Kirkstall

To a fascinating success story of dairy farmers who've revolutionised their dairy herd through genetic testing and interestingly, making the switch from a Jersey Holstein mixed herd to all jerseys.

Chloe and Rodney Brown farm at Kirkstall in southwest Victoria.

Chloe, welcome to Country Today.

So 2021 was the year you had a total rethink.

No worries.

Thank you so much.

Chloe Brown, who is a dairy farmer at Kirkstall in southwest Victoria.

Music Lovely to have you company for the Country Today podcast with me, Libby Price.

The federal government announced last week it will place limits on working holiday visas, commonly called backpacker visas.

Daniel Parkinson is a dairy farmer from Kirkstall near Caroyt, about three and a half hours west of Melbourne.

He says labour is the biggest issue he faces and any change to the migration system could have a big impact on his business.

Yeah, so we milk about 4,000 cows over four dairies and we employ about 15 full-time staff, 95% of which are skilled migrants.

If I'm in another country overseas and I'm travelling, you know, you're cruising around having a good time, You book a job in three months out, there's no guarantees.

Like if something comes up that's more convenient between sort of now and then, you're going to jump at it, aren't you? So I think the three-month thing, that's where it'll fall over.

That was Daniel Parkinson, a dairy farmer from Kirkstall near Koroit, speaking with Warwick Long.

You're listening to The Country Hour.