> 00:30:11.589
He was a milker. He used to deliver milk to the

00:30:11.589 --> 00:30:13.789
people's houses. Oh, yeah, you called them milkers.

00:30:14.089 --> 00:30:16.390
Milkers. He was quick, Duncan. He used to have

00:30:16.390 --> 00:30:20.349
a milker business and he'd... And where was that

00:30:20.349 --> 00:30:21.990
business? Well, he'd pick up the milk from the

00:30:21.990 --> 00:30:25.200
co -op at Nowra. Oh, Bominary. and deliver it

00:30:25.200 --> 00:30:26.960
to all the shops and the houses. This is when

00:30:26.960 --> 00:30:29.920
they had home delivery, yeah. So that's like

00:30:29.920 --> 00:30:32.720
Fletcher's Lane and all that sort of way? Yeah,

00:30:32.740 --> 00:30:34.039
well, they used to, yeah, that's right. But they

00:30:34.039 --> 00:30:36.740
used to deliver the milk to the, like, in North

00:30:36.740 --> 00:30:39.920
Nowra and Bombardieri. That's a big run. Yeah,

00:30:39.920 --> 00:30:42.200
yeah, well, they held out their runs, yeah, so.

00:30:43.380 --> 00:30:45.200
They used to be very lucrative, actually, because

00:30:45.200 --> 00:30:47.339
that's in the days when regulation, like, was

00:30:47.339 --> 00:30:49.660
all regulated, we had quotas, and the family

00:30:49.660 --> 00:30:51.759
got a certain percentage, like, basically half

00:30:51.759 --> 00:30:54.460
of the retail price. And the supermarkets got

00:30:54.460 --> 00:30:56.599
a percentage, the vendor got a percentage. And

00:30:56.599 --> 00:30:58.799
so that was quite a good, for the amount of work

00:30:58.799 --> 00:31:01.579
the vendor did, it was quite a good income for

00:31:01.579 --> 00:31:04.500
him to have a milk vendor. And you used to go

00:31:04.500 --> 00:31:06.519
and sell milk vendors' licences like you'd sell

00:31:06.519 --> 00:31:10.759
taxi licences in the old days. So you've been

00:31:10.759 --> 00:31:13.200
in Turner's Lane. Where did you put the calves?

00:31:13.500 --> 00:31:16.579
And how many calves were you rearing? Probably

00:31:16.579 --> 00:31:19.140
in the early days we used to milk 60, so we'd

00:31:19.140 --> 00:31:22.339
probably have 50 % heifers, probably 30 calves

00:31:22.339 --> 00:31:25.940
a year. See, in 1979, we built a herringbone

00:31:25.940 --> 00:31:28.160
dairy. So that was sort of like when people got

00:31:28.160 --> 00:31:30.039
out of walkways because you couldn't milk enough

00:31:30.039 --> 00:31:33.779
cows quickly enough. And so we put in what was

00:31:33.779 --> 00:31:36.740
a moderately sized herringbone dairy. It went

00:31:36.740 --> 00:31:39.599
from milking six at a time to ten at a time,

00:31:39.599 --> 00:31:44.839
sort of a double up. So we've since extended

00:31:44.839 --> 00:31:47.970
the dairy, went from... 10 aside in 79, and then

00:31:47.970 --> 00:31:51.450
dairy deregulation coming in 2000. So we went

00:31:51.450 --> 00:31:53.430
to 18 aside so we could milk more cows because

00:31:53.430 --> 00:31:56.450
they got rid of milk crows in that 2000. And

00:31:56.450 --> 00:32:00.190
so now recently my son's come back on the farm.

00:32:00.269 --> 00:32:03.170
He's leasing the farm now. And we've gone to

00:32:03.170 --> 00:32:05.930
24 aside. So we've been able to extend the original

00:32:05.930 --> 00:32:09.289
dairies, but a lot of the other bigger farms

00:32:09.289 --> 00:32:11.009
in Terraria now have gone to rotary dairies,

00:32:11.009 --> 00:32:16.599
so we can milk 50 at a time. How many times a

00:32:16.599 --> 00:32:19.000
day are you milking? Well, twice a day on our

00:32:19.000 --> 00:32:21.940
farm, so... Because some dairies are milking

00:32:21.940 --> 00:32:25.740
around the clock. Yeah, there are. The bigger

00:32:25.740 --> 00:32:28.000
farms down at Terriere and Pirie, they milk,

00:32:28.099 --> 00:32:30.279
you know, six and seven, eight and... Some of

00:32:30.279 --> 00:32:32.700
them, David Boyd Farms, about 1 ,800, I think,

00:32:32.700 --> 00:32:35.259
or something like that, so... So you've seen

00:32:35.259 --> 00:32:39.119
the technology change, obviously, from even teats

00:32:39.119 --> 00:32:43.059
and washing and... Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's

00:32:43.059 --> 00:32:47.420
all become a fair bit easier. Well, we haven't

00:32:47.420 --> 00:32:50.480
got a robot yet, but there are around a few in

00:32:50.480 --> 00:32:54.359
the local area. So you're saying robotics? Yeah,

00:32:54.380 --> 00:32:58.079
robotics, yeah. That sounds expensive. It is

00:32:58.079 --> 00:32:59.960
expensive, and they do have their issues with

00:32:59.960 --> 00:33:01.480
cow throughput and that sort of thing. We've

00:33:01.480 --> 00:33:04.819
looked into it. Yes. And you've got to have a

00:33:04.819 --> 00:33:08.519
good layer. So the cow's basically a lot fed.

00:33:08.759 --> 00:33:12.240
They don't go to the paddocks very much. Most

00:33:12.240 --> 00:33:15.079
of the robots don't. They're just housed and

00:33:15.079 --> 00:33:19.019
you bring feed to them. But there are some where

00:33:19.019 --> 00:33:22.279
the cattle walk to the paddock. But there's an

00:33:22.279 --> 00:33:24.960
issue with getting the cows to and from the dairies

00:33:24.960 --> 00:33:29.240
and that sort of thing. What about bulls? Yeah,

00:33:29.240 --> 00:33:32.440
well, in the old days, bulls... This is the reason

00:33:32.440 --> 00:33:35.900
why dairy shows exist because people used to

00:33:35.900 --> 00:33:39.690
go to shows. This is before artificial insemination

00:33:39.690 --> 00:33:42.349
became involved. So people used to buy, go to

00:33:42.349 --> 00:33:45.750
a show and see a good cow and talk to the farmer

00:33:45.750 --> 00:33:47.369
and buy a bull. Well, they used to show bulls.

00:33:47.369 --> 00:33:48.769
They don't show bulls anymore because it's too

00:33:48.769 --> 00:33:51.809
dangerous. Let's talk about when they did, though,

00:33:51.829 --> 00:33:54.690
and what era is that? Were there bull yards?

00:33:54.710 --> 00:33:56.470
No, no, these bulls would have been led. They

00:33:56.470 --> 00:33:59.609
would have had a chain in their nose and a halter

00:33:59.609 --> 00:34:02.089
on. And often when it comes to bull classes,

00:34:02.150 --> 00:34:04.230
this is the shows, there would have been two

00:34:04.230 --> 00:34:07.319
leaders. One would have held the chain. and the

00:34:07.319 --> 00:34:09.480
ring in the nose, and one that would have held

00:34:09.480 --> 00:34:13.039
the halter. And so it's quite an interesting

00:34:13.039 --> 00:34:15.820
picture of bulls being shown, the very show,

00:34:15.960 --> 00:34:18.659
in the secretary's office at the show ground.

