Moos and brews: Milk affected by drought
The drought in Manawatu¯ is so bad it’s affecting a Palmerston North cafe’s lattes.
Cafe Royale, on The Square, was left with bubbly milk after its organic supply was altered due to dry weather.
Cafe owner Robert Winters said he’d been told by his supplier Anchor, part of Fonterra, that the milk was different because farms have to give cows a different type of feed.
In mid-january, he was left with milk that was bubbly when it should be smooth when frothed, he said.
‘‘We couldn’t actually texture it properly. It started separating.
‘‘Because we use just organic milk, we are drawing from a small pool of farms.
‘‘We got very frustrated. We are particular about our coffees.’’
The coffee dilemma brought home the effects of the drought, Winters said.
He also couldn’t get organic trim milk for about two weeks, which disappointed some customers.
Winters had to warn customers that their usually silky coffees would have more air bubbles than normal.
‘‘Everyone was quite accepting of it. They were a little bit less accepting of the fact we didn’t have the trim milk.’’
Winters didn’t want to give his customers non-organic milk, he said.
‘‘Organic farms don’t need to be putting as many artificial fertilisers on the land.’’
On Monday, the cafe finally got a good batch of organic milk, including trim milk, but Winters was worried more dry weather could cause problems.
A Fonterra spokesperson said organic milk was a natural product that could vary slightly during different seasons and in response to weather and feed conditions.
‘‘This can impact the composition and, if for example, protein composition changes, this can affect the cafe-stretching process, but the milk retains its natural goodness.’’
There was an increase in demand for organic trim milk over the holiday period that led to shortages, but the supply was back to normal, the spokesperson said.
Rural Co-ordination Group deputy chairman James Stewart said due to the early hot, dry summer farmers were unable to make and save enough supplementary feed for later and some were already using their winter feed.
Some dairy farmers had to dry off or cull cows early and bought in extra supplements, he said.
When rain did fall, farmers experienced hardship and frustration when it seemed to drop around, but not on, their farms, Stewart said.
The significant rainfall in parts of the drought-affected North Island in the first half of January came just in time for many farmers, he said.
It was a welcome step to breaking the dry spell, but droughts were slow to build up and slow to recover from, he said.
The Manawatu¯ -Whanganui Rural Co-ordination Group, made up of rural support trusts, Ministry for Primary Industries, civil defence emergency management and representatives from Federated Farmers, Dairynz, Beef and Lamb NZ, and Fonterra, has been meeting regularly to monitor the situation.
Niwa forecaster Ben Noll said although it seemed to be a dry January, the first half of the month had already exceeded average rainfall for January at 69 millimetres, compared to the 63mm average.
‘‘But, it’s a bit deceiving because it mainly came from [one] storm.’’
An extremely dry November and December meant there needed to be more rain in January to recover.
Manawatu¯ should get some rain today and tomorrow, and heavier rain was expected on Monday and Tuesday, Noll said.