Take Control of Your Destiny!

Reprinted courtesy of www.crazycow.com.au

Written by Dianna Malcolm, Australia.

One of the 11 shareholders in the biggest single-site cheese plant in the world has urged Australian dairy farmers to take control of their industry.

Phil Fanelli was part of a handful of dairy farmers that founded the Hilmar Cheese Company in 1984. Today the Californian-based company employs 400 staff to supply cheese and whey products directly to the hospitality industry.

It welcomes almost four million litres of milk a day from more than 250 dairy farms that milk more than 125,000 cows in California's Central Valley. From a humble idea they have harnessed their own destiny and taken it a step further by establishing a successful bull centre.

Mr Fanelli addressed a full room at the Lakeside Country Club, Numurkah, in northern Victoria at the end of the month. The 70-year-old looked much younger than he should for what he had achieved and with his cap set at a crooked, jaunty angle, he proceeded to share his ideals with the conference goers.

He was raised on a small dairy before moving to the city. He was re-introduced to the dairy industry when he started working with Holstein cows at 17 years. Married at 20 and the father of six children, it did not take him long to decide that working for others was not his cup of tea.

He took a loan for 30 cows and leased a farm. That happened a couple of times before he moved to Hilmar with 80 cows. Today there are 640 cows in the Fennelli herd and six staff and his sons combine to run the operation.

Eleven dairy farmers own Hilmar Cheese. They meet with management twice a month. They have been working together in the cheese company for 15 years and in the bull centre (Jerseyland Sires) for 25 years. Today they have 85 bulls and they market semen all over the world through Alta Genetics Inc.

“In California especially we have a different idea about who’s the best kind of cow,” he said.

“Get get a lot of milk from our cows and none of us show. We are looking for cows that give milk and we have herds with rolling averages of 20,000lbs of milk that have good udders.”

He urged Australian dairy farmers to seek better prices through unity.

“Holstein people dominate the world of cows and think that everything revolves around them,” he said.

“But they produce milk that is not worth as much in a cheese plant. Farmers here have obviously been hurt by the drought but if they get together, they can approach processors and say we can supply this much milk with these qualities. They can make more profit.”

One of the farmers suggested to Mr Fanelli that it was more challenging to bring Australian dairy suppliers into a group because of the distances involved. Mr Fennelli wasn’t convinced.

“When we started up one owner was 15 minutes away from Hilmar and the rest were in Hilmar. Now we pick up milk from all over the Central Valley and the North Coast of the US. You think you haven’t got the volume of milk in a certain area. We didn’t either. You’d be surprised if you did it what happens.”

Posted June 20th

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