Organic milk a tasty favourite
When your product is sold as fresh as it is made by nature, it doesn’t get any better.
And that’s what the directors of Matamata company Jersey Girl Organics pride themselves on.
‘‘It’s milk as cows make it,’’ says one of the company directors Liz MacKay.
The business has been supplying organic milk to the market for three years and the product has proven itself to be among the best.
It is a finalist in the dairy sector of the Life and Leisure Outstanding New Zealand Food Producers Awards, 2017.
The farm and Jersey Girl Organics business is a family affair. A Vosper has owned and lived on on the Hinuera Rd farm for over 100 years.
The 80ha farm has 270 A2 jersey cows and has been operating as an organic dairy farm for over 14 years.
John Vosper and wife Liz are both company directors, along with their son Michael, and John’s sister Mary Vosper.
John’s parents Ron and Marcia Vosper, and Ron’s brother and sister-in-law Beth and Maurice Vosper live on the property, as well as John’s cousin Clare Kranenberg and her husband Jason.
Liz says they discovered their milk had something special - and something they felt the consumer would enjoy.
‘‘We noticed the difference between what we drink in winter (store milk), and what we have at home. It’s just not the same stuff.’’
Jersey Girl milk, available in one and two-litre bottles, is produced and bottled in a minifactory inside a shipping container on the farm.
The milk is heat-treated to Ministry for Primary Industry standards for retail sale.
In the early years they sold locally from vending machines, and now it is sold as far away as Wellington, Auckland, Waiheke and in various Farmers Markets.
Even though the Vospers know they are on to a good thing, Liz says winning accolades is a surprise.
‘‘It’s surreal when you are farmers, just plodding along.
‘‘We are proud of our product. Because it’s a good quality product.
‘‘For people higher up than us in the food industry to say ‘it’s really good’, is neat!
‘‘It’s all about managing the farm.
‘‘And it’s beautiful, the cows are beautiful. It’s a whole process.’’