00:34:19.539 --> 00:34:23.360
And, like, massive numbers of animals. Everyone

00:34:23.360 --> 00:34:25.099
used to want a show, because then it was another

00:34:25.099 --> 00:34:28.980
form of income, selling their bulls to the local

00:34:28.980 --> 00:34:31.599
farmers. This is before artificial insemination

00:34:31.599 --> 00:34:34.559
took off. So the shows were about breeding and

00:34:34.559 --> 00:34:36.980
selling? Yeah, they were, very much so. Yeah,

00:34:36.980 --> 00:34:39.519
that was what they were about, showing, you know,

00:34:39.539 --> 00:34:42.000
like, shows everyone wanted to have the best

00:34:42.000 --> 00:34:45.440
cow or the best bull, and then that, you know,

00:34:45.440 --> 00:34:48.059
their status in the society went up, and then,

00:34:48.119 --> 00:34:49.480
of course, it would bring in income for selling

00:34:49.480 --> 00:34:54.860
bulls. So technology has, every time some, you

00:34:54.860 --> 00:34:57.219
know, like artificial insemination, so that really

00:34:57.219 --> 00:34:59.260
changed the industry, the dairy industry, because

00:34:59.260 --> 00:35:02.170
you were able to access... cattle from all around

00:35:02.170 --> 00:35:03.909
the world. You could buy semen from anywhere,

00:35:04.170 --> 00:35:07.289
you know, and that's when the Holstein breed

00:35:07.289 --> 00:35:09.849
in Australia sort of took off. Like, originally

00:35:09.849 --> 00:35:13.670
they imported, you know, when Graham Park started

00:35:13.670 --> 00:35:15.409
at Berwick, because Graham Park at Berwick was

00:35:15.409 --> 00:35:17.150
the centre of the dairy industry, as you probably

00:35:17.150 --> 00:35:22.269
have been told. Like, it opened about 57, I think,

00:35:22.349 --> 00:35:27.530
and they used to buy bulls off the local farmers.

00:35:28.090 --> 00:35:30.190
with what they thought was superior genetics

00:35:30.190 --> 00:35:33.469
and then they'd do progeny testing so they'd

00:35:33.469 --> 00:35:36.730
distribute that semen from these young bulls

00:35:36.730 --> 00:35:38.530
to the farmers and they'd test it out and then

00:35:38.530 --> 00:35:40.929
we had herd recording so the farmers would herd

00:35:40.929 --> 00:35:44.769
record the progeny of those bulls and see if

00:35:44.769 --> 00:35:46.369
they were better than the previous generation.

00:35:46.789 --> 00:35:49.570
So that sort of changed the dairy industry where

00:35:49.570 --> 00:35:53.739
bulls become... Like, they weren't invaluable,

00:35:53.920 --> 00:35:55.980
but they became... Farmers didn't trade bulls

00:35:55.980 --> 00:35:57.780
between amongst themselves as much as they used

00:35:57.780 --> 00:36:00.880
to, and showing bulls dropped out of shows because

00:36:00.880 --> 00:36:04.099
of that, because people didn't go to a show to

00:36:04.099 --> 00:36:08.219
buy a bull. They'd buy semen instead, so... So,

00:36:08.300 --> 00:36:12.980
with... Grand Park was a really important research

00:36:12.980 --> 00:36:15.400
centre, wasn't it? Yeah, it was. It was at the

00:36:15.400 --> 00:36:18.320
forefront of the AI industry in Australia, yeah.

00:36:19.119 --> 00:36:20.900
It's pretty significant, isn't it? Yeah, it is

00:36:20.900 --> 00:36:22.500
significant. It was to have it here in the local

00:36:22.500 --> 00:36:26.940
area. And that's where I did my AI technician's

00:36:26.940 --> 00:36:29.239
course. I learnt to AI cattle. So in the old

00:36:29.239 --> 00:36:32.820
days, only vets could AI. But then farmers were

00:36:32.820 --> 00:36:36.039
trained in artificial insemination. So AI has

00:36:36.039 --> 00:36:38.739
a different meaning these days. So that's interesting.

00:36:38.960 --> 00:36:42.280
How would you purchase semen? Oh, well, you had

00:36:42.280 --> 00:36:44.840
to have your own liquid nitrogen tank. And in

00:36:44.840 --> 00:36:47.239
the original, early days, you had to bring your

00:36:47.239 --> 00:36:51.650
tank. to Graham Park because they have to be

00:36:51.650 --> 00:36:53.809
topped up with liquid nitrogen every, well, I

00:36:53.809 --> 00:36:55.389
don't know, I think it was every week, but now

00:36:55.389 --> 00:36:58.489
at the moment it's about once a month. So obviously

00:36:58.489 --> 00:37:00.869
they run out of liquid nitrogen and the semen

00:37:00.869 --> 00:37:03.489
dies. But then, so there was a company that got

00:37:03.489 --> 00:37:05.869
involved and did a delivery run of liquid nitrogen

00:37:05.869 --> 00:37:07.650
to all the farmers because once all the farmers

00:37:07.650 --> 00:37:10.329
did their own AI work, then you had to have your

00:37:10.329 --> 00:37:15.059
own semen tank. And who delivered that? Where

00:37:15.059 --> 00:37:17.320
did you get that? Well, Rob McIntosh. Robert

00:37:17.320 --> 00:37:19.519
Richmond used to be involved. He used to be a

00:37:19.519 --> 00:37:22.679
technician teaching people how to AI at the Graham

00:37:22.679 --> 00:37:26.420
Park. And then when Graham Park sort of closed

00:37:26.420 --> 00:37:29.860
down, he started his own business, like Herd

00:37:29.860 --> 00:37:32.239
Improvers. And his son, Angus, took over it.

00:37:33.389 --> 00:37:35.309
And where was he located? Well, he was located

00:37:35.309 --> 00:37:37.750
up at Jerringong, up there. He'd have a truck.

00:37:37.929 --> 00:37:40.230
He'd actually serviced virtually the whole state

00:37:40.230 --> 00:37:42.070
of New South Wales, or the dairy industry of

00:37:42.070 --> 00:37:45.869
New South Wales, with supplying semen and liquid

00:37:45.869 --> 00:37:50.610
nitrogen and the gear for AI. Now, you mentioned

00:37:50.610 --> 00:37:54.050
Rob McIntosh. What was his connection? Oh, well,

00:37:54.110 --> 00:37:56.510
he was just involved. I think his father, Bruce,

00:37:56.690 --> 00:37:59.530
was very instrumental in getting Graham Park

00:37:59.530 --> 00:38:03.210
to bury in the first place. Old Joe Calcraft

00:38:03.210 --> 00:38:06.510
used to be, he was very involved too as well

00:38:06.510 --> 00:38:09.250
because he used to be known in parliamentary

00:38:09.250 --> 00:38:12.250
circles. So, yeah, they put pressure on the government

00:38:12.250 --> 00:38:15.449
and they finally got the Graham Park here open

00:38:15.449 --> 00:38:18.969
in Bering. Big thing. Yeah, it was a big thing,

00:38:18.989 --> 00:38:22.030
yeah. It was right at the birth of the AI in

00:38:22.030 --> 00:38:23.969
Australia, artificial insemination in Australia.

00:38:24.349 --> 00:38:27.789
And lots of recording and observation. Yeah.

00:38:28.780 --> 00:38:32.119
What happened at your farm? Well, see, so the

00:38:32.119 --> 00:38:35.139
whole point was to get semen from young bulls,

00:38:35.139 --> 00:38:38.860
distribute it to the farmers, and then, so it

00:38:38.860 --> 00:38:41.380
was, you know, it used to take time. So the calves

00:38:41.380 --> 00:38:43.719
would be born, you know, then they wouldn't come

00:38:43.719 --> 00:38:47.920
into milk until they were two years of age. And

00:38:47.920 --> 00:38:49.579
then you virtually had to wait for them to do

00:38:49.579 --> 00:38:51.079
a lactation, which meant they were two years

00:38:51.079 --> 00:38:53.639
and nine months. And like in the old days, some

00:38:53.639 --> 00:38:55.159
people didn't calve there. If it was at two,

00:38:55.239 --> 00:38:57.380
they used to calve them at three. So then they

00:38:57.380 --> 00:38:59.670
were virtually... four years before they'd finished

00:38:59.670 --> 00:39:02.070
the lactation and where you did the herb recording

00:39:02.070 --> 00:39:05.690
and recorded all their, you know, butterfat and

00:39:05.690 --> 00:39:08.710
milk and protein. And then you were able to,

00:39:08.710 --> 00:39:10.969
that was all, you know, went back to a laboratory

00:39:10.969 --> 00:39:12.829
and the figures were analysed and they were trying

00:39:12.829 --> 00:39:15.869
to work out which were the best bulls. So they

00:39:15.869 --> 00:39:18.389
were unproven, then they became proven bulls

00:39:18.389 --> 00:39:22.489
and then their semen was marketed based on what

00:39:22.489 --> 00:39:25.030
they improved in the cattle. Based on output?

