The Illawarra’s long history of dairy farming began in the mid-1800s, when drought and disease caused problems for the wheat industry. Dairying took a while to take off but was assisted by the introduction of refrigeration, factories for making butter, the cream separator and the formation of co-operatives to market and manufacture dairy products.
The extension of the railway to the Illawarra opened up the industry to the Sydney market.
By the late 1800s, the Illawarra saw the success of small butter factories in Kiama, Unanderra and Dapto. A larger factory opened in Dapto near the turn of the 19th century and the smaller ones closed. In 1900, Wollongong and Kiama dairy farmers formed the Dairy Farmers Milk Co-operative to sell fresh milk. Co-operatives made dairy farming viable with farmers uniting to market their dairy – free of commercial ‘middlemen’ – and enhance the survival of rural towns and villages.
Jersey cows were popular for their rich milk but local farmers imported cattle to improve the quality of herds. The Illawarra Shorthorn breed was developed through crossbreeding and produced large quantities of high-butterfat and high-protein milk.
The financial success of these early dairy enterprises relied on the use of unpaid family labour. Researchers from the University of Wollongong, Ren Hu and Nicholas Gill, are studying the evolution of the family dairy farming culture of the Illawarra (with Wollongong, Shellharbour, Kiama and Shoalhaven LGAs defined as the Illawarra for the purposes of the studies) and the impact of rural residential developments on these operations.
Hu and Gill found that the trend towards the upper middle class seeking rural lifestyles is driving demand for rural land and forcing farming families to make difficult decisions. Development in prime dairy country has meant that the family farm is squeezed into smaller pockets of land or to properties further afield.
Increasing development and urban sprawl has concentrated dairy farming to the southern part of our region, but farming families continue to adapt to changing market conditions and have shown great resilience. Still, there are low and unstable returns and immense work pressures in the industry.
We can support the “local” and smaller dairy farms by buying local dairy products.
