Putting your goals down on paper gives you the confidence to make business decisions and prepare for long-term success of your dairy farm.
Tracy Gaut and Sara-Jane Rea are dairy farmers from South-west Victoria who are at different stages of their farming journey. With Dairy Australia’s Our Farm, Our Plan, Sara-Jane and Tracy have been supported to identify their individual goals and guided through the steps to achievement.
Tracy is from Cooriemungle and has spent her whole life in dairy farming. She is married to Daniel and together the couple has managed farming operations and moved into share farming. Their goal is to purchase their own farm one day.
Meanwhile, Sara-Jane is a fourth-generation farmer from Naringal. As a farm owner alongside her husband John, Sara-Jane is willing to share her advice and experience with Tracy.
‘I’m happy to bounce any ideas off Tracy and talk about banks, lenders and accountants, and giving her a leg up,” Sara-Jane says.
Tracy and Sara-Jane met at their local football club and realised they had common interests, including a love for cows. Their friendship – and a desire to improve business practices and identify goals – led the pair undertook the Our Farm, Our Plan program together, with positive results.
“I loved it,” Tracy says of her experience with the program.
“We’re working hard to try and get our own place in the future. That's our goal – work hard and hopefully reap the benefits. Doing this plan really took everything out of our minds and put it down. It's really gave me a head start to go, ‘right – let’s do this.’
“Our family has goals and we're onto the next step. We want to buy our own farm.”
Sara-Jane’s children are currently working on the Rea farm, and the family is eyeing off potentially purchasing another one.
“Our plan is to give our kids a leg up like because farming is so hard to get into,” Sara-Jane explains.
“For me, participating in Our Farm, Our Plan was about working out what we're going to do as family because we've got our next generation that we’ve got to consider now.”
The pair was sceptical about Our Farm, Our Plan at first, but Sara-Jane says that quickly changes once the program started.
“You’ll meet people along the way and get great support from Dairy Australia. I wouldn’t think twice about doing it now,” Sara-Jane says.
“Dairy farming is a long journey and it's great to have people to help and support you along the way. Friendships are formed a lot through dairy farming, and we'll all get there in the end.”
Hear more from Tracy and Sara-Jane and their experience with Our Farm, Our Plan.
For further details about Our Farm, Our Plan and how it can help enhance your farm business management, visit dairyaustralia.com.au/ofop or call 1800 548 073.