00:39:25.329 --> 00:39:27.650
Yeah, based on the production, the increase relative

00:39:27.650 --> 00:39:30.730
to the average cow in the breed. And quality?

00:39:31.030 --> 00:39:34.789
Yeah, quality for the milk fat and the protein

00:39:34.789 --> 00:39:37.429
and the amount of milk. And then further down

00:39:37.429 --> 00:39:40.550
the track, when people started buying semen from

00:39:40.550 --> 00:39:44.369
Canada, they used to market bulls based on how

00:39:44.369 --> 00:39:46.750
much they could improve the shape of the cattle

00:39:46.750 --> 00:39:51.630
to what they called the true type model. The

00:39:51.630 --> 00:39:53.469
Canadians were very big in this. They used to

00:39:53.469 --> 00:39:56.050
have the best type cattle in the world, better

00:39:56.050 --> 00:39:58.630
than the Americans. And they used to market a

00:39:58.630 --> 00:40:00.690
lot, and they still do, market a lot of semen

00:40:00.690 --> 00:40:03.150
into Australia and all these other places, South

00:40:03.150 --> 00:40:06.929
Africa, New Zealand, and even South America where

00:40:06.929 --> 00:40:10.630
the dairy industry was getting a start on. So

00:40:10.630 --> 00:40:13.150
what's happened to the Illawarra shorehorn? Well,

00:40:13.369 --> 00:40:16.530
they're a dying breed. There's not many farmers

00:40:16.530 --> 00:40:19.289
now who still farm the Illawarras. Because they

00:40:19.289 --> 00:40:20.530
were big for a while, weren't they? They were

00:40:20.530 --> 00:40:24.190
huge in the area. I think the problem was a lack

00:40:24.190 --> 00:40:28.130
of... Because they were only in Australia, basically,

00:40:28.349 --> 00:40:30.989
originally, there was a lack of numbers and there

00:40:30.989 --> 00:40:34.909
wasn't enough new genetics coming into the breed.

00:40:35.650 --> 00:40:38.469
And I think that's part of the reason they stifled

00:40:38.469 --> 00:40:41.280
the... the growth of them and then I think the

00:40:41.280 --> 00:40:42.900
Holsteins sort of took over the industry because

00:40:42.900 --> 00:40:46.059
the Holsteins sort of were promoted by promoted

00:40:46.059 --> 00:40:49.920
heavily and once they you know the Americans

00:40:49.920 --> 00:40:51.679
used to promote them as the best breed they did

00:40:51.679 --> 00:40:54.179
give more milk but their components like the

00:40:54.179 --> 00:40:57.559
fat and protein were lower and that's when sort

00:40:57.559 --> 00:40:59.840
of it's funny how things work because the Holsteins

00:40:59.840 --> 00:41:02.460
sort of come into the country then everyone wanted

00:41:02.460 --> 00:41:05.579
to drink fresh milk so fresh milk was more important

00:41:05.579 --> 00:41:08.239
than butterfat And so the Holstein Breed sort

00:41:08.239 --> 00:41:11.340
of took over supplying that niche in the market,

00:41:11.400 --> 00:41:14.739
like more volume of milk. Components weren't

00:41:14.739 --> 00:41:17.500
as important. And then everyone wanted to drink

00:41:17.500 --> 00:41:19.719
fresh milk. So they sort of took over the industry.

00:41:19.880 --> 00:41:22.380
And they were heavily promoted. So it actually

00:41:22.380 --> 00:41:25.480
made a bit of a swing back to Jersey. Protein

00:41:25.480 --> 00:41:28.880
and butterfat in the milk. You know, for a while

00:41:28.880 --> 00:41:30.940
there, everyone went off fat. It's, you know,

00:41:30.960 --> 00:41:32.860
fat's bad for you. And then the people come back

00:41:32.860 --> 00:41:35.440
to it and say, oh, no, it's good for you. and

00:41:35.440 --> 00:41:38.679
that sort of thing. But still, the dominant breed,

00:41:38.960 --> 00:41:42.000
and in New Zealand, actually, milk crossbred

00:41:42.000 --> 00:41:45.519
of the Jerseys and the Holsteins. That's by far

00:41:45.519 --> 00:41:47.619
the largest number of cattle that milk, rather

00:41:47.619 --> 00:41:50.480
than pure Holsteins or pure Jerseys. It's the

00:41:50.480 --> 00:41:53.280
crossbreed, because you get a combination of

00:41:53.280 --> 00:41:56.510
extra milk. and extra fat and protein as well.

00:41:56.690 --> 00:41:58.630
And where are they? Big in New Zealand? In New

00:41:58.630 --> 00:42:02.429
Zealand, yeah, huge. About 85 % or around that

00:42:02.429 --> 00:42:04.530
sort of number would be crossbreeds, Holstein

00:42:04.530 --> 00:42:07.110
and Jerseys. And it's actually starting to take

00:42:07.110 --> 00:42:09.590
off a little bit in Australia. What about...

00:42:10.119 --> 00:42:14.119
over your time with milk production and cows,

00:42:14.480 --> 00:42:16.699
was there any, you know, like there's some obvious

00:42:16.699 --> 00:42:19.820
ones that occur, but anything dangerous to the

00:42:19.820 --> 00:42:22.659
industry down here? Oh, well, tuberculosis was

00:42:22.659 --> 00:42:25.260
a big one. Like, you know, people used to, I

00:42:25.260 --> 00:42:27.179
don't know if there's a vaccine for tuberculosis

00:42:27.179 --> 00:42:29.980
or not, but it had to be eradicated. And what

00:42:29.980 --> 00:42:32.219
era is that? Oh, this would be going back in

00:42:32.219 --> 00:42:36.440
the 70s. Yeah, it would have been. TB, as it

00:42:36.440 --> 00:42:40.239
was called. So we had big eradication programs

00:42:40.239 --> 00:42:43.539
where the district vets would come and blood

00:42:43.539 --> 00:42:45.840
test your animals and make sure that you didn't

00:42:45.840 --> 00:42:49.340
have it. And if you did, they were eradicated

00:42:49.340 --> 00:42:52.019
sort of thing. Anything that was slightly positive,

00:42:52.139 --> 00:42:56.239
they had a test. Even if they didn't have it,

00:42:56.260 --> 00:42:57.420
they used to get rid of them in case they did

00:42:57.420 --> 00:42:59.900
because they had a slight indicator on the test

00:42:59.900 --> 00:43:02.940
that there might be a problem. But I think you

00:43:02.940 --> 00:43:05.159
were compensated for those in those days for

00:43:05.159 --> 00:43:08.920
the cattle that you lost. And later on, there's

00:43:08.920 --> 00:43:12.380
been other different diseases come. Leptospirosis

00:43:12.380 --> 00:43:14.780
is another one that we vaccinate for now. So

00:43:14.780 --> 00:43:18.780
most of the diseases, if they become of economic

00:43:18.780 --> 00:43:22.199
consequence, the companies develop a vaccine.

00:43:22.219 --> 00:43:25.360
So they see it opening for a vaccine, they develop

00:43:25.360 --> 00:43:28.519
a vaccine, which they have for a lot of the common

00:43:28.519 --> 00:43:32.260
diseases. So vaccinate for pinkeye and three

00:43:32.260 --> 00:43:35.780
-day sickness and all sorts of things. So you

00:43:35.780 --> 00:43:41.159
stayed in the industry. Yeah, yeah, it's a funny

00:43:41.159 --> 00:43:46.659
story. Yeah, well, tell us. Well, so my father

00:43:46.659 --> 00:43:50.260
passed away at 59 when I was 15. None of the

00:43:50.260 --> 00:43:51.960
other family members were interested in dairying.

