Madison, Wisconsin may be about as far away as possible from Ringarooma, Tasmania, but getting there has shown Jane Sykes the benefits of contributing to the dairy industry.
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Jane joined Jersey Australia at World Dairy Expo in early October to promote the breed and Australian genetics and to help launch the 2025 World Jersey Conference that is coming to Australia.
It was a huge commitment that involved more than a day of travel each way, but for Jane it was worth every minute.
Her involvement with the trade mission and conference launch continues her passionate commitment to the breed and dairy industry.
It is something she hopes to instil in others.
Jane farms with her parents John and Katrina, her brother Jason and his wife Zoe, while younger brother Mark and his family are off farm.
The farm is 95 per cent Jerseys, with a few stud Ayrshires purchased for Katrina as a birthday present.
They recently sold some land and cut back to just over 500 milkers, but since then they have topped up with a new adjoining block that includes a gravel pit and a lot of trees and they are about to purchase another nearby block.
“It’s more consolidated rather than being 10km down the road,” Jane said.
“What we sold was beautiful land and we are not replacing like-with-like but we will be able to diversify.
“Some will remain in trees and because it traditionally gets quite wet in winter, we’ve now got the gravel pit for laneways instead of having to buy it in.”
They are also upgrading the home farm with a new water system and roo fencing.
Along with two workers who help on the 40-unit rotary dairy, the Sykes family shares the on-farm jobs.
“We do whatever is needed,” Jane said.
“One thing I love about farming is that you’re not locked into a box. The variety of jobs can be done by anyone at any time.”
Jane completed a Bachelor of Ag Science with honours and worked in nutrition sales on the mainland for a couple of years, but didn’t click with a sales role.
“Animals are my passion but I didn’t enjoy the sales side of it,” she said.
She moved back to the farm 10 years ago and found her niche.
“I love the diversity of the jobs, everything from payroll to working with the animals, growing grass of the cow-eating variety, doing soil samples and trying to achieve the best production we can.
“The thing about farming is that you can always improve.”
Jerseys are well suited to the farm.
“Our family has a long history with Jerseys,” Jane said.
“To me, a good cow is a good cow no matter what breed it is, but I have a real passion for Jerseys.
“On our farm they’re great because they are lower weight, which helps over wet winters, and I love their nature. I love the way they milk and they’re real characters, inquisitive and intelligent.”
Production-wise, Australian Jerseys are highly successful and Jane says the breed is in a good spot.
She joined the Jersey Australia board about eight years ago, becoming the youngest member at the time, and is now chair of promotions.
She is as passionate about contributing to the breed and industry as she is about farming.
“It’s really important that you have people to lead,” she said.
“Organisations like Jersey Australia don’t run themselves. Whether it’s a breed association, a youth group or a sports club, participation is so important.
“Domestically, the dairy sector isn’t growing. There are parts doing quite well, but in Tasmania our cow numbers might not be dropping, but we’re getting larger farms with higher numbers of cows.
“You could argue that the number of people in the industry with a true passion for it is in decline.
“The bigger farms employ people but they might only be here for a year or two and move on. There’s nothing wrong with that because labour is so hard to get, but we need people in the industry who can stand up and be part of it.
“There’s no use standing back and saying I’m not happy if you’re not willing to put your hand up and try either to change things or be part of the decision-making process.
“Organisations are only as good as the people who step up. If nobody steps up, what happens to the organisation?”
Which brings Jane to Madison, on the east coast of the United States, just like 2014 when she won a scholarship to go to the World Jersey Conference in South Africa, or a few years later when she toured the United Kingdom on a Jersey farming expedition.
“The flight times remind you how isolated we are in some respects in Australia when it comes to events like World Dairy Expo. This is much bigger than anything we have,” she said.
Jane has been a regular at International Dairy Week and Ag Fest for the past 15 years, but this was her first visit to the expo.
While she was there was for the Jersey promotions, she was also keen to see the event from a persona perspective.
“Madison is something a lot of people talk about,” she said.
“Coming over here is a whole different world. The amount of people around and the engagement and level of support is much bigger than anything I’ve seen over our way.
“I walked through the trades shed and spoke to people about a mastitis detector, on-farm semen tester, regenerative ag. There’s so much to learn.
“I’m passionate about the long-term ongoing viability of our industry. We have enough challenges that we need to look at now but we have to look at 20 or 30 years’ time when I still hope to be farming.”
Jane was particularly impressed with the focus on animal welfare.
“There were people talking about housing cows on water beds to go on top of concrete in stalls so the cows are more comfortable,” she said.
“There’s research about increased growth rates of calves when they are given something to play with.
“The level of automation going on in the industry is amazing.”
Jane says it’s important to take time to find out what’s happening in the industry and what’s coming up and she encourages Australian farmers to join the 2025 Jersey tour or even consider going to the World Dairy Expo.
“I encourage people to seek information however they can, whether that’s travelling to Madison or going to your local AgFest,” she said.
“I wasn’t sure what I was walking into, but it’s a whole different world over here. If you have a genuine interest in what’s going on now and what the next 15 or 20 years are going to bring, it’s well worth coming over and having a look.
“A lot of what they are doing here is going to drive the industry forward and there’s never a day you can stop learning as a farmer.
“We have to keep moving forward. We can’t control the cost of input prices, but we can control the type of cow we breed and how we run her through that system.”
DNA writer