15 APRIL 2025: We've had a very busy few months on the farm. Below are some highlights from a frenetic summer and early autumn.
January: the arrival of insatiable red-shouldered nibblers
Narrawilly's soil produces some wonderful flowers, particularly its roses and enormous sunflowers. Robert, a keen gardener who dreams of winning Milton Show's Champion Rose prize, was surprised and shocked to see a migrating plague of voracious red-shouldered beetles (monolepta beetles) arriving on the farm in early January. The ruthless nibblers stripped his rose bushes and the farm's tree leaf canopies in a matter of hours. Plenty of other gardeners and horticulturalists across NSW were equally taken aback at the speed with which these hungry beetles destroyed their gardens. (Read this Yahoo News article, about the beetle plague, featuriing photographs that will make any keen gardener's stomach lurch).
Image 1: After the monolepta, a skeletonised leaf
February: for the love of sunflowers
In February, well after the red-shouldered beetles had departed for feasts elsewhere, Narrawilly's crop of sunflowers bloomed. Just in time for Valentine's Day, the sunflowers were harvested and sold at the farm's pop-up store. We hope those of you who purchased them enjoyed this year's flowers as much as we did. And it was wonderful to hear back from the school children and local charity group to whom we donated sunflowers for their respective educational and social events.
Images 2, 3 & 4: Rob among the sunflowers, grown on-farm, and sold at the farm's pop-up store or donated to a school's art project
February: a very special visitor
In early February, the High Commissioner for Pakistan, His Excellency Mr Zahid Hafeez Chaudri, hosted by Rotary Club Milton-Ulladulla, visited Ulladulla. The High Commissioner, the guest speaker at the club's 11 February event, held at the Dunne-Lewis Centre, spoke about Australia-Pakistan relations, Pakistan's economy, including its agricultural sector, its people and cultures, and, very importantly, the efforts to eradicate polio.
During the High Commissioner's visit, Robert and the team at Croobyar Farm were delighted to be able to show Mr Chaudri around Croobyar Farm, discussing with him Pakistan's dairy sector, the nature and size of the farms producing milk, the animals (mostly buffalo) relied on, and the contrasts between Pakistan's and Australia's milk production methods. At 47 million metric tonnes of milk per year, Pakistan is the world's third largest milk producer.
Rob extends his sincere thanks to the High Commissioner and host, Rotary Club Milton-Ulladulla, for taking time to visit Croobyar Farm, and to hear directly from the High Commissioner about dairy production in Pakistan. Some of our team members also had the chance to meet and greet this very special visitor.
March: it's show-time, folks!
March is Milton Show-time. Narrawilly Farm was proud to sponsor some special prizes in the roses section of the 2025 show. Congratulations to the prize winners. We hope our sponsorship continues to encourage even more entries from local rose growers in 2026 and beyond.
Image 5: Champion rose at Milton Show 2025 (photo: Miriam Miller)
Autumn: golden light and gold medals
Autumn has finally arrived on the farm. Trees are changing colour. Ensiling is still underway. Milk production is gearing up. The herds are expanding. And the farm teams are busy tackling the daily and seasonal demands of dairy farming.
When he wasn't on-farm, Robert and his dragonboat racing crew were training on Shoalhaven River in preparation for DBNSW's NSW State Championship in late March. And when they took on NSW's best crews at Penrith's SIRC, they won - not once, but twice! - earning themselves bragging rights as NSW 2025 State Champions in both the 500m and 2km distances.
Image 6: NSW double-gold State Champions (opens, 50+ age group, 500m & 2km distance) featuring Farmer Rob and crew (photo: Nowra Waterdragons)
April: farmers supporting a local festival
This year is the 68th edition of Ulladulla's annual Blessing of the Fleet Festival, and Narrawilly Farm, along with other Milton dairy farms, donated milk-based drinks to keep the organisers in good spirit as they continue their final preparations for this much-loved event kicking off on Easter Sunday.
Image 7: Milton's dairy farmers supporting another much-loved event in our local community
Keep an eye open for glimpses of Ulladulla Harbour and the local fishing crews featured in free-to-air TV and weather reports.