00:43:52.280 --> 00:43:54.380
Mum said to me one day, oh, she was going to

00:43:54.380 --> 00:43:57.079
sell the farm because I have a disabled brother

00:43:57.079 --> 00:44:01.219
who's five years younger than me. He was quite

00:44:01.219 --> 00:44:04.139
physically and mentally disabled, although he

00:44:04.139 --> 00:44:06.829
was able, but like he was still. Mum used to

00:44:06.829 --> 00:44:08.530
look after him and there wasn't a lot of care,

00:44:08.690 --> 00:44:11.530
although he did go to Havenlea. So she just said

00:44:11.530 --> 00:44:13.869
that she'd had enough and she'd tried share farms

00:44:13.869 --> 00:44:15.030
and this and that and she was going to sell the

00:44:15.030 --> 00:44:17.389
farm. If she wanted to keep the farm, I had to

00:44:17.389 --> 00:44:18.849
leave school and come and look after it, which

00:44:18.849 --> 00:44:21.789
is what I did. So I don't regret that for a second.

00:44:22.510 --> 00:44:26.429
So when I was 15 or 16, I left school and started

00:44:26.429 --> 00:44:29.710
farming. Big responsibility for you. School hard

00:44:29.710 --> 00:44:34.039
knocks, yeah, yeah. I helped work with a share

00:44:34.039 --> 00:44:35.519
farmer. How did you go with it? Yeah, tell me.

00:44:35.880 --> 00:44:38.260
Oh, well, look, it was what I wanted to do and

00:44:38.260 --> 00:44:41.639
I loved doing it. So I never really thought twice

00:44:41.639 --> 00:44:44.239
about it. It's just I loved doing it. So you

00:44:44.239 --> 00:44:46.780
worked with share farmers. So you mean at Turner's

00:44:46.780 --> 00:44:49.400
Lane? Yeah, at Turner's Lane, yeah. So some families

00:44:49.400 --> 00:44:51.619
came and share farmed. Yeah, well, I thought

00:44:51.619 --> 00:44:54.119
the family thought I was too young to be there

00:44:54.119 --> 00:44:55.659
on my own, like running the farm, even though

00:44:55.659 --> 00:44:57.219
Mum was there. I was still living at home with

00:44:57.219 --> 00:45:01.260
Mum. How does share farming work? Oh, well, basically,

00:45:01.719 --> 00:45:04.059
there was a different way, a few different ways,

00:45:04.139 --> 00:45:06.659
but you've got a percentage. With you, with you.

00:45:06.820 --> 00:45:10.940
Oh, well, the farm, the share farmer got a percentage

00:45:10.940 --> 00:45:14.300
of the milk check. So it was a third, and it

00:45:14.300 --> 00:45:16.139
depended if they supplied labour or they didn't

00:45:16.139 --> 00:45:18.340
supply labour. If they did all the work, it could

00:45:18.340 --> 00:45:21.519
have been 50 -50. So most things were based on

00:45:21.519 --> 00:45:24.039
the milk check. But some of the farmers had a

00:45:24.039 --> 00:45:28.039
number of cows they milked. Did they live there

00:45:28.039 --> 00:45:30.019
or did they? Well, yeah, they did. We did provide

00:45:30.019 --> 00:45:32.360
a house for them. So that was pretty much essential.

00:45:32.440 --> 00:45:33.739
If you wanted to have a share farm, you had to

00:45:33.739 --> 00:45:35.699
provide a house for them on the farm. Is that

00:45:35.699 --> 00:45:39.900
still there? Yeah, it was. See, the farm just

00:45:39.900 --> 00:45:42.699
hasn't been a farm. So, like, in 59, we bought

00:45:42.699 --> 00:45:46.760
120 acres. Like, this is Mum and Dad. Where?

00:45:46.900 --> 00:45:50.840
At Ternus Lane. Yes. Yeah. So then they bought

00:45:50.840 --> 00:45:55.519
in, so it was 59, so probably in 65, they bought

00:45:55.519 --> 00:45:59.260
another 100 acres down the road. And then in

00:45:59.260 --> 00:46:02.940
66, 67, 68, somewhere around there, they bought

00:46:02.940 --> 00:46:06.320
another 90 acres down the road. So when you say

00:46:06.320 --> 00:46:08.119
down the road, you mean Turner's Lane? Turner's

00:46:08.119 --> 00:46:10.460
Lane, yeah, yeah, that's right. Who is Turner's

00:46:10.460 --> 00:46:13.559
Lane named after? Well, it must be the farm we

00:46:13.559 --> 00:46:15.739
bought was Turner's Farm. So basically all the

00:46:15.739 --> 00:46:17.900
farms in Turner's Lane belonged to Turner's originally.

00:46:18.639 --> 00:46:21.139
I've heard of Les Turner. Les Turner, yeah. Well,

00:46:21.219 --> 00:46:23.300
he lived down the road and he owned 90 acres,

00:46:23.460 --> 00:46:26.739
which ironically we don't own his farm. But there

00:46:26.739 --> 00:46:29.699
were Turner's there and there was Miller's and

00:46:29.699 --> 00:46:33.760
there was Duffy's. And we own all those farms

00:46:33.760 --> 00:46:38.360
now. We sort of bought... 120, then 97, and then

00:46:38.360 --> 00:46:41.920
94 acres. So total acres in Turner's Lane that

00:46:41.920 --> 00:46:44.320
you currently farm? Well, it'd be about 400.

00:46:44.440 --> 00:46:48.480
So Sue and I bought 100 acres off Manildra, which

00:46:48.480 --> 00:46:51.059
we joined to the farm. We had to have a good

00:46:51.059 --> 00:46:53.539
relationship with the bank manager, so it was

00:46:53.539 --> 00:46:56.260
all borrowed money, of course. We tried to buy

00:46:56.260 --> 00:46:58.500
other land. It's actually been interesting that

00:46:58.500 --> 00:47:02.000
when Manildra came into the area, they're all

00:47:02.000 --> 00:47:04.360
around us, so it became difficult for us to buy

00:47:04.360 --> 00:47:06.360
land. We would have liked to have bought more

00:47:06.360 --> 00:47:09.400
land in the area, but they always had deeper

00:47:09.400 --> 00:47:13.239
pockets because they wanted to expand their environmental

00:47:13.239 --> 00:47:16.360
farm. And they actually offered to buy our farm,

00:47:16.400 --> 00:47:17.960
which we haven't sold them. We've actually ended

00:47:17.960 --> 00:47:22.719
up buying a bit of their farm because it's funny

00:47:22.719 --> 00:47:24.800
how it works out. So what does the land give

00:47:24.800 --> 00:47:27.840
you? Well, so basically you're growing grass

00:47:27.840 --> 00:47:31.119
for cattle. And the more grass you can put into

00:47:31.119 --> 00:47:33.909
the cattle, the more income you make. A third

00:47:33.909 --> 00:47:37.190
of the cow's diet comes from grain and then the

00:47:37.190 --> 00:47:39.789
better quality grass you can put in. So we're

00:47:39.789 --> 00:47:41.530
always trying to grow good quality grass, ryegrass,

00:47:41.630 --> 00:47:44.510
clovers, to try and feed the cattle and try and

00:47:44.510 --> 00:47:47.050
get most of our milk income from grass. So that

00:47:47.050 --> 00:47:49.730
leaves more profit in your back pocket so you

00:47:49.730 --> 00:47:51.789
can pay your loans off at the end of the day.

00:47:52.210 --> 00:47:55.929
So the more land you own, the more grass you

00:47:55.929 --> 00:47:58.829
can grow, the more cows you can milk, the more

00:47:58.829 --> 00:48:01.619
profitable you can be. If we were still milking

00:48:01.619 --> 00:48:04.119
60 cows now, we wouldn't be able to survive in

00:48:04.119 --> 00:48:05.820
the dairy industry. So we're milking now 330

00:48:05.820 --> 00:48:09.280
at the moment. That's the most we've ever milked.

00:48:09.619 --> 00:48:12.119
And that's because we've now got 400 acres of

00:48:12.119 --> 00:48:16.619
total land for the cattle to graze on. And you

00:48:16.619 --> 00:48:19.579
sell grass as well? Oh, no, not very rarely.

00:48:19.679 --> 00:48:23.920
No, no, we don't. Any excess feed, well, when

00:48:23.920 --> 00:48:26.739
we say excess feed, we normally try and conserve

00:48:26.739 --> 00:48:29.619
feed in the springtime. Because we know winter's

00:48:29.619 --> 00:48:33.139
going to come and some of our land floods. You

00:48:33.139 --> 00:48:35.659
know, we get big floods. It's low -lying land.

