After devastating floods hit her property near Taree in 2021, Rachel Nicholson knew she needed to take decisive action to protect her farm.<\/p>\n
The Jones Island local led a conversation at a recent Women in Dairy conference that focused on how small changes could lead to a brighter and more secure future.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Milking the cows in the Nicholson dairy during the 2021 March floods. (Supplied: Rachel Nicholson)<\/p>\n
For her young family, that meant investing in a large feed pad that allowed her to feed the herd while keeping it off flooded paddocks.<\/p>\n
“It paid for itself overnight when it came to this [May 2025] flood, it meant that all our milkers were safe,” she said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Holstein cows eating from the feed pad at the Nicholson’s dairy farm on Jones Island. (ABC News: Lauren Bohane)<\/p>\n
Despite the security of her herd, ongoing periods of wet weather have complicated the recovery process.<\/p>\n
“After the floods, many of our staff didn’t return, so the increased workload on everyone we do have has been extensive,” she said.<\/p>\n
“The mental implications of going through an event where you lose your farm and your home goes underwater, that’s been a significant challenge.”Farmers leaving the industry<\/p>\n
Those sorts of challenges have seen many farmers walk away from the industry.<\/p>\n
While the state’s milk production has remained relatively steady, the number of dairy farms has dropped dramatically.<\/p>\n
In 1999, there were more than 1,700 dairies operating across the state.<\/p>\n
Now, that number is fewer than 500, and the problems are not confined to the coast.<\/p>\n
While some like Ms Nicholson are facing floods, others are dealing with drought conditions.<\/p>\n
“Sometimes it’s just day-to-day, it’s where can I get the next truckload of feed from \u2026 where do I find the next green paddock for my cows,” Riverina dairy farmer Simone Jolliffe said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Simone Jolliffe says a compost dairy barn has been a good investment. (ABC News: Lauren Bohane)<\/p>\n
In 2023, the Jolliffes invested in a compost dairy barn on the farm at Euberta.<\/p>\n
“It has by far been the best decision that we’ve made for us, for our staff, our team and for our cows,” she said.<\/p>\n
But not everyone has the option of disaster-proofing their property.<\/p>\n
Karyn Cassar and her partner Carissa Wolfe converted to beef production after 30 years in the dairy industry.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Jolliffes invested $2.7 million into a dairy barn to house their cows at Euberta in the NSW Riverina. (Supplied: Central Steel Build)<\/p>\n
“We had been through the drought and then we had the fires in 2019, and then the flood, and then the continued wet weather \u2026 all these little things just added up,” she said.<\/p>\n
Ms Cassar said the uncertainty of leasing made her hesitant to invest in long-term measures that could have kept her in the industry.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Karyn Cassar from Benmar Farm near Taree. (ABC News: Lauren Bohane)<\/p>\n
“If we had been able to find a farm that we were able to move into, lease purchase or something like that, I do believe that we would have stayed dairying,” she said.<\/p>\n
Karyn Cassar and Carissa Wolfe with their Fleckvieh herd on the certified organic dairy farm they previously leased at Hannam Vale. (ABC Mid North Coast: Wiriya Sati)<\/p>\n
She said the industry should look at models to support first-generation dairy farmers.<\/p>\n
“New Zealand has a very good model where people can start off with what’s called the share farmer and then what happens is they make their way up into farm ownership,” she said.<\/p>\n
Optimism for the future<\/p>\n
Despite the challenges, Ms Nicholson remained confident in the future of the industry.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Rachel Nicholson with husband Sam and their children on the dairy farm on Jones Island near Taree. (ABC News: Lauren Bohane)<\/p>\n
“The people who are able to move forward in it are the people who are willing to come together and work as a community, building each other up, collaborating, sharing their stories, tips and resources,” she said.<\/p>\n
It was a sentiment shared by Ms Jolliffe, who said the passion for what she does kept her going through the difficult days.<\/p>\n
“There’s far more things that are rewarding and outweigh those, and that you get to share with your team and in my case, my partner, my husband and those wins,” she said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Debra Allard, Sharon Weir, Simone Jolliffe and April Browne on stage at the Women in Dairy BaleUp Conference. (ABC News: Kim Honan)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After devastating floods hit her property near Taree in 2021, Rachel Nicholson knew she needed to take decisive…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":138833,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[64,63,95203,95201,134,95200,52873,95202,43750,95199],"class_list":["post-138832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-dairy-farmer","tag-disaster-recovery","tag-entertainment","tag-female-dairy-farmers","tag-flood-recovery","tag-milk-production","tag-nsw-drought","tag-women-in-dairy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138832"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138832\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}