Episode 29. Simone Jolliffe

More Than Milk

Simone farms in Wagga Wagga, where she is one of only a handful of dairy farms left. She and husband Neil purchased the farm, through succession from Neil's family after starting out as sharefarmers. In those early days, they increased cow numbers and even went to 3 milkings per day, wanting to increase production and ultimately cash flow to help with debt load.

But it was around 2010, 2011 the idea came to put the cows into a housed system, as pasture management has always been a limiter and to help with future proofing the business. However the concept never moved past the idea stage, with the question often posted to the bank manager, but always ended with the answer ‘you aren’t there yet’ The idea finally became a reality when they toured the US in 2018, however as with all things farming it takes time, and finally at the time of recording this chat a few weeks ago, they finally had steel in the air.

Simone was also heavily influenced by her grandfather and with a deep desire to make the industry she loves better, has been involved with a number of organizations within the industry including Dairy NSW, Data Gene and currently sits on the Dairy Australia Board.

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In the spirit of reconciliation we would like to acknowlegde the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.