00:48:35.880 --> 00:48:38.400
And so then we know we have to feed out the hay

00:48:38.400 --> 00:48:41.239
and any excess feed to the cattle to keep them,

00:48:41.300 --> 00:48:45.019
you know, get through the winters. Who are your

00:48:45.019 --> 00:48:48.320
siblings? Can you name them and how many? Well,

00:48:48.400 --> 00:48:51.059
Margaret's my oldest sister and then Dorothy,

00:48:51.260 --> 00:48:55.099
she's second. Then Peter's my brother, Kevin's

00:48:55.099 --> 00:48:57.300
my brother and then there's myself and then Mark.

00:48:57.659 --> 00:48:59.840
He's my youngest brother. He's the disabled one.

00:49:00.519 --> 00:49:05.199
He's still 60 though, so it wasn't as imagined

00:49:05.199 --> 00:49:07.039
he was going to ever get to 60 when he was born.

00:49:07.500 --> 00:49:09.739
It's quite amazing, isn't it? Yeah, yeah. Big

00:49:09.739 --> 00:49:11.820
responsibility for your mum with your father

00:49:11.820 --> 00:49:15.260
dying. Yeah, yeah, it was a lot in a small period

00:49:15.260 --> 00:49:18.340
of time. Yeah, he was, well, I injured my foot

00:49:18.340 --> 00:49:20.760
badly when I was five and mum was in hospital.

00:49:21.139 --> 00:49:24.099
She had a tumour. which is part of the reason

00:49:24.099 --> 00:49:26.179
Mark's disabled. She didn't know it at the time.

00:49:26.659 --> 00:49:29.519
Passed out on the table a couple of times, had

00:49:29.519 --> 00:49:30.900
to be brought back to life because of the loss

00:49:30.900 --> 00:49:34.099
of blood. And she has quite a rare blood type,

00:49:34.199 --> 00:49:37.960
so at the hospital people had to ring to come

00:49:37.960 --> 00:49:42.559
in to donate blood to keep her alive. What hospital

00:49:42.559 --> 00:49:44.639
was that? That was in our hospital, in Shellhaven

00:49:44.639 --> 00:49:47.539
Hospital, yeah. In what era? That would be 1964.

00:49:51.099 --> 00:49:54.059
1964 Mark was born. And so they had a list of

00:49:54.059 --> 00:49:56.719
people they'd ring to come in to get blood, to

00:49:56.719 --> 00:49:59.440
donate blood to, you know, this rare blood type.

00:49:59.860 --> 00:50:01.539
And actually it's interesting because my daughter

00:50:01.539 --> 00:50:03.440
has the same rare blood type, which is, you know,

00:50:03.440 --> 00:50:06.099
follows through. Talk about when you got married

00:50:06.099 --> 00:50:09.699
and who you married. Well, sure. I got married

00:50:09.699 --> 00:50:16.119
in 1980. Married Sue McIntosh. Her family...

00:50:17.000 --> 00:50:19.280
did dairy farming in Kangaroo Valley at one stage,

00:50:19.360 --> 00:50:21.840
but since when I met her, that sold the farm.

00:50:22.780 --> 00:50:25.119
But she was very knowledgeable about dairy farming,

00:50:25.260 --> 00:50:31.559
so obviously a good catch. You're laughing. Was

00:50:31.559 --> 00:50:35.119
she a good work partner? Yeah, no, no, no. She

00:50:35.119 --> 00:50:37.619
was a lovely person. I went to high school with

00:50:37.619 --> 00:50:39.599
her, actually. She was younger than me, so I

00:50:39.599 --> 00:50:42.119
knew a bit from high school. Where was high school?

00:50:42.239 --> 00:50:44.780
Bowery High School, yeah. So it had only recently

00:50:44.780 --> 00:50:47.059
been opened. Well, about five years when I went

00:50:47.059 --> 00:50:50.840
there, so... And your kids, you know, are pretty.

00:50:51.019 --> 00:50:53.480
I'll get to you. You've got two kids? Two children,

00:50:53.579 --> 00:50:57.380
yeah. And their names? Justin and Melanie. And

00:50:57.380 --> 00:51:00.719
who did they marry? Well, Justin married Libby

00:51:00.719 --> 00:51:03.739
Williams. Her father was a local doctor. And

00:51:03.739 --> 00:51:07.820
Melanie married Lane Green. He was a Kiwi. He's

00:51:07.820 --> 00:51:09.679
a Kiwi and he was over here playing football.

00:51:10.019 --> 00:51:12.039
He was hoping to play in the NRL, but I think...

00:51:12.039 --> 00:51:14.440
But tragically, his father was killed in a mining

00:51:14.440 --> 00:51:17.539
accident in... in New Zealand, in the South Island,

00:51:17.820 --> 00:51:22.719
and that interfered with his plans. But anyhow,

00:51:22.800 --> 00:51:26.039
he was lucky he met Mel. And what a gorgeous

00:51:26.039 --> 00:51:28.179
family they are. Yeah, they're a lovely family.

00:51:28.199 --> 00:51:30.960
He has four children. And now, look, there's

00:51:30.960 --> 00:51:33.960
a bit of athletic activity going on in that family.

00:51:34.699 --> 00:51:37.780
So did you play sport yourself? Well, I did.

00:51:37.900 --> 00:51:40.059
I always played local football, but it's sort

00:51:40.059 --> 00:51:45.840
of junior football at Bury. As I tell my grandchildren,

00:51:46.019 --> 00:51:48.500
things were different in those days. Mum and

00:51:48.500 --> 00:51:50.360
Dad didn't have Saturdays off to go to the football.

00:51:50.539 --> 00:51:53.340
They used to work and I used to get cars around

00:51:53.340 --> 00:51:55.800
all Milton and in the back of a station wagon.

00:51:55.940 --> 00:51:58.579
Half the team would go in one car and half the

00:51:58.579 --> 00:52:01.460
team wouldn't go in the other car. Mum was sort

00:52:01.460 --> 00:52:04.380
of at home with Mark. He didn't travel very well

00:52:04.380 --> 00:52:07.460
and Dad would come occasionally. They hardly

00:52:07.460 --> 00:52:09.199
ever went to the football to watch the football

00:52:09.199 --> 00:52:11.869
but I loved playing football so I played. until

00:52:11.869 --> 00:52:14.369
I was 16 or 17 or 18. Have you been able to go

00:52:14.369 --> 00:52:17.809
on holidays much? Oh, not in the early days,

00:52:17.929 --> 00:52:20.309
but as my son Justin sort of says, because he's

00:52:20.309 --> 00:52:23.150
busy farming, he revolves his whole farm around

00:52:23.150 --> 00:52:25.250
going on holidays, having a holiday every year.

00:52:25.489 --> 00:52:29.250
So most farms in the local area have year -round

00:52:29.250 --> 00:52:32.889
calving. So he's gone to seasonal calving, where

00:52:32.889 --> 00:52:35.110
he calves only two batches of cattle twice a

00:52:35.110 --> 00:52:37.690
year, and that's based on not having any cattle

00:52:37.690 --> 00:52:41.590
calve at Christmas time. And so he goes on holidays

00:52:41.590 --> 00:52:43.469
then. Hence he's going on holiday in January.

00:52:44.170 --> 00:52:51.070
So it seems to be a workable system. So he concentrates

00:52:51.070 --> 00:52:53.449
all his calving and getting in calf at two parts

00:52:53.449 --> 00:52:55.869
of the times of the year. So that's based on

00:52:55.869 --> 00:52:58.510
when he wants to have a holiday. And also milk

00:52:58.510 --> 00:53:00.309
price. I shouldn't say it's just based on that.

00:53:01.150 --> 00:53:03.590
So it sort of lines up with the profitability

00:53:03.590 --> 00:53:07.300
of we don't get a flat price for our milk. we

00:53:07.300 --> 00:53:09.460
get most of the higher price for our milk in

00:53:09.460 --> 00:53:12.199
wintertime. So we make sure we have most of our

00:53:12.199 --> 00:53:17.940
cows calving that coincides with the... Pricing.

