Meet Chloe Brown: The Jersey Farmer Building a Platform to Celebrate Dairy
Chloe Brown didn't set out to be a dairy farmer. She fell in love with one, and with the farm that came with him!
Fifteen years later, she and her husband Rodney run a 200-head Jersey herd in Kirkstall, on the farm Rodney grew up on. Ask Chloe what she loves most about it and she won't talk numbers, she'll talk about standing in the paddock on a beautiful day, surrounded by green grass and friendly Jerseys, juggling ten things at once:
“There's so much complexity to dairy farming and so much brain power that is needed to be in farming,” she says. “It just means I can use all of my little craziness of spinning plates. I love spinning plates.”
That pretty much sums up Chloe: someone who's just as comfortable deep in the detail of pasture management as she is milking in the dairy or chatting with a stranger about why they do what they do. She is so clearly driven by community and connection, that she is always happy to add another spinning plate if she thinks it’ll benefit those around her. It's that instinct, for connection, community and running a great dairy business, that led her to start her podcast, More than Milk.
Why she started talking
More Than Milk grew out of a fairly universal farmer itch: the search for the “right” way to do things.
“I was always trying to find the answer and find the best way to do farming,” Chloe says. “Spoiler alert: there is no best way to do farming. It's really individual.”
Chloe Brown and Dairy Protect Managing Director, Gabrielle Toscan, on Chloe & Rodney’s farm in Kirkstall
Once she started actually asking other farmers about their businesses, she found the same thing kept coming up: how differently everyone's operation works, and how rarely that gets talked about. “There are so many cool people in dairy doing really wonderful things that we don't celebrate enough,” she says. “And I get to do that every week.”
Talk to Chloe for long enough and it's obvious what she's actually chasing with the podcast: a place to connect with other dairy farmers who are passionate about making their dairy business work in the best way for their farm and family, and all of the people in dairy who are doing really wonderful innovative things, but perhaps aren’t being celebrated enough.
Chloe’s pride in being a dairy farmer is obvious as soon as you meet her, as is her genuine commitment to sharing the positive stories of dairy and the opportunities that the industry can create for regional Australians.
That same instinct, to look after the people around her and make sure everyone has what they need to thrive, has also shaped the way Chloe and Rodney think about protecting their own farm.
Finding a partner that gets it
Chloe and Rodney started working with Dairy Protect 12 months ago, following several conversations around the goal of Dairy Protect to ensure the dairy industry is getting fit-for-purpose insurance advice and coverage, and discussions around their farm’s specific insurance needs and risk profile.
A few months in, their bore pump stopped working - the kind of unglamorous, expensive problem that lands on a Friday afternoon with no warning.
“It was a really quick, simple phone call to Michael on a Friday afternoon,” Chloe says. “‘Hey, this has happened. I'll send you the invoice.’ And within 1 week it was all sorted and the money was in the bank.”
“It was never even a worry. I just knew it was done. So easy, so simple.”
One less thing to fight for
For Chloe, what she wants most for her farm isn't complicated: a business her kids could choose to invest their time and love into, if that's what they want, built on something sustainable rather than something lucky.
“Things go wrong all the time” she says, “So I look at what I can do to minimise all of those risks and partner with a broker that will act on my behalf, so that when they do go wrong, it isn't a fight.”
That's really what she says drew her to Dairy Protect in the first place: not a policy, but a person. Someone who already understood her business, so she never had to re-explain it.
“There's no ring and then go to the office, and then go to the next person. You understand our business, you understand the complexity and the nuance in it, and that we can then do it together.”
The best part of our job is the relationships we build with our clients, and knowing that we are a part of their trusted team helping to protect and propel the dairy businesses they are building.
Thank you Chloe and Rodney for sharing your story with Dairy Protect.
If you would like to start a conversation with us around protecting your dairy operation, please get in touch today on 1300 063 888 or contact@dairyprotect.com.au.
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