That is, according to documents obtained by The Advocate, which appear to be a series of emails and meeting notes outlining a rapidly growing rift between Van Dairy Ltd (formerly Moon Lake Investments) owner Xianfeng Lu and his own company board back in 2018.

The documents are dated from February 2018, about two months before the mass resignation of five board members and then CEO Evan Rolley.

They present a set of directions and concerns from Mr Lu, including:

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The directions appear to be responding to requests by the board to spend money on drought proofing the farms, which had been exposed to "dire milk production efforts" after three months of very dry weather.

Mr Lu said the requested capex (capital expenditure) was "not sustainable" due to low milk prices at the time.

"The business is not profitable and very concerned about cash flow," the documents report Mr Lu saying.

They also revealed Mr Lu's plans to shut down three of the least profitable dairy farms to make land and shed space available to raise 4000 bobby calves and then sell them to China as veal.

"Bobby calves can be raised more cheaply on their mothers. You do not need more calf rearing sheds to raise these calves."

The documents also reveal Mr Lu said he had spent $5 million for water from Talbot's Lagoon, a private lagoon near Waratah.

"I ... was told by VDL Co that I could use that water for irrigation," he said.

"Use that water first and do not build big new dams.

"Help me accelerate State Government approval for that scheme first as I have already paid for it. My idea is to build trenches to store water on each farm, you do not need to build big dams."

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According to the documents, Mr Rolley responded to Mr Lu's proposal with a stark warning.

"Free ranging 4000 bobby calves with their mothers will fail," he said.

"No capex for the ongoing operations on existing farms will lead to significant additional costs, loss of longer term profitability and has potential to lead to safety and regulatory failure issues."

Among the documents was an email to the board, in which deputy chairman David Crean told the board he had conducted a three hour meeting with Mr Lu on February 19.

He wrote that he had told the owner a "certain level of capex had to be undertaken of the order of around $4m additional to the Gums".

The Gums farm lies within the Woolnorth gate at 648 Montagu Road.

Moon Lake Investments had, at that stage, commenced a $2.7 million upgrade to the rotary dairy, which was expected to expand milking by 20 per cent.

The upgrade also included an above-ground effluent storage facility, which was widely reported at the time to have been built to ensure no leaching into the ground.

On March 4, 2021, the Circular Head Council issued an environmental protection notice, which said the system was "inadequate", and that effluent could be seen overflowing out of the property bounds.

Three years later, and many of the warnings in the documents have come to fruition.

Mr Rolley said on Thursday the board, himself and the three operations managers who had worked with him at the time had tried to come to a compromise with Mr Lu to ensure he could meet the conditions imposed by the FIRB.

"We went into it all in a very positive, optimistic way, hoping to help him deliver on those commitments," he said.

"We tried very hard to accommodate the FIRB requirements with the cash flow, but Mr Lu went about systematically removing three operations managers on the farms who had vast experience in dairy.

"It was very disappointing, and clearly Mr Lu was not in a position to understand the nature of the business of dairying sustainably in Tasmania.

"You've got to ask yourself if the predicament he finds himself in now is a direct result of his own actions."

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He said there was "no joy" in seeing his predictions unfold.

"Let's hope and pray this time he takes the advice that he ignored when we gave it to him, and restores the confidence of the Circular Head Community," he said.

"The thing that one would hope is that the federal government through the FIRB would put in place a robust, independent and transparent auditing of all these foreign investments.

"Then we all can be confident that, if approved with conditions, they will be delivered for the benefit of the community."

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Van Dairy Ltd was contacted for comment, but said it would not comment publicly on "possibly erroneous claims or confidential operational matters".

"What the company can state categorically is that VDL is investing in infrastructure, current and new people, caring for animals, including local wildlife, and protecting the environment," VDL said.

"A business plan that directs operational reform and performance across the farming operations is currently being developed."