00:53:17.940 --> 00:53:22.119
Pricing, yeah. To maximise that. Yeah. So you're

00:53:22.119 --> 00:53:25.420
quite... You've got some land at Koolangatta

00:53:25.420 --> 00:53:26.980
as well. Yeah, that's right. Where's that from?

00:53:27.280 --> 00:53:29.699
Well, that's part of the Bryce's estate. So that

00:53:29.699 --> 00:53:33.840
was left to Mum when her brother died, or her

00:53:33.840 --> 00:53:36.340
father died, and it went to her brother. Well,

00:53:36.360 --> 00:53:39.420
actually, he used to use it, and then it was

00:53:39.420 --> 00:53:42.320
always to go to Mum once he wasn't dairy farming

00:53:42.320 --> 00:53:45.519
anymore. So it's transferred to Mum, and now

00:53:45.519 --> 00:53:48.179
it's transferred to the three brothers that are

00:53:48.179 --> 00:53:51.559
left. You? Yeah, Peter and Kevin. Do they farm?

00:53:52.000 --> 00:53:54.599
No, they don't farm, so we're the only ones who

00:53:54.599 --> 00:53:56.760
use it. Peter did farm for a while, actually,

00:53:56.900 --> 00:54:00.480
with me, like when we took over the farm, after

00:54:00.480 --> 00:54:03.239
we got rid of the dodgy share farmers. So tell

00:54:03.239 --> 00:54:05.980
me about you, about what you do for the dairy

00:54:05.980 --> 00:54:08.199
industry. Like, do you have a history of, like,

00:54:08.260 --> 00:54:10.920
everyone calls you Walshy, I've heard. Oh, right.

00:54:11.179 --> 00:54:13.659
And, well, they do, the blokes. Oh, there's Walshy

00:54:13.659 --> 00:54:15.619
or whatever. And I think, oh, yes, that's Cole.

00:54:16.000 --> 00:54:20.000
So tell me what you, are you involved actively?

00:54:20.199 --> 00:54:22.119
What are you doing? Well, I used to be involved

00:54:22.119 --> 00:54:23.960
with the New South Wales Dairy Farmers Association

00:54:23.960 --> 00:54:26.300
for a long time. That was the sort of the union

00:54:26.300 --> 00:54:28.860
of farmers, basically, which used to have input

00:54:28.860 --> 00:54:32.849
to dairy policy. That's sort of since I'm not

00:54:32.849 --> 00:54:35.309
as active as I used to be now. It's sort of folded

00:54:35.309 --> 00:54:37.010
a bit and folded into the New South Wales Farmers

00:54:37.010 --> 00:54:39.550
Association. But I've been very involved with

00:54:39.550 --> 00:54:42.309
the Berry Show, a local show. I'm a life member

00:54:42.309 --> 00:54:47.829
now, so over 40 years. How important is the Berry

00:54:47.829 --> 00:54:49.929
Show? Well, I think it's very important to the

00:54:49.929 --> 00:54:53.980
community. I love the history. Like looking at

00:54:53.980 --> 00:54:56.219
the old photos and love the history of being

00:54:56.219 --> 00:54:58.360
involved with an association that's been going

00:54:58.360 --> 00:55:02.039
for 125 years or 135 years or whatever it is

00:55:02.039 --> 00:55:03.699
now. You just think of all the people who have

00:55:03.699 --> 00:55:06.739
gone before you and the great characters. See,

00:55:06.800 --> 00:55:09.260
it's a funny thing, you know, like when my dad

00:55:09.260 --> 00:55:10.659
passed away, I think I was sort of attracted

00:55:10.659 --> 00:55:13.199
to older people to learn the history of the district.

00:55:14.119 --> 00:55:17.219
And I used to love going to the meetings. And

00:55:17.219 --> 00:55:19.079
then not only that, after the meetings you talk

00:55:19.079 --> 00:55:21.800
to people like Keith Miller and Bruce McIntosh.

00:55:22.360 --> 00:55:25.380
Cole Sharp and people who, you know, older generations,

00:55:25.739 --> 00:55:28.139
you'd hear about all the stories of the past.

00:55:28.519 --> 00:55:31.920
And I used to love that sort of thing. So I think

00:55:31.920 --> 00:55:34.659
I was attracted to the history and talking to

00:55:34.659 --> 00:55:37.000
old farmers about learning about things that

00:55:37.000 --> 00:55:39.199
perhaps I didn't learn from my dad. So, yeah,

00:55:39.300 --> 00:55:43.099
that's an ironic thing too because his two sisters

00:55:43.099 --> 00:55:45.659
lived to be 100 and his brother lived to be 99.

00:55:46.380 --> 00:55:48.119
And his other brother lived to be 91, and he

00:55:48.119 --> 00:55:50.179
passed away at 59. So I always think I was a

00:55:50.179 --> 00:55:52.519
bit ripped off. What did he die of? Tired of

00:55:52.519 --> 00:55:54.380
a heart attack, yeah. Yeah, well, he had two

00:55:54.380 --> 00:55:57.340
heart attacks. He had one, and then they thought

00:55:57.340 --> 00:55:58.900
he was all right. And actually, I was away at

00:55:58.900 --> 00:56:01.440
the Orange when I was in high school. I don't

00:56:01.440 --> 00:56:03.480
know if you want to hear this. Yes, I do. I was

00:56:03.480 --> 00:56:07.559
away with an excursion. We went to Orange Field

00:56:07.559 --> 00:56:11.300
Days, an excursion every year. And I was away

00:56:11.300 --> 00:56:13.059
at the field day when Dad passed away. So it

00:56:13.059 --> 00:56:15.409
was a big, complete shock that he... And they

00:56:15.409 --> 00:56:18.590
didn't tell me until I came back. So I come back

00:56:18.590 --> 00:56:20.369
on the Friday night and then there was a funeral

00:56:20.369 --> 00:56:23.010
organised for Saturday. So it was all a bit...

00:56:23.010 --> 00:56:24.750
I was only talking about it to Sue the other

00:56:24.750 --> 00:56:27.329
day. It was all a bit rushed and all a bit, you

00:56:27.329 --> 00:56:30.030
know... Bit of a shock. Got home, oh, Dad's passed

00:56:30.030 --> 00:56:32.110
away. The funeral's on tomorrow at 10 o 'clock.

00:56:32.309 --> 00:56:35.489
Go and have a shower. So when was the funeral

00:56:35.489 --> 00:56:37.550
and how big was it? Oh, it was a huge funeral,

00:56:37.590 --> 00:56:40.769
yeah. So, yeah, because that was... The whole

00:56:40.769 --> 00:56:42.309
Walsh family were all known in the district.

00:56:42.829 --> 00:56:45.610
Because he used to play in a band. Originally,

00:56:46.110 --> 00:56:48.449
it was the Walsh family band. And then he'd go

00:56:48.449 --> 00:56:50.929
and play in all the old -time dances at Tomarong

00:56:50.929 --> 00:56:54.349
and Upper Kangaroo River and all around the area.

00:56:54.429 --> 00:56:55.909
And he used to play at some of the local clubs

00:56:55.909 --> 00:56:58.329
as well on Saturday night. What instrument? Well,

00:56:58.349 --> 00:57:01.730
he'd play the drums and the sax. So, yeah. But

00:57:01.730 --> 00:57:03.409
all the Walshes, when they had a family band,

00:57:03.570 --> 00:57:06.289
they used to play different instruments. And

00:57:06.289 --> 00:57:08.820
Sheila used to sing. Vonnie was a great singer

00:57:08.820 --> 00:57:11.820
as well, but she was a bit younger. She wasn't

00:57:11.820 --> 00:57:14.340
originally part of the band, but she was a fantastic

00:57:14.340 --> 00:57:17.440
singer. Frank's funeral was huge, like, you know,

00:57:17.480 --> 00:57:20.119
massive. And in those days you didn't have funerals

00:57:20.119 --> 00:57:22.539
on Saturday morning, but they got permission

00:57:22.539 --> 00:57:26.539
to do so. But it was all a bit rushed for me.

00:57:28.159 --> 00:57:30.239
But anyhow, you just get on with it, I suppose.

