'I milk 900 cows a day. Here's every question I always get asked about my job, answered.'

Thanks to our brand partner, Coles

Kate Bland can't imagine doing what I do.

By the time I sit at my desk and crack open one of the five apps my colleagues are messaging me on, Kate's already been up for hours, singing at the top of her lungs in her farm's shiny new dairy, doing the first milk of the day.

When I walk into the podcast studio to sit down (again) and start talking about celebrities, politics and skinny jeans, Kate is probably out mending fences on her property, dealing with whatever the season is throwing at her, looking out over stunning Wilsons Promontory in Gippsland, Victoria.

You see, Kate is a dairy farmer. Her parents are dairy farmers. Her grandparents were dairy farmers. And their parents, too… And despite a brief detour to uni and city life, Kate can't imagine having an office job or doing what I do, although at times, she's had to consider just how sustainable it was for her to establish a farm of her own, and keep it running.

Image: Supplied.

Now, Kate lives on her 3000 acre property with her wife, Deb, and their three boys. Their farm, Kaedem Dairies, is thriving and she's making plans for growth largely helped by the Coles Milk Purchase Agreement, which sees her farm, along with many others, providing their milk directly to Coles for an agreed cost price for a locked-in period.

Kate's just finished the first milk of the day when she sits down to talk to me. So, how did it go?

"Pretty good, actually," she said. "The girls are good. It's nice and fine, not raining."

Lovely. By 'the girls', Kate means cows. And now we've cleared that up…

Tell me about your farm and how long you've been there.

Kate: So, we grew up on a farm, I think we're about fourth generation. And when I turned 17, I moved to Melbourne and worked and studied there for four or five years. I went to study hospitality management in Melbourne. But they didn't move fast enough for me! I wanted to be in control and make my own future.

When the opportunity came to buy this farm, we sort of jumped at running it and coming back home. And that was about 22 years ago, I was 21 when I moved back home and I'm 43 now.

Who lives on your farm?

Kate: Well, me and my wife, who I met in Melbourne, and our three sons. And then we've got eleven casual and full-time employees.

What's an average day kind of look like on the farm for you? When does it start and when does it end?

Kate: I'm up at 3.30am. That's if I'm not already down at the dairy… it's calving season at the moment, so during the night I'm also checking the cows, making sure they're calving right and there's no problem.

So, up at 3.30, make sure all the girls are good, make the cup of coffee, set up the dairy, then I get the cows in, I'm ready for milking. And a couple of years ago we upgraded the dairy so it's a one person shed. So I milk by myself until about 7 or 7.30 when some employees come in and help. So I'm just left by myself, you know, singing away to my music and making sure everything's okay. It's bloody awesome.

A question I have to ask: Why do cows need to be milked so early in the morning?

Kate: Well, you make more milk if you space the two sessions. We just milk twice a day, which is the most common. So the more evenly you space the milking out, the more milk they produce. It's also about spacing your day out and getting the job done, ready to move on to the next job.

Do you love that time of the day when you're in the dairy on your own, in the dark?

Kate: Yeah, I do, actually. When you have all your good ideas and come up with the plan for the day, you know, it's nice and peaceful. I do really enjoy it.

Then we feed the calves straight after milking. We've got about 400 cows to feed. Brekkie's about 10.30, we make toasted sandwiches in the office down the dairy, come in and have coffee and talk and come up with the next move for the day.

A couple of guys will milk the cows and we'll either repair things or build. On our farm, we pretty much do everything ourselves. We build our own fences, we make our own laneways, we make, do our own crops and fodder. Whatever you can imagine, we do. We jump on the motorbikes and go.

Explain to me, like, the simple city person that I am, the significance of the Coles Milk Purchase Agreement.

Kate: It's unbelievable for you guys to understand how important and how big a game-changer it is. It's given us stability and somewhere to look forward to the future.

You know how much you're guaranteed to make, so therefore you can plan. We've had a huge growth phase in the last few years, knowing that this money is going to come in. We've been able to buy more land, to be able to grow more fodder for the cows. You know, stop purchasing feed and outsourcing it, because you can't rely on a current price or a stable price. It's always volatile… so now we can just grow our own feed and be self-reliant.

Before this contract, you were reliant on what the price of milk is at any given time. Is this giving you a stable, predictable income for the length of the contract?

Kate: Yes, for three years, you know exactly what you're getting.

For other people, [the price] dropped 20 per cent this year, and it just makes you go backwards. It's really, really depressing. Imagine you're getting, say, $100 and it costs $90 to produce your milk. And then all of a sudden you're getting $80 and you're going backwards $10. You just can't live like that.

So it means that all the hard work you've described is paying off.

Kate: Yes, [farming] is a hugely stressful job. You've got to surround yourself with positive people. It makes it so much more fun when you're in front; you're moving forward.

It's good to see your asset growing and to be proud when you're walking around. You know, everything we do, we do well and don't take shortcuts — and everything looks beautiful. You're driving around your farm and you're proud. You've got a nice thing to be proud of, so that makes you happy, too.

Image: Supplied.

What plans do you have that you can action now, with this Coles contract?

Kate: We've had a huge growth phase, so now we have to complete everything we've started. We've got a great big shed going up down the road and that property needs laneways and fences and water, and so we have to finish everything with that. That's the biggest ambition — and not get any more land or make it harder for ourselves. We've got to finish what we've started.

Something else we obviously want to do is set a good example for the kids and teach them good morals and make sure they're growing up properly. That's the other key thing we've got to achieve.

What's the Coles Sustainable Dairy Development group? How does it benefits you and the other farmers who are part of this contract?

Kate: It's group of ten or so of the Coles suppliers that get together and the Coles team explain ideas and things in terms of environment, mental health, staffing, anything to do with making the job more sustainable for the dairy farmers and for the milk-supply quality cows. They talk about ideas they've got and we give them feedback on how we think it's appropriate or whether it suits us or whether it's not a good idea or whether it's not important, and then we can throw them ideas, what's important to us as well.

It's about getting input from the farmers — the people who matter and have actually done the work.

How long does it take to get the milk from your farm into my tea?

Kate: Well, every night my vat holds about 2000 litres. Then a milk tanker comes during the night and takes it to the manufacturing plant and then within two days, it's in the shelves. It's gone through the processing plant, in the bottles and on the shelves and into your tea.

What time do you go to bed to get up at 3.30 to milk your cows?

Kate: Normally 8pm. I beat the kids to bed, make sure they're right and get them going and then I'll hop in.

What's something that would surprise people to know about dairy farming and life on the land?

Kate: Everything we do takes years and years of experience. Pasture management, when to fertilise, what to use, what grasses to plant, what crops to plant, how to grow as much as you can.

Then you got to be all over your finance as well — how much you can spend, where to spend it, what's making money, what's not making money. We have excavators and graders and lots of heavy machinery, so we can all drive that sort of stuff as well, the trucks.

When you do everything from helping to birth a calf, to driving an excavator, to doing the finances: What's your favourite part?

Kate: My coffee in the morning, while talking to cows.

Roger that.

Find out more about Coles' relationship with dairy farms around Australia.

Feature Image: Supplied.

At Coles, we go to great lengths for our relationships with Australian dairy farmers. It’s why we have long-term agreements with over 109 dairy farms across Australia to directly source delicious, Coles Brand fresh milk. Because when you go to great lengths, you get great quality milk.
Great lengths for Aussie dairy. That’s Coles.