NZ Dairy – Autumn 2021
Check out the fresh milk section starting from p28

A growing drive by consumers to seek out healthful foods is being reinforced in recent times by the drive to support local businesses, and Village Milk is helping New Zealand dairy farmers and provide their communities with increasingly sought-after, healthy, and delicious raw milk at the farm gate. 

Since 2011, Takaka-based Mark and Phillipa Houston have been selling real raw drinking milk at the farm gate under the brand Village Milk, a business which grew to include the New Zealand distribution of DF Italia dispensing vending machines, then consultancy services for dairy farmers.  

Village Milk managing director Richard Houston says the enthusiasm for real milk is growing in New Zealand, as people love the taste and they love the health benefits. 

He says when people come to the farm gate for milk at 10am, they’re getting milk that’s only been harvested a couple of hours before, and is at the most pristine structural condition. “From our dispensers, the milk has only been pumped twice, into the dispenser and then into the bottle. Every time milk is pumped, its structure is broken  up, changing the taste and giving the body less of a chance to utilise every nutritional element it has to goer.”

Raw milk also bypasses the pasteurisation process intended to destroy harmful bacteria, but at the same time destroys beneicial bacteria, vitamins, and enzymes.

The Government’s Raw Milk for Sale to Consumers Regulations 2015 has been developed to minimise the risks of raw milk to public health, and Village Milk’s consultancy services has helped farmers to understand and adhere to these regulations, and produce the highest quality milk possible. With hundreds of machines installed throughout Europe, DF Italia was founded in 2004 with the production of raw milk automatic dispensers. DF Italia has since evolved into the design and production of a wide range of vending machines dispensing all types of products, liquid and packaged, at controlled or ambient temperature.

Mark and Phillipa use DF Italiamilk dispensing machines, which they found to be a machine with well engineered and reliable componentry, all built around the integrity of the milk. “DF Italia dispensing machines have a monitoring and alarm system, beautiful pumping equipment, and nicely inished stainless steel tanks,” Richard says.

“They come in various sizes from 150L up 1800L, and in single and double units where two people can dispense milk at the same time. We can get quite busy here at Village Milk, when school inishes up until the after work rush, and some people arefilling multiple bottles.”

A separate DF Italia dispenser holds milk bottles and lids. The machines can be installed indoors and outdoors, anywhere there is an electrical connection. They give customers the ability to buy fresh, high quality milk 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Richard says farm gate milk sales are ideally suited to farms which are located close to population and with good road access. A small herd isn’t essential, and some of Village Milk’s operators also run commercial herds through the same shed. “We recommend commercial operators run a micro-herd and harvest their raw milk through a really clean shed, with the main herd coming in after.”

 

FRESH MILK » Andrea & Stuart Weir: Real Milk Timaru

PHOTO: Andrea and Stuart Weir, from Real Milk Timaru, say their fresh milk home delivery service has gone from strength to strength.

Since the Covid-19 lockdowns Real Milk Timaru’s home delivery service has gone from strength to strength, increasing by 30%.

“It was the convenience factor during lockdown of having milk delivered direct to the door. We’re still picking up new customers every week,” says Stuart Weir who runs the business with wife Andrea from their Glenwillow Farm in Timaru.

The fresh, non-pasteurised, and non-homog enised milk is delivered two nights a week to Timaru town and to Waimate, Fairlie and Pleasant Point weekly. Just like the good old days people leave their empty glass bottles at the gate and freshly filled bottles are delivered. If people are not home they can stipulate the milk be left in a garage fridge or chilly bin.

 

“People love the fact there is no wastage and it’s the best milk they can get. It’s what everyone wants to get back to.” says Stuart.

 

The Weirs are in their seventh season supplying the milk direct to consumers. They started the business after a number of people enquired at their farm about buying milk. Their milk is also dispensed via vending machines in their retail shop with customers serving themselves and pay ing via the machine. Real Milk Timaru has grown steadily and now accounts for about 15% of their business. It’s a side business to their supply of Fonterra but gives them more control over the return of their product by adding value to it.

It’s a labour of love. The Weirs keep 15 of their cows separate, which are milked once a day, for Real Milk Timaru. These cows, which are typically their lowest somatic cell count cows and lower end producers, are milked before the main herd.

