The processing plant that Dick Schroder and his family built at Dagun, south-west of Gympie in 1999 distributes to stores in North Brisbane, the Sunshine Coast, Gympie and Maryborough.
Cooloola Milk sources milk from five local dairy farms but lately the company has been hard pressed to meet consumer demand.
«I’m at a bit of a crossroads, do I keep going and buy more land or do I close it down and see if I can flog it off?» Mr Schroder said.
«If I’m going to stay processing milk I definitely need to shore up supply.
«Markets look after themselves, I don’t have to worry about them, don’t have any reps on the road, no salesmen — people will just ring up if they want the milk, but I need to work on supply.
«I’ve got two ways of doing it, milk a big lot of cows here and bring the feed in or look for another property.»
At the Schroder’s home farm, 320 jersey cows are grazing on fertile flats beside the Mary River, south-west of Gympie.
Mr Schroder’s father Ted moved his dairy herd to Dagun in the 1980s.
«We brought this herd up from Nambour with us and he’s had them since the Second World War, been selectively breeding them, so there’s a lot of history here,» he said.
«Dad’s been gone a couple of years now but what he did leave was a very sound herd of cows.
«It was a closed herd for years, then he used artificial insemination to tap into different bloodlines.
«At the moment we’ve just been rearing just about everything.
«I’ve got bulls that I’m going to use, there are some we have got that will probably be better than others, but I just need to get the numbers in first because at this stage of the game any cow is better than no cow.
«Another 100 cows are in calf and then I’ve got 90-odd heifers over there at Langshaw that are springing, they are first calf heifers and I think there’s another 130 calves we’ve got reared up top.»
To combat soaring electricity prices, Cooloola Milk has invested in energy efficient technology, including a new irrigation system.
An improved cool room and solar panels were purchased for the factory.
Mr Schroder will turn 64 in August, an age when many people would be considering retirement.
«Well I had a look at a property for sale, the owner’s the same age as me and he wants to retire and I’m thinking why am I doing what I’m doing? Here he is, he wants to go,» Mr Schroder laughed.
«It’s a real quandary, I’ve got to make a decision in the next 18 months, I’ve got to do something, something’s got to be happening.»
Source: ABC
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-06-28/dairy-crossroads-for-cooloola-milk-owner/7531652
