Regional Rising

Despite fertiliser and fuel costs (for farm machinery) going through the roof the farm itself is operating well: the cows have calved, decent rains arrived in April, pastures are growing strongly and there is still silage from last spring/summer on farm.

All of this and more in Julian's autumn farm journal.

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Located only 15 minutes from the 12 Apostles our farmgate café is open from 10am daily.

Come and visit us for a cheese tasting (like this group from the Philippines), a gin tasting, a coffee and toastie (using our milk and cheese) or sit down for a cheese platter and glass of wine.

While you're here you might be interested in our farm tours (for groups up to 6) or watch the cows being milked at 4pm daily.

Check it all out at www.apostlewheycheese.com.au

Regenerative farming is an approach to agriculture that focuses on restoring and enhancing the entire ecosystem of a farm, with an emphasis on soil health. One way we restore our soil is by transferring nutrient-rich effluent (wash-down water, cow manure and urine) into dams before pumping it out and spreading it across our pastures.

When managed correctly, effluent acts as a powerful, free organic fertiliser and puts organic matter and beneficial microbes back into the soil! The ability to spread effluent on pastures saves money by reducing the need to buy synthetic fertilisers which, together with fuel, have skyrocketed in cost recently as a result of global instability.

Australian Dairy ABC Rural The Weekly Times Corangamite Catchment Management Authority The Land FarmOnline Dairy Industry Association of Australia Australian Dairy Foods Australian Dairy Conference

In this month’s journal Julian reports that they’re feeding out silage at the moment as the grasses have dried off. The water table is dropping but the cows are in great condition and they’re also calving at the moment.

Have a listen as Julian talks about the start of the year on the farm.

Australian Dairy Dairy Industry Association of Australia Australian Dairy Conference ABC Rural The Weekly Times The Great Ocean Road Noticeboard The Land Cobden Timboon Coast Times Twelve Apostles Tourism & Business Group - TATBG Timboon and surrounds notice board Corangamite Catchment Management Authority

Think dairy farming is just about milking cows? Think again! 🚜

A huge part of our job is "harvesting the sun"—growing and storing grass so our 🐄herd has high-quality feed all year round. Since grass doesn't grow at the same rate every month, we have to plan for the dry seasons well in advance.

Here we’re stacking bales of silage. We cut this during spring and wrap it in plastic to ferment. This gives it a sweet smell and locks in nutrients, creating an energy-rich meal for when paddocks dry off and lose their quality (like right now!).

While we’ve had virtually no rain over summer, late spring rains did allow us a second cut. This gave us a lot of hay to feed out when the grass is high in moisture in autumn and winter.

Today's mindfulness hack 🧘🏻🧘🏻‍♂️🧘🏻‍♀️

Find two minutes for a short break, turn up the sound🔊, sit back and relax to the natural sounds 🎵 from our farm.

Happy cows. Care for the land. A recipe for great milk and cheese.

It's hard to believe we've filmed 22 editions of our farm journal over the past two years!

It's all part of Julian's vision to harness the power of video to show people the reality of farming, which we publish monthly across YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn and Facebook as well as on our website.

This is the last journal for 2025 and Julian talks about recent rains helping to turn the season around, leading to good pastures and strong production of which is critical feed for the drier months to come. Watch for updates on extended hours at the farmgate café as well as our presence at the Geelong City Market on Saturdays and Warrnambool Summer Markets Dec/Jan.

Australian Dairy ABC Rural The Weekly Times The Great Ocean Road Noticeboard The Land Timboon and surrounds notice board Cobden Timboon Coast Times Business Corangamite Twelve Apostles Tourism & Business Group - TATBG Corangamite Shire Council Corangamite Catchment Management Authority FarmOnline