The dairy community is always well known for supporting their own, so it came as no surprise when Brookbora Jersey’s Robert Bacon died early this year, the industry jumped on board.
For wife Sandra and children Michelle and Daniel, that support resulted in raising an eye-watering $44,000 for cancer support through a special auction ‘In Memory of Bert’, held after Jersey Australia Dairy’s Finest Showcase Sale, in Coffs Harbour in May.
“Originally we didn’t know the auction was happening, but a couple of family friends had got together and it just grew from there,” Sandra said.
With some vendors donating a percentage of their sale proceeds and industry bodies donating goods and services, the auction ended up exceeding all expectations.
“In the end they had to put a stop to donations due to time constraints with the auction fast approaching,” Daniel said.
Both Sandra and Daniel attended the auction and were simply overwhelmed by the support.
“We were up the back of the room and we had tears rolling down our faces, it was very emotional for us on so many levels,” Sandra said.
Sandra had asked Robert when he was sick what would he do if he had had all the money in the world? His simple reply was “donate it to cancer research so no-one else has to go through what we have”.
The family is now honouring his wish.
Sandra, Michelle and Daniel acknowledge while Robert would be embarrassed by all the fuss, he would be quietly delighted by the amount of money raised to help others.
“Dad was always a quiet achiever and just got on with the job,” Daniel said.
Sandra said his loves were always family, farming and friends and particularly over recent years, spending time with his four grandkids.
When it came to farming it was breeding cows and growing grass that Robert excelled at.
“Dad was always continually focused on improving the bottom end of the herd using every tool available from genomics to classification to cell count,” Daniel said.
“He loved data and, in the end, bred over 300 excellent cows.”
Robert’s dedication to breeding also saw the Brookbora herd hold the title for number one BPI herd, number one Jersey herd and premier breeder. They also have AI bulls in use around the world.
The Bacon family foray into dairy farming at Tennyson, in north-central Victoria, began in 1948 when Robert’s grandparents purchased the home farm.
In 1963 the Brookbora herd was registered.
In 1980 Robert left school to work on the farm. Initially Robert farmed with his brother Colin but in 2001, Robert and Sandra took over running the business — which now encompasses 283ha and a herd of 300 cows.
“Robert was proud of the fact he had finally gotten the farm and herd in order,” Sandra said.
Despite being a non-smoker, Robert was diagnosed with a rare form of lung cancer in February 2022.
While Sandra said she would sell everything tomorrow to have Robert back, she said at least Robert did have time to continue to mentor Daniel and pass on his knowledge.
Daniel will be the fourth generation to farm at Tennyson.
Robert enjoyed the camaraderie of showing cows. One of the last events he was well enough to attend was the Rochester Show where he saw Brookbora Vanahlem Enchantress win Supreme Champion Cow.
“That was one of the last places he was able to visit,” Sandra said.
With the auction over, the family is continuing with its fundraising efforts by participating in Run Melbourne in July with a team to honour Robert’s memory.
“Robert would be embarrassed but secretly pleased by all the support and as a family, we just hope all this fundraising will be able to make a real difference and help someone else,” Sandra said.