They are hand washed, iodine teat sprayed and hand dried before the cups are put on. Their milk is tested every week for consistency and bacteria count.
It also dictated the design of their milk shed, a parallel parlour with DeLaval plant.
Stuart says they didn’t want a rotary because Real Milk Timaru necessitated a cleaner shed.
Their shed has a pan that runs the length of the pit for effluent so nothing goes onto the floor of the shed. With automatic cup removers they only need one staff member. It is also a rapid exit shed as the head bail lifts up and the cows just walk forwards and out.

The dairy shed and shop with viewing area have become popular with schools and kinder gartens. Andrea takes the tours where kids get to feed calves and sample the milk. There are probably two generations who have never had access to a farm. This shows kids where their food comes from and helps bridge that rural-urban divide,” says Stuart. 

The couple farm 100ha with 200 holstein/ friesian cows. They winter milk around 160. Both Stuart and Andrea are hands on farmers and typically work 10-hour days starting at 6am each morning for the milking. They calve at the end of February to give a winter supply herd for Fonterra and Real Milk. No bobby calves are sent off the farm - all of their calves are either replacement heifers or beef cross calves sold on for the beef industry.

They have just finished building a 170 metre deep well. This will replace their water take from Salt Water Creek, which runs through the farm and give them greater water security over the summer months.

FRESH MILK » Beach Road Milk Co: Ryan Gargan & Megan Turner. By Virginia Wright

Beach Road Milk Company is a raw milk com pany run by Ryan Gargan and his partner Megan Turner on a farm that he first leased off his grandfather 20 years ago.

The 30 effective hectares that Ryan runs his cows on is in Omata about 10 minutes from New Plymouth’s CBD. It backs onto the beach with a roughly 50-50 split between flat and gentle rolling to steep hills, which is where Ryan runs his dry cows while keeping his lactating cows close to the sheds on the flatter land. 

The need to have a steady milk supply 365 days a year dictates twice-a-year calving for his 56 cows, with cows having six to seven months lactation followed by five dry months. 

Ryan’s clear that he’s in the business of making a superior product, and careful handling of the source of that product is a given. “Our autumn mob calve in March and lactate through the winter and then we have the spring calving in September. Then we dry off our March calvers so they spend the summer dry and calve again in March,” explains Ryan. 

“So it’s a relatively short lactation which means a lot less stress on the animals, plus we only milk once a day so there’s no pressure on the cows, their immune system stays strong and they’re going to be in better health.”

Ryan believes that soil health is the other key ingredient to success. “Raw milk’s a great product anyway and we want to increase the value of that product. We use a mixed pasture species with three different legumes, four different types of rye, plantain, and chicory so they’ve got a superior product diet,” he explains.

It’s more about the health benefits than the taste per se as far as Ryan’s concerned so while he could make the milk fattier and sweeter by having a pure Jersey herd they run a Kiwi-X herd instead; a fifty-fifty mix of Jersey and Friesian. “So we’ve got that balance of protein and fat which sits around 5.85 to 6% fat which still gives it a nice flavour, and they suit the once-a-day milking as well,” he says.

The result of 20 years of breeding, the cows are all DNA profiled and A2 producing. Ryan first set up his raw milk business under the brand Beach Road Milk Company back in 2015. “We ran it completely organically, so obviously no pesticides, no herbicides, no chemical fertilizer in any way shape or form. I think that natural side of things is important for raw milk as well,” Ryan explains.

They’ve never looked to be certified organic however, with the current regime of being audited three times a year as a raw milk supplier, plus all the required testing, already costing them around $25,000 a year. Another layer of auditing to be certified would result in a price increase to the consumer which Ryan is keen to avoid. “Our milk is only $2.50 a litre which is rela tively cheap for raw milk, but when you see the consumers that come in it’s children and families that consume large quantities of milk, not adults.

So I’d rather see families come in and buy 12 litres at a time because it’s affordable and they can get the benefits. I’m not too worried about the people who aren’t price sensitive and who can buy their one litre at a time for $5.00 a week, that’s not our target market.”

With a stall where parents can stop on the school run to get their milk as well as organic veges, honey, jams, avocados and so on, Ryan is pleased with what they have on offer. “It’s nice to have time with the animals, time with the soil, time with the customers. We’ve created a bit of a community hub here in Omata so it’s enjoyable to be seen farming and to help bridge that urban-rural divide.”