David: This property we've had for five generations, it was bought in 1918. So this actual property, we've been here for a fair while.

We dairy farm 160 cattle on this property and the rest is all beef cattle, but as far as dairy farming goes now, well 160 cows, we're one of the smallest left. It's an industry where people are being asked to milk more cows, and [have] more production everyday. So in a guess that squeeze continually squeezes a lot of dairy farmers out of the game. So it is hard.

Emma: It's hard, like I find it hard to fit in anything with the farm because of the hours David does and with the kids, that's really hard to fit the kids in with work and the farm. Yeah, but I mean in a sense now, they've gotten a bit older, it's a lot easier because they will go with David to milk the cows and things like that, so...

David: Some machinery work.

Emma: Yeah, you know they can be poking around in some things that we do.

David: The biggest thing is that they don't get hurt you know. We're very aware that there is still one Australian kid killed on a farm every week. So between the two of us we try and be very careful if we've got machinery and trucks and all this sort of stuff happening, keep an eye on the little kids, because they're four and they're two and they do like to get up and amongst it. So between me and Emma we're very aware of it.

Listen to David and Emma's story (MP3 file 673kb)
Duration: 1 minute, 25 seconds

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