Family's 140-year dairy legacy ends

by Courtney O'Brien

The Wallace family has been dairying on the same farm in Ellinbank since 1886, and 140 years later, the long-lived family legacy is coming to an end.

While farming will continue, dairy cows will make way for Angus in a transition from milk to beef.

Peter and Wendy Wallace are fifth generation farmers, and their son Ashley is the sixth.
"We love the cows. All our cows and all the heifers have names," Wendy said.
"The boys can walk out into the paddock and name every single one of them that's out there."
From the age of four, Peter was bringing in the cows and letting them out; and Wendy began milking on the farm when she was just 14 years old.
And it was never a question of what Ashley would do.
The family's decision to transition out of the industry hinged on a few factors.
The intensity of milking twice a day, every day, with barely a break for more than 40 years found Peter and Wendy worn out.
The ever-increasing pace of life and commitments outside dairying has left them all with a need for more time and more freedom.
And Ashely's love for horses and desire to pursue horse racing means he can no longer commit the time and energy dairying deserved.
What was initially a five-year transition plan was fast tracked into a one-year plan.
"We all just decided we'd had enough early," said Wendy. "It's just time."
The farm is now graced with a herd of black and red Angus calves, who happily suckle on Peter's fingers.
"We've always had a few little Angus' kicking around, and they do well," Wendy said.
"Just easy and well marketed, so we know we've got a market at the end of it."
They plan on running 70 to 80 head of cattle and will sell directly to the butcher.
Not having to buy grain in will be the largest difference in terms of the cows' feed needs and the property's hay and silage will sufficiently cover the requirements of the beef herd.
The Wallace's beloved dairy cows, about 120 of them, will be sold at a clearing sale at Lardner Park on Wednesday, September 16.
The family has been milking the cows twice a day and in recent years reduced calving from twice-a-year to once to lighten their load.
At their most productive, Peter and Wendy were milking three times a day and running between 180 to 200 cows.
This was in contrast to the pace and cost of living of the generation before them, when Tom Wallace, Peter's father, was running the dairy.
"They could milk 50 cows or 100 cows max' and make a decent living and buy the neighbours, and all the rest. With the prices of land now and just the pace of life and how fast everything moves, is very different," Wendy said.
While some aspects of farmers became more difficult over the years, others become easier.
"We went from hand milking, to an eight-a-side walk through and then 18-double-up herringbones. So, it's a lot quicker and easier," Peter said.
A front-end loader made heavy manual activities easier including feeding cows, cleaning up trees and clearing laneways.
The farm became certified organic more than 20 years ago, a change Peter and Wendy decided to make after taking over from Tom.
They didn't like the chemicals or how they were being used and Occupational Health and Safety was the exception rather than the rule.
"I guess it's a little bit similar to how he (Tom) farmed originally. And definitely how his father and grandfather would have farmed," Wendy said.
The Wallace's dairy cows also hold a long legacy of their own, with the Wallace's breeding via artificial insemination for 50 years.
"A lot of the girls are very long-lived family lines," Wendy said. "The cows we will miss greatly."
But after getting up at 5:30am every morning, they are looking forward to a sleep in, more time and more freedom.
Despite the constraints and ceaseless hard work, Wendy said it had been a fantastic way to raise their children, including Ashley, Toby and Chloe.
"You can't beat it," she said.
The seventh generation of Wallaces also are growing up, with seven of them between the ages of seven and 13.
While Peter believes it's unlikely the coming generations of Wallaces will be in dairying again; his advice to others considering transitioning out of the industry is, "stay in, because we need the milk."