Jamie Walford and Sally Rowe grew up in Melbourne, but by the age of 32 they were dairy farmers at Merrigum.
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The journey away from the big smoke to rural northern Victoria has been a difficult one and it’s taken a lot of perseverance to pull it off.
“I first got interested in farming when Sally’s parents bought 120 acres [48 ha] outside Melbourne and had beef cows. I used to help them and it took my interest,” Jamie said.
“I applied to ag jobs everywhere, anywhere, but it took two years for someone to get back to me.
“That’s including me doing a Cert IV in agriculture at the time. For a Melbourne person to get into the industry, it’s hard, even with a certificate.”
In addition to being regarded with suspicion because of his non-rural roots, Jamie said he found some employers had no patience for new workers.
Even today, as a farm owner with nearly 10 years’ experience in agriculture, Jamie said it wasn’t unusual to get talked down to.
“Sally gets it worse than me, but I can say I’m 40 and they’ll believe it and respect me more,” the 33-year-old said.
Jamie said he likely would’ve stayed an ag worker and made that his career if it wasn’t for a bad experience two years ago.
The family left for a better employer and the impossible task of finding a cheap, reasonable, starter farm began.
Sally spent a lot of her time travelling Victoria house hunting (or property prowling) looking at farms while Jamie worked.
“I’d always wanted to own land, not so much a working farm, but a little space. Was this where I imagined we’d end up when we started out? Definitely not,” Sally said.
Sally has her own background in agriculture and was in the industry before Jamie came along.
After finishing high school, she went straight into a Bachelor of Equine and completed a scholarship in the United States before working in an Echuca piggery and at a show horse stable.
“Then I had kids and that was the end of me,” Sally said — until farm ownership was brought up.
It took two years of property prowling to secure the farm.
Previously the couple was looking to buy in south-west Victoria, but the banks wouldn’t play ball.
“The farms we wanted were either too expensive or would take too much investment to get up and going, so the banks wouldn’t do it,” Sally said.
“The hardest bit was trying to find a property in that starter price range. We were in the right place, right time to get this place (in Merrigum). I heard about it before it went on the market.”
In May 2021, Jamie and Sally purchased their 46-hectare Merrigum dairy farm from a retiring couple for under a million dollars.
“The day we settled, we milked that afternoon,” Sally said.
“It was extremely difficult and we were extremely lucky to find this place. We had all our ducks in a row so when the right opportunity appeared, we could take it.”
Sally had heard about the Merrigum farm one week before it was listed.
She had a look around and made an offer.
“They were quite happy with the really quick sale. We bought the cows, the machinery — they even left furniture in the house,” she said.
“I was the one who purchased it really. Jamie didn’t see it before we bought.”
Today the pair is milking 80 cows, supplying ACM and raising two kids on the farm.
Sally said their five-year-old and nine-year-old sons had much better lifestyles on the family farm where they help out with the calves and ride their bikes down the lanes.
Jamie said he’d noticed the children spending more time outside, too.
“Previously you weren’t really sure who’d be coming and going with machinery and that, so you didn’t let them walk around,” he said.
The children have their own cow, Maggie, who was given to them by a neighbour.
“They are Collingwood supporters so they named her after the team,” Jamie said.
“Unfortunately they are pretty attached.”
One year after the purchase of the Merrigum dairy farm, Sally said they’re still in a state of cleaning up and getting up to speed.
“I’ve learnt you can always make it pretty later. It just needs to work,” she said.
“We’ll keep the herd around 80 head and focus on improving the soils and infrastructure now. Once that’s done the cows will go up.”
Jamie said his goal was to buy some outblocks.
“Or switch to a bigger farm in time.
“My advice to anyone else thinking of doing this? Build up your stamina first.”
Journalist