Our Vision:
To increase accessibility to local, nutritious dairy in the Castlemaine region, practicing regenerative agriculture with the utmost respect for the animals involved.
The Humans
Growing up on a farm in Victoria’s north east, Tessa Sellar has long been passionate and heavily involved in promoting, farming and developing sustainable food systems to reconnect people with their food, farmers and landscapes.
The Cows
Working so closely with these ladies is a beautiful and humbling experience, each cow has a very individual personality. Getting to know them and build trust is one of the corner stones to this business. Running such a small herd also means that the individual characteristics of each cow’s milk is very noticeable in the flavour. Cow’s are named by family lines so in future years it’s easy to recognise who is related to who.
Berta (Roberta Flack)
Family name: Singer
Breed: Holstein cross
Born: approx 2009, joined SFC herd 2017
Genealogy: Unknown
Offspring: Iggy (milker), Otis (steer)
Traits: High production milker (43ltrs at peak). Retired 2024.
Berta is the matriarch of the herd; strong and dominant yet always looking out for and grooming all members of the herd.
Joyce
Family name: Buffy
Breed: Certified Organic Illawara Dairy Shorthorn
Born: 2011, joined SFC herd Aug 2019
Genealogy: Unknown
Offspring: Rupert (steer), Willow (milker), Clem (steer), Xander (steer).
Traits: Joyce and Berta are great mates as the two grumpy old ladies. Joyce is a solid cow; great calver, mother and milker. Joyce doesn’t moo, she yells. Much to my frustration she loves to bury her head right to the bottom of the hay feeder and flick all the hay out with her strong neck.
Iggy
Family name: Singer
Breed: Certified Organic Illawara Dairy Shorthorn
Born: 08/05/2018
Genealogy: Dam – Berta, Sire – DSH
Offspring: Patti (beef heifer), Marianne (beef heifer), Bowie (steer), Hendrix (steer).
Traits: Iggy was my first calf born and first experience working with an animal I raised. It’s definitely paid off, although she has the attitude of a spoilt brat and throws her weight around. As a human she is great to work with however she abuses her power within the herd, only being dominated by her mother. Iggy was a teenage tart who broke in with the neighbours bull, twice! She has never had to fight for food so keeping the weight off Iggy is her only issue.
Ginger
Family name: Biscuits
Breed: Certified Organic Illawara Dairy Shorthorn
Born: 2014, joined SFC herd Aug 2020
Genealogy: unknown
Offspring: Monte & Carlo (beef twins), Kingston (steer), Teddy (bull), Vovo (heifer).
Traits: Ginger has a love heart on her nose and is most definitely the sweetest cow to walk the earth. She went down hard with milk fever after having twins, it was touch and go but she pulled through and with focused management has improved with each calving. She holds her milk production for well over 12 months. She will often position her bum right in front of you for a scratch.
Norma Jean
Family name: Filmstar/singer
Breed: Jersey cross
Born: 09/05/2018, joined SFC herd 11/05/2018
Genealogy: Dam – 4023 (B&W), Sire – Elmo (jersey)
Offspring: Doris Day (milker), Bette Davis (heifer), Elvis (steer).
Traits: Norma Jean was our adopted calf who Berta raised along side Iggy in 2018. Marilyn Monroe was also adopted and while she did sing she mainly acted so Norma will split off into a film star line. She arrived as a 24hr old angel who has certainly learnt to hold her own. She has been a dream to work with producing beautiful sweet milk. Her an Iggy are the two bossy, naughty sisters who also fight like sisters, both missing a horn as a result. Norma goes into a trance if you rub between her udder and leg.
Swish
Family name: Fancy
Breed: Dairy Shorthorn
Born: 2018, joined SFC herd 09/10/2021
Genealogy: Dam – Fancy, Sire – DSH
Offspring: Dapper (milker), Plush (heifer), Creme (heifer).
Traits: Everyone loves Swish. With no prior handling you wouldn’t know it now as she is always the first in for a pat. Her registered breeding line was Fancy. Like her name, she loves to swish her tail and flick you in the face.
Doris Day
Family name: Filmstar/singer
Breed: Jersey
Born: 11/10/2020
Genealogy: Dam – Norma Jean, Sire – Bastard Jersey
Offspring: Frank Sinatra (steer)
Traits: Doris is a real character. She has a foot fetish where she likes to put her foot on/in buckets. Doris joined the milking herd preemptively as she aborted her first calf at mid term due to being a carrier of neospora. We milked her tiny teenage udder for 5 months while getting her pregnant for a second successful go.
Willow
Family name: Buffy
Breed: Certified Organic Illawara Dairy Shorthorn x Beef Shorthorn
Born: 24/01/2021
Genealogy: Dam – Joyce, Sire – Patrick beef shorthorn
Offspring: Drucilla (heifer)
Traits: Willow has always been a very calm cow like her mother. She loves a good cuddle, can hold her own in the herd and has a great fringe.
Dapper
Family name: Fancy
Breed: Dairy Shorthorn x Simmental
Born: 22/01/2022
Genealogy: Dam – Swish, Sire – Simmental
Offspring: Spiffy (heifer)
Traits: Dapper is our most talkative cow, and very high pitched, you always know where she is. She’s always been very friendly and is a stocky girl.
