WITH a commitment to supply Sydney a remarkable 27 million litres of milk a year, there’s no room for expensive downtime on the Moxey family’s thriving 2000-strong dairy operation. Situated mid-way between Forbes and Cowra in NSW, this seven-day-a-week, 52-week-a-year 9000 acre enterprise relies on all of its 54 staff pulling their weight, also its five-strong Fendt tractor line up.

With the milking schedule requiring three eight-hour shifts, Moxey Farm Pty Ltd’s general manager, Quentin Moxey, is a man with a lot on his mind if the day’s work commitments are to be realised by sun down. “Each milking takes seven and half hours, leaving half an hour to clean up before we start all over again,” he said.

The point to make here is the importance the farm’s machinery plays in ensuring milk output, also its quality, doesn’t dip due to a faltering tractor and equipment fleet. Since the property relies on growing 100 percent of its forage each year, principally lucerne and cereal for silage, tractors are pivotal to amassing the necessary feed for the ever-hungry Holstein herd. We are talking serious numbers here – between 20,000t to 30,000t of silage a year.

On top of that sizeable amount of grains and protein meal are purchased to make up the preferred rations. So there’s a keen interest taken in the performance of the Moxey family’s two Fendt 714Vs (130hp), a 716V (150hp), a 718V (165hp), also a 926V (260hp). Essentially, they earn their keep on a range of tasks including operating the mixer wagons, plus are “full on” again when summer’s hay operations, including baling, get under way.

Meanwhile, they are teamed up with mowers and rakes when the spring silage-making season is in full swing. Quentin Moxey says the farm’s philosophy is to “run fairly new gear,” trading the tractors every three years when they’ve done between 5,000 to 6,000 hours. “To date we have been pretty impressed with their (Fendt) reliability,” he said. Underscoring the point about keeping downtime to the minimum, Quentin added: “They just don’t seem to be in the workshops – other than for a service.” Ruing the fact he drives the Fendt tractors “only a little bit” himself, he quickly pointed out attributes such as their comfortable cabs, and the value of their Vario transmissions. “We do a lot of road work - so speed is a factor,” Quentin said. “Those 50kph gearboxes are pretty impressive,” he added. Quentin also understands the worth of a good dealer, in this instance Forbes Machinery. “With them, there are no worries as far as back up is concerned,” Quentin said.

At the end of the day the Moxey family say their Fendt tractors are “quality products,” adding they also are very fuel efficient. Currently, this busy enterprise is in the middle of its silage-making operation, fine-tuning their MF2170 large square baler for the hay season. “It works well for us,” Quentin Moxey said. “In fact it’s a nice bit of kit – probably one of the best in the market,” he added. A bales stacker is used to position each bale in a pre-designated spot, ahead of being hauled to where they are wanted for supplementing the farm’s dairy rationing programme.

As to the future, the Moxey’s believe grain prices probably will work in its favour and are sanguine about how this year’s forage season will turn out. “We are irrigation farmers facing zero allocation again – so we’re looking for a decent break,” Quentin said. With milk prices relatively firm in NSW, the Moxey family, and their dairy enterprise, would prefer to be looking at better seasonal prospects which currently are seen as only average. In better times they would be able to further crank up their extensive forage operation to sell surplus product on the open market.

Either way, they can rest easy knowing their team of trusty Fendt tractors, will rise to the extra workload. “We’ve no complaints with them at all,” Quentin Moxey said. “Truly, they are very reliable and all the guys like driving them.” As to why the Moxey family has built up their top-flight operation in one of the hardest sectors to earn a living in rural Australia, Quentin said the family had a long association with the dairy industry. “That’s what we know, that’s what we do - and hopefully we do it well,” he said.