Did you know you earn Farm Source Reward Dollars (F$) every time you buy through Farm Source and our partners?
You can redeem in-store on farming supplies, or the 5000+ products online, through Dream Rewards or Charitable Giving. Thanks to Farm Source Reward Dollars, Mercer-based Co-op farmers Brad and Ellie Cockrell are taking their four children to the USA and Mexico for a “rewarding” trip over the Christmas and New Year break.
“We decided to use our rewards on travel, as they are ‘rewards’ so we want to have fun with them. Brad’s sister lives in Orlando, Florida, and we have been wanting to take our four kids over to visit her and her family for quite some time. Now is the time,” says Ellie.
“The process has been fairly seamless. The travel company Farm Source Rewards uses is Kay Humphries Travel so we have had its help to book our international flights. Brad’s sister has a full itinerary planned for us which of course includes Disneyland and an airboat tour to see the ’gators. We are then flying with them to Cancún (Mexico) for a five-night stay over New Years, and then on to Los Angeles for three nights to see the sights before coming back home to the farm!”
“The farm” is a 320-hectare block near Mercer called Mooka Flats. The Cockrells have been on the property since 2009, turning it from a maize grain farm to a thriving dairy farm milking 900 cows. The family still grows a small amount of maize that they use in autumn.
“We continually challenge our cow per hectare ratio, trying to find where the sweet spot sits. As we don’t have a feed pad, and are reliant on the weather and this is an ongoing challenge,” says Ellie.
“We also have a runoff 15 minutes down the road, which raises all of our heifer replacements, both R1s and R2s. Our four-year average is 450,000 milk solids per season which is 500MS per cow and 1406MS per hectare. We are a high system 3, low 4, which enables us to feed the cows the way we want to. We are continually managing our pastures and crops and have an in-shed feeding system where we are able to top up our cows with concentrate feeds. With our farm growing a large amount of grass, about 16 tonnes per annum, this system suits us. The advantage we have is that it is a low-lying peat farm and we are able to control the water table via our big pump station.”
How are farmers spending their F$?
As well as redeeming F$ in-store and online at our Farm Source Rewards store, Co-op farmers can also convert their F$ into Dream Rewards. If you can dream it, the Farm Source Rewards Concierge Service will do its best to make it happen.
Over the past year, Co-op farmers have turned their F$ into a new John Deere mower, a Mammoth XE6 E-bike, an engagement ring from Midas Diamond Jewellers, a cedar composting toilet from When Nature Calls, repairs to a helicopter and using Farm Source Reward Dollars to put deposits on a Keelow Craft Jet Boat and 2019 Dodge Challenger Hellcat Redeye, and even paid for orthodontic treatment for their children.
What are farmers’ favourite redepmtion items?
- Supermarket vouchers
- Travel vouchers
- Apple iPhones
- Dyson vacuum cleaners
- Apple AirPods
- Vegepod garden beds
- Superfly Trampolines
Farm Source Rewards is easy to join. All you need is a Farm Source account to start earning.