Lilly Hammond from Buln Buln was interested in the range of farming systems demonstrated and discussed during the Don Campbell memorial tour in Tasmania.
Photo by
Jeanette Severs
This year’s cohort group of young people in the dairy industry have been chosen as Don Campbell scholars.
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The Don Campbell memorial tour is a six-day and five-night tour of Tasmania for young dairy professionals, and is held in February or March each year.
The late Don Campbell was a dairy farmer at Yannathan and was the first chairperson of the GippsDairy board.
In honour of his contribution to the dairy industry, in 1998 the board of GippsDairy and a range of sponsors committed to an annual tour for young dairy professionals, to enhance their personal and professional development, and help them build networks among each cohort.
The scholars visit a number of dairy farms to learn about a range of business, animal and pasture management systems, and they tour value-added dairy businesses and other places of interest.
The 2026 scholars are from across Gippsland — Callum Lancey from Nyora, Enrique Lotter from Caldermeade, Georgina Drew from Mountain View, Grace McMillan from Myrtlebank, Joshua Campbell from Dumbalk, Lauren Laity from Wiseleigh, Luke Droppert from Clydebank, Luke Johnson from Warragul, Nick Bermingham from Nambrok, Sam English from Dennison, Tandia Sharman from Shady Creek, Tomei Dal Pozzo from Inverloch, and Travis McAlpine from Leongatha South.
GippsDairy’s Veronica McLeod was a Don Campbell tour scholar about 20 years ago, when she was a working as a calf rearer on her husband’s family dairy farm in south-west Victoria.
“The tour is a great opportunity for scholars to meet people within the industry in Tasmania, and it’s a great way to build networks,” Veronica said.
“When I was a young scholar, there were people on the tour from South Australia, Tasmania and Gippsland.
“There were people from family farms and others from much bigger operations.
“A lot of the people I went on the tour with, I’m still friends with today.”
Veronica was also impressed by the variety of dairy systems in action in Tasmania.
“I was absolutely blown away when we got to Tasmania, by the diversity,” she said.
Veronica McLeod (centre) was a Don Campbell memorial tour scholar 20 years ago, recently, she was a tour leader in her role at GippsDairy.
Photo by
Jeanette Severs
“There was a farm where they were feeding 10kg of grain to the cows; then the farm next door wasn’t feeding any grain. The next farm we went to, they were feeding grain in a big trough.
“Even though I grew up on a dairy farm, and had visited many dairy farms, I’d never been on a farm that didn’t have individual grain troughs in the dairy.
Luke Droppert and Tiah Capobianco, both from an organic family dairy farm at Clydebank. Tiah is a 2025 scholar and Luke is a 2026 scholar for the Don Campbell memorial tour.
Photo by
Jeanette Severs
“Every farm we went to, they each did something a bit different and it all worked for them.
Issy Moloney from Newry said her experience on the Don Campbell memorial tour inspired her to be more confident about her future in the industry.
Photo by
Jeanette Severs
“It really opened my eyes to the different ways of farming.”
More recently, Veronica repeated the experience as a tour leader, in her role as extension team leader at GippsDairy.
“The dairy industry has changed so much, but there are still opportunities for young people to get started in dairy, getting their own herds and other assets,” she said.
“One of the farmers we visited in Tasmania came to Australia with just his backpack, and he now owns two dairy farms. He talks about how he contacted farmers, started working on a family dairy farm, built up his herd, and then went and bought his own farm.
“We do a tour of Ashgrove Cheese and talk about how they started.
“In the last couple of years, the tour has included dairy farms with robot milking machines. Scholars are able to hear about how technologies have evolved for the dairy industry.
“It’s amazing.”
Lilly Hammond from Buln Buln is a recent Don Campbell scholar and is the third generation of her family to work on the dairy farm.
“Everyone I met on the tour was so switched on,” she said.
Callum Lancey from Nyora (with microphone) manages two family farms milking 2200 cows and directing staff. Callum has been chosen as a 2026 Don Campbell memorial tour scholar.
Photo by
Jeanette Severs
“There were two brothers about my age running their family dairy farm, and their parents’ attitude was, like, have fun. And they’re doing an amazing job.
“The Don Campbell memorial tour was impressive because you get to see a lot of examples of innovative farming systems.
“I also met a lot of people who left the family farm to work elsewhere and brought those experiences back with them to the family farm.
“What we got to see is a lot of people who are very good at managing both the people and the places that they were at. That was quite inspiring.”
Lilly has a strong background in family farming, and the experience of visiting corporate-owned dairy farms was new.
“I noted they’re still people-focused; it’s about building up people to get better at what they’re doing,” she said.
“You can start as a worker and you’re supported to become a farm manager, because they’re wanting people committed to the industry — they’re willing to invest in people to get to that point.”
Lilly said she returned from the tour motivated to remain in the industry, learn good business practices, and be willing to embrace change.
Issy Moloney grew up in a town without exposure to the dairy industry. She now works full-time on a dairy farm at Newry, after beginning as a calf rear, and is a past Don Campbell scholar.
Issy said the tour provided her with many opportunities to learn about the dairy industry.
“It’s not often you get to interrogate farmers and find out the nitty-gritty of everything that goes on, on their farm,” she said.
“Obviously, every farm is different, and every farmer focuses on different things that are important to them.
“One Tasmanian dairy farm was focused on irrigation and growing their own feed; where another farmer focused on heifers and their production.
“One farmer spoke about breeding to improve polled numbers and eliminate dehorning, which I’d never considered.
“We saw some really inspired farmers, involved in pasture regeneration, storing carbon, or improving animal welfare and management.
“We also heard from farmers with different pathways into their dairy industry.
“The whole event was really inspiring and educational.
“I came back personally more invested in working on the dairy farm and in being involved in pasture trials that improve how we farm; and more confident about my own journey.”
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