00:57:30.579 --> 00:57:34.000
And Mum lived to be 92, so she was a great support.

00:57:34.980 --> 00:57:38.480
And she looked after Mark at home. until she

00:57:38.480 --> 00:57:40.380
had a fall, fell over and fractured her skull,

00:57:40.559 --> 00:57:43.559
had two bleeds on the brain or three bleeds on

00:57:43.559 --> 00:57:46.699
the brain. But she survived, but it was sort

00:57:46.699 --> 00:57:49.460
of decided that Mark should go into care then,

00:57:49.500 --> 00:57:53.119
so she didn't have to look after him as much

00:57:53.119 --> 00:57:55.780
at home. But he's still in care now, and he gets

00:57:55.780 --> 00:57:57.679
looked after by Care South, and they're very

00:57:57.679 --> 00:58:01.760
good to him. Do you see him? I do see him, yeah.

00:58:01.860 --> 00:58:04.539
I see him at different times, and he comes out.

00:58:04.559 --> 00:58:07.639
The carers bring him out to the farm. and that

00:58:07.639 --> 00:58:09.599
sort of thing which he loves he's still got a

00:58:09.599 --> 00:58:12.159
very good memory of his days on the farm because

00:58:12.159 --> 00:58:14.900
he's in his wheelchair down now but originally

00:58:14.900 --> 00:58:17.400
he wasn't he could even though he's had paralysis

00:58:17.400 --> 00:58:20.599
on sort of appalled on one side or his right

00:58:20.599 --> 00:58:23.320
side he could get around the farm with his limp

00:58:23.320 --> 00:58:25.860
and he used to get her he could walk two or three

00:58:25.860 --> 00:58:28.179
kilometers easily and get the cows and move hay

00:58:28.179 --> 00:58:30.639
bales on the ground when we're bailing so and

00:58:30.639 --> 00:58:32.260
he used to love that he used to love helping

00:58:32.260 --> 00:58:36.260
and he'd get in the pit and help try and help

00:58:36.760 --> 00:58:38.420
But sometimes when we hoisted a herd recorder,

00:58:38.480 --> 00:58:39.780
it got a bit much for him. There was a fair bit

00:58:39.780 --> 00:58:43.739
happening. He couldn't always cope with too much

00:58:43.739 --> 00:58:47.559
at one time. So we had to take him home at times.

00:58:48.679 --> 00:58:51.880
That was usually left to me. Do you remember

00:58:51.880 --> 00:58:54.440
taking the cans? Where were they collected? On

00:58:54.440 --> 00:58:56.500
Turner's Lane? Oh, yeah, they were. Yeah, we

00:58:56.500 --> 00:58:57.980
used to take them down the tractor or on the

00:58:57.980 --> 00:59:00.239
trailer or a carrier or a slide. Actually, that's

00:59:00.239 --> 00:59:04.000
how I hurt my foot when I was five. Sometimes

00:59:04.000 --> 00:59:06.960
the cans wouldn't all fit on there. on the trailer

00:59:06.960 --> 00:59:09.320
and we had a device put on the three -point linkage

00:59:09.320 --> 00:59:12.079
arms at the back of the tractor and the one time

00:59:12.079 --> 00:59:14.940
I had my foot on it this is when I was five and

00:59:14.940 --> 00:59:18.139
got my foot squashed between the three -point

00:59:18.139 --> 00:59:22.659
linkage arms and the PTO shaft so and that's

00:59:22.659 --> 00:59:24.239
that was a funny story because I ended up in

00:59:24.239 --> 00:59:26.980
hospital with that my foot was split open I still

00:59:26.980 --> 00:59:28.480
remember because that was when Mark was born

00:59:28.480 --> 00:59:31.699
because so they left me in hospital because mum

00:59:31.699 --> 00:59:34.909
was in hospital had Mark Like he was born premature.

00:59:35.289 --> 00:59:37.130
And they thought the best place for me was in

00:59:37.130 --> 00:59:38.670
hospital because there was no one home to look

00:59:38.670 --> 00:59:40.969
after me. Mum was in hospital. She took months

00:59:40.969 --> 00:59:44.469
to recover from, you know, the loss of blood

00:59:44.469 --> 00:59:47.090
and the birth and the tumour they had to remove.

00:59:47.789 --> 00:59:52.550
And I remember being in bed for months and months,

00:59:52.630 --> 00:59:56.150
like, recovery. And we had a carer who came and

00:59:56.150 --> 01:00:00.130
looked after us. What's her name? Leela O 'Keefe.

01:00:00.269 --> 01:00:02.719
Like, she's passed away now. Was that part of

01:00:02.719 --> 01:00:05.179
O 'Keefe's lane? Yeah, well, yeah, she was related

01:00:05.179 --> 01:00:07.300
then, yeah, that's right. Yeah, the same family,

01:00:07.380 --> 01:00:10.139
yeah. Do you remember much about O 'Keefe? Oh,

01:00:10.139 --> 01:00:14.539
not a lot, but actually Pat O 'Keefe, who I remember

01:00:14.539 --> 01:00:17.139
when he passed away, I don't think he passed

01:00:17.139 --> 01:00:18.920
away or he left the show society, but I got his

01:00:18.920 --> 01:00:21.639
spot on the show society, so it was a bit like

01:00:21.639 --> 01:00:24.519
that. You had to have a spot, you know, so get

01:00:24.519 --> 01:00:27.019
on the show society. And how do you go showing

01:00:27.019 --> 01:00:30.230
your calves and cows? Oh, we've been... relatively

01:00:30.230 --> 01:00:32.349
successful since we got into the purebred cattle.

01:00:32.489 --> 01:00:35.710
So we've had supreme champion at the Royal Easter

01:00:35.710 --> 01:00:37.369
Show in Sydney two years in a row. That's our

01:00:37.369 --> 01:00:40.329
highest claim to fame. When was that? Oh, it

01:00:40.329 --> 01:00:44.889
would have been 2017, 2016, or 17, 18, one or

01:00:44.889 --> 01:00:47.389
the other. We had a best started cow at Dairy

01:00:47.389 --> 01:00:50.010
Week, which is the biggest show now. So, yeah,

01:00:50.170 --> 01:00:53.710
so that was quite an achievement too. That's

01:00:53.710 --> 01:00:55.170
the biggest show at the Royal Easter Show now

01:00:55.170 --> 01:00:58.630
at Tutura every year, International Dairy Week.

01:00:59.039 --> 01:01:01.000
So that was probably our two biggest claims to

01:01:01.000 --> 01:01:03.739
fame. So when you're talking about some of those

01:01:03.739 --> 01:01:07.719
older farmers from Berry Co -op, were they? Yeah,

01:01:07.719 --> 01:01:11.360
Berry. We used to supply Shellhaven Co -op, but

01:01:11.360 --> 01:01:14.199
most of the people I know supplied Berry Co -op.

01:01:14.340 --> 01:01:16.320
You know, like there was different co -ops in

01:01:16.320 --> 01:01:19.960
those days. The Bryce's supplied Berry Co -op

01:01:19.960 --> 01:01:23.099
and the Miller's and the Bowley's and the O 'Keeffe's

01:01:23.099 --> 01:01:25.639
and all those sort of people supplied Berry Co

01:01:25.639 --> 01:01:28.300
-op. Most of the people from Torreira and that

01:01:28.300 --> 01:01:31.780
supplied Shulhaven Cop, you know, the Boyds and

01:01:31.780 --> 01:01:35.039
all the Crawfords and all those people and the

01:01:35.039 --> 01:01:40.219
Hearns. And you supplied Shulhaven? Yeah, I supplied

01:01:40.219 --> 01:01:43.619
Shulhaven Cop, yes. Turner's, Turner's Lane.

01:01:43.900 --> 01:01:45.679
Turner's Lane, that's right. You could choose

01:01:45.679 --> 01:01:48.199
who to supply in those days and there used to

01:01:48.199 --> 01:01:50.920
be two, there used to be Horlicks, where Mildred

01:01:50.920 --> 01:01:55.150
currently have got their plant now. That used

01:01:55.150 --> 01:01:58.849
to be a dairy factory and it was called Horlicks.