Bette Davis
Family name: Filmstar/singer
Breed: Jersey
Born: 28/12/2021
Genealogy: Dam – Norma Jean, Sire – Sunset Cannon Athens Jersey
Offspring: Bing Crosby (steer)
Traits: Bette is a classic jersey, putting most of her energy into her milk rather than her body. She share a sire and appearance with the late Luna so it’s very special having a connection to Luna still. Bette likes to follow you around in the hope you might have something exciting for her.
Cherry
Family name: Edible tree
Breed: Jersey x Dairy Shorthorn
Born: 27/09/2022
Genealogy: Dam – Olive, Sire – Dairy Shorthorn
Offspring: Malnuda (heifer)
Traits: Cherry was our only live calve from our beloved Olive. Unfortunately Olive died from complications shortly after Cherry was born so this very special lady got extra love from her human and cow aunties. She reminds us of Olive everyday with her cheeky attitude and appetite.
The Farm
Sellar Farmhouse Creamery holds a lease at the foothills of Leanganook just outside of Harcourt, 9km from Castlemaine, Victoria. Harcourt was once the premier apple growing region in Australia and continues to have a large orchard industry, requiring the recently upgraded irrigation system.
Sitting about 380 metres above sea level with rolling granite hills, red gums, grey and yellow box eucalyptus and lightwoods dot the landscape.
Our average rainfall sits around 560mm, mainly falling over the winter months. Turning the concrete granitic sands of summer into porridge in winter, with springs popping up everywhere as the ground-water follows the underground boulders.
Summer days mainly sit in the 30°s and can reach 45°C, with a winter average of 2°-12° occasionally dropping below 0° with frost.
Sellar Farmhouse Creamery farms on Dja Dja Wurrung country. We acknowledge that Aboriginal sovereignty on this land has not been ceded.
We pay our respects to the Dja Dja Wurrung people whose knowledge and care for this land has nourished and fed people for countless generations before us.
At the foothills of Leanganook we marvel and are reminded of the power and history of this country we farm.
The Harcourt Organic Farming Co-op
We’re lucky enough to be part of he Harcourt Organic Farming Co-op. A collaboration of diverse organic farmers in Central Victoria.
Land owners Katie and Hugh Finlay have taken a new approach to succession planning on their second generation family farm, a 47 acre certified organic farm in Central Victoria now home to the co-op. Unlike the traditional farming co-op model; people farming the same product on different properties, using the combined energy to sell together, we’re doing things a little different. Different farming enterprises, working together on the same land to bring diversity and resilience to the land and our customers.
So far we are:
The Orchard is on it’s forth iteration of management structure, currently led by Katie and Hugh Finlay and a crew of CSA members and volunteers dubbed ‘fruit crew’. The Orchard Keepers manage an organic fruit orchard growing cherries, apricots, peaches, nectarines, plums, apples and pears. Selling through CSA shares, farmers’ markets, pick your own, farm shop, and custom orders.
Carr’s Organic Fruit Tree Nursery
Under the mentorship of Merv Carr, who has been grafting and budding heritage fruit trees for over 50 years, Katie Finlay and her sister Liz Carr are continuing the family tradition. Carr’s Organic Fruit Tree Nursery grows a huge variety of quality heritage fruit trees for sale in winter as barerooted trees.
Hugh and Katie Finlay use their 20 years’ experience as organic fruit growers to teach others how to successfully grow organic fruit at home with their home-study program and one-on-one support.
Bushfoods plot run by Murnong Mammas
Murnong Mummas is an Indigenous-lead social enterprise involved in the native foods and botanicals sector.
Previously we have also been how to Gung Hoe Growers market garden.
We’re still looking for new co-op members so please get in touch if you have a farming idea that is compatible and complementary with existing enterprises. Some opportunities that have been identified include:
• Nuts
• berries
• herbs
• native foods
• plant nursery
• poultry
• honey
Connect with the Co-op at hofcoop.com.au or facebook
The Breeds
We run two main breeds in the herd which together create our delicious milk:
Jersey
A small to average sized, classic dairy cow. Caramel colour often having a darker winter coat with black areas on face, neck, tail and feet. Black colour pigment: visible around eyes and nose. The Jersey cow has the highest butter fat content of the mainstream milking breeds in Australia. She is the best converter of feed into fat and her milk has a yellow appearance when on pasture. A very rich, simple and sweet flavour. Being a higher production cow they have a habit of producing milk first and then looking after themselves which can lead to higher risks of milk fever, weaker immune systems and struggling to keep weight on after calving.
Dairy Shorthorn
I have two types of Dairy Shorthorns in my herd; the classic English dairy shorthorn and the Illawara dairy shorthorn which is an Australian Breed created by breeding a small amount of Ayrshire and Devon blood into the classic shorthorn. The Illawara is considered to be a straight dairy breed as opposed to the traditional dual purpose Dairy Shorthorn. Both animals are known for their roan markings, they can range from pure white to pure red and everything in between. Red or white colour pigment around the eyes and nose. A medium size animal who is far beefier than a modern dairy cow; looking after herself at the same time as producing milk means they are known for easy calving, resilience, strong mothering instincts, fertility, grazing efficiency and calves which can be raised for meat. Their milk is white with a savory, complex flavour. While there are very few purebred herds of either left in Australia, they were previously one of the most popular breeds.
