Explore the production of milk on a modern dairy farm before enjoying a delicious meal at the restaurant. - Review of Caldermeade Dairy Farm, South Gippsland Hwy, Victoria We had a group outing earlier in the week - to a dairy farm on the South Gippsland Hwy about 16 km east of Tooradin. The attraction was one of 'town meets country' with a fine restaurant at centre of a working dairy farm and the option of a guided tour. It was good to be out of the suburbs. What an attractive venue – wide open skies, distant views and images that come straight from those advertisements for ‘farm fresh foods’. And you catch this side of an ‘entertaining day out’ by taking a ride around the farm courtesy of the tractor-trailer unit. It came with a highly knowledgeable and entertaining guide (Kelly?). She was not simply: ‘this is a jersey cow’ type of person, but one who was sufficiently well-informed to cover wide technical/commercial background - choice of breed, stock management, feed production, milking technologies and processing industries. She was interesting and informative. She was one, moreover, of just two dairy workers on the farm that day – she said. In addition to her normal farm work, she was herding us - the newbies - straight from the coach mid-morning and on to the farm trailer. Later that afternoon she was working in the milking parlour. Fortunately, the late autumn weather was fine. Wrap up warm, of course, but everything else was straight forward. We stayed on the trailer for the entire period of the tour including driving into the paddock where the majority milkers were grazing. The cows, of course, knew that the trailer represented ‘treats’ (much more attractive than grass) and the familiar routines that followed - pushing into each other to gain access to the trailer. Once stopped in the paddock our guide filled the shallow troughs on either side of the trailer with dairy nuts (or whatever) and the cows crowded out the trailer with tongues a metre long and quickly wolfed the food down. You could reach over the side and scratch the cow’s ears – if you were so disposed; the animals were polled, except for some occasional regrowth and there was no risk. There were 18 of us – the majority straight from the comfort of their suburban neighbourhoods but, judging by the questions and comments that arose during the farm tour, there were more than a handful who had previously had experience of dairy cows and if only courtesy of the ‘grand-folks’ when they were kids. The return to the farm centre took us passed the centre-pivot irrigation rig, the waste-water sediment ponds, hard stands for winter feeding (when ground water in the paddocks is high) and farm machinery in sheds. The tractor/trailer dropped us off outside the large modern restaurant next to the car park. It was time for lunch. Check out the feedback and it’s the restaurant that collects most of the critique – ordering, delivery of foods (or not, as the case may be), offensive/off-hand wait staff and similar. By contrast, the farm/trip typically attracts favourable comment. In 2023 there were just six reviews. Thus far 2024 has attracted just two reviews: one negative – poor services/customer interface/management/restaurant; and the other highly positive – everything. There were >30 people in the restaurant of which about 20 were queued and ready to order/pay. Service was slow. Fortunately, our group was head of the queue. Ordering was mixed (due to confusion over payment - a single bill or individual bills – the latter was obvious). Food started to arrive 10-12 minutes after ordering. The two of us had opted for calamari & salad and schnitzel chicken & chips – and shared the food. The food was hot, attractive to look at and delicious to eat. The meals together with one coffee cost us $42. So, also fair value. We had sat as a group in one corner around half-dozen small tables. The dining room stretched around a combined L-shaped services/pay counter to a food counter from which wait staff serviced the tables. The room was spacious and comfortable. The rear wall was clear glass though into a storeroom linked to the milk processing plant. Between the restaurant and the South Gippsland Hwy there was a ‘meet the animals’ option for the kids – goats (and one sheep), calves, rabbits, etc. in small pens. There were four tractors representing the agro-technologies of the 1950-60s that had seen more than their fair share of kids pushing levers and hanging on to the steering wheels. Their counterparts used to feature in playgrounds everywhere before health/safety issues took priority. (There used to be a small obsolete steam locomotive in our local playground – imagine - now long gone.) There was also this giant plastic cow that could easily be seen from the main hwy. Perhaps best of all were the milking routines mid-late afternoon. None of your milkmaid stuff with small three-legged stools and your head leaning into the side of the animal as you pull/squeeze the teats, but a super-modern carousel-like/rotary milk parlour whereby the cows load themselves into the stalls on the moving platform, the dairyman quickly fixed the cluster to the teats/udder and the animal is milked for about 15 minutes before reaching the point where she first started. Here she backs off the platform and follows the other animals ahead of her to the paddock. The carousel was on the ground floor in a large open plan building with an observation deck on the first floor overlooking the entire parlour with cows queued outside in a holding yard waiting their turn to be milked. The carousel was controlled by the dairyman hitching the clusters to the udder/teats. Presumably the clusters were removed automatically – you couldn’t see this from the deck. Interestingly, there was a dairy factory at the farm centre with four overhead pipes that carried the milk from the parlour. The factory was not open to visitors, but the tour guide had briefly described milk processing and bottling, with cheesemaking planned. It … had … been … a … most … interesting … day. Peter Steele 23 October 2024