01:01:59.030 --> 01:02:01.650
So the two, they used to compete for milk, Shalovan

01:02:01.650 --> 01:02:03.489
Dairy Company and Horlicks. And there was Berry

01:02:03.489 --> 01:02:08.670
as well. But they used to compete for milk. So

01:02:08.670 --> 01:02:11.510
Horlicks used to make different products out

01:02:11.510 --> 01:02:15.849
of the milk. Were they making the baby food?

01:02:15.989 --> 01:02:17.170
Yeah, I think they were. They weren't in the

01:02:17.170 --> 01:02:18.909
fresh milk. Horlicks, they weren't in the fresh

01:02:18.909 --> 01:02:21.250
milk. They're more powders. Was there a protein

01:02:21.250 --> 01:02:24.519
powder? Horlicks was a drink, I think. Was it

01:02:24.519 --> 01:02:26.320
an international company? Yeah, I think it was.

01:02:26.420 --> 01:02:28.179
I think they were based in Europe or something

01:02:28.179 --> 01:02:30.659
like that, yeah. And the other co -ops, were

01:02:30.659 --> 01:02:32.619
they owned collectively? They were owned by local

01:02:32.619 --> 01:02:36.079
farmers, yeah. Yeah, that was a difference. So

01:02:36.079 --> 01:02:39.519
what buildings currently exist on your farm that

01:02:39.519 --> 01:02:43.780
were there when you purchased? Oh, well, there's

01:02:43.780 --> 01:02:47.159
not many. There's a shed and a silo, a concrete

01:02:47.159 --> 01:02:50.530
silo. The original dairy is still there. The

01:02:50.530 --> 01:02:52.030
original walk -through, we haven't pulled it

01:02:52.030 --> 01:02:53.710
down. I think we're probably supposed to have,

01:02:53.829 --> 01:02:57.789
but yeah, so... I might go and photograph that

01:02:57.789 --> 01:03:00.610
with you one day. Yeah, it's a bit of a... Not

01:03:00.610 --> 01:03:03.070
in great condition, but it's still there. We

01:03:03.070 --> 01:03:05.170
used to use it as a calf shed at one time. That's

01:03:05.170 --> 01:03:08.150
one stage. But the original hay shed sort of

01:03:08.150 --> 01:03:10.349
formed down a bit, so... And then we've got three

01:03:10.349 --> 01:03:13.429
grain silos as well, because we grain... We roll

01:03:13.429 --> 01:03:15.909
our... We've got a disc miller. We might crush

01:03:15.909 --> 01:03:19.320
our own grain for our... Dairy cattle. Is there

01:03:19.320 --> 01:03:22.199
anything you wanted to say? Oh, just how grateful

01:03:22.199 --> 01:03:24.880
I am to my parents for having the foresight to

01:03:24.880 --> 01:03:26.920
move there. It's a beautiful place where you

01:03:26.920 --> 01:03:30.199
are. What do you love about Turner's Lane and

01:03:30.199 --> 01:03:32.860
farming? Mum used to always say to me, she said,

01:03:32.920 --> 01:03:34.880
where else would you rather live? You're close

01:03:34.880 --> 01:03:36.519
to Naira, you're close to Berry, you're close

01:03:36.519 --> 01:03:39.840
to the coast and relatively close to Sydney.

01:03:40.440 --> 01:03:42.340
And I used to think the same thing. And I thought,

01:03:42.400 --> 01:03:43.780
well, I don't think I'd rather live anywhere

01:03:43.780 --> 01:03:46.559
else. When she said to me, do you want to take

01:03:46.559 --> 01:03:48.480
over the farm or keep the farm? I said, of course.

01:03:48.519 --> 01:03:52.280
I just love the area and love the location. I

01:03:52.280 --> 01:03:54.159
suppose I much as love the people in the dairy

01:03:54.159 --> 01:03:56.480
industry as much as I love that too. They seem

01:03:56.480 --> 01:03:59.099
to be salt of the earth people and that sort

01:03:59.099 --> 01:04:02.280
of thing. And there's some new people coming

01:04:02.280 --> 01:04:04.139
into it. Oh, yeah, sure. Yeah, there have been

01:04:04.139 --> 01:04:05.639
new people coming into the dairy industry too.

01:04:05.719 --> 01:04:08.199
And they're lovely people. But the dairy industry

01:04:08.199 --> 01:04:11.659
in these days is more, you've got to have a good,

01:04:11.719 --> 01:04:14.269
you almost need a finance degree to... to make

01:04:14.269 --> 01:04:17.570
a dairy farm profitable. In the old days, not

01:04:17.570 --> 01:04:20.690
every decision was made with, not that they all

01:04:20.690 --> 01:04:22.869
are, but with finance in mind. But you've got

01:04:22.869 --> 01:04:26.409
to be very aware of your costs to make sure that,

01:04:26.409 --> 01:04:28.090
you know, at the end of the day, you've got to

01:04:28.090 --> 01:04:29.610
make a profit too if you want to keep farming

01:04:29.610 --> 01:04:33.409
and reinvest in the farm. Which was very different

01:04:33.409 --> 01:04:36.809
to how dairying started here. Yeah, it is. People

01:04:36.809 --> 01:04:38.690
were just sort of like it was just a lifestyle.

01:04:38.809 --> 01:04:40.389
They were just trying to feed a family, raise

01:04:40.389 --> 01:04:42.989
a family, like in the idea that... You know,

01:04:43.030 --> 01:04:46.730
so, and most farms, the amount of cows they milked

01:04:46.730 --> 01:04:48.329
was relative to the number of children they had.

01:04:48.369 --> 01:04:51.409
So I think you had to have enough to feed your

01:04:51.409 --> 01:04:53.510
family and maybe give some of them jobs and that

01:04:53.510 --> 01:04:55.449
sort of thing. So provide a job for your family.

01:04:56.010 --> 01:04:58.110
What about the Catholic Church? You done much

01:04:58.110 --> 01:05:00.690
with the church? Oh, look, I used to be, I went

01:05:00.690 --> 01:05:03.590
to the school and I didn't, I went to high school.

01:05:03.670 --> 01:05:05.250
I didn't go to Chevalier College like some of

01:05:05.250 --> 01:05:09.789
my brothers did. Ah, yes. That's it. Barrel.

01:05:10.050 --> 01:05:13.480
Barredu. was the location, just down from the

01:05:13.480 --> 01:05:16.940
college. Thank you, Colin, for your chat today

01:05:16.940 --> 01:05:20.300
and sharing your knowledge. And that brings us

01:05:20.300 --> 01:05:23.519
to the end of Episode 8. Episode 9 will be coming

01:05:23.519 --> 01:05:26.880
in a fortnight or so. It's the perfect night

01:05:26.880 --> 01:05:30.500
to listen to this new podcast. It's Teeming with

01:05:30.500 --> 01:05:34.840
Rain. So spread the word and teach the elder

01:05:34.840 --> 01:05:39.059
people how to simply Google the Dairy Lane Project.

01:05:39.900 --> 01:05:43.719
Episode 8. I'll be bringing Episode 9 to you

01:05:43.719 --> 01:05:47.880
shortly. A bit of a surprise again. Anyway, you'll

01:05:47.880 --> 01:05:51.380
look forward to it and so will I. This project

01:05:51.380 --> 01:05:55.559
that I have initiated receives no government

01:05:55.559 --> 01:06:00.559
funding. A donate button has been activated at

01:06:00.559 --> 01:06:06.420
my host podcast site rss .com. All my podcasts

01:06:06.420 --> 01:06:10.219
will be hosted on my own website as well. This

01:06:10.219 --> 01:06:14.599
project is my initiative and my digital investment

01:06:14.599 --> 01:06:18.920
in the region, laying foundations for future

01:06:18.920 --> 01:06:24.539
generations. At its completion, it will be archived

01:06:24.539 --> 01:06:29.179
at Nowra Library through their networks. I also

01:06:29.179 --> 01:06:33.019
offer my services to the wider community. Have

01:06:33.019 --> 01:06:35.699
a look at my business section at my website,

01:06:36.000 --> 01:06:40.519
theresesweeney .com .au. Feel free to get in

01:06:40.519 --> 01:06:43.900
touch with me. Until next time, take care.