Sheep milk heads to Asia
A sheep milking farm becomes the first NZ dairy producer to get the SPCA animal welfare certification. Piers Fuller reports.
High-protein, flavoured sheep’s milk created by Fernglen Farms on Masterton’s east coast will soon be available on the shelves of Asian supermarkets.
The small dairy producer is set to become the first fresh sheep milk exporter of retail-ready products in the country, and it was also leading the dairy industry in animal welfare.
Originally a traditional sheep and beef operation run by Jeff and Shirley Ravenwood, more recently the 1100-hectare East Coast farm has branched out into sheep dairy production spearheaded by youngest son Cameron.
The first shipment of Fernglen Farm-branded, ready-to-drink products was heading to
Singapore in late May.
‘‘We’ll be the only ones exporting fresh sheep milk in retail-ready form,’’ Cameron Ravenwood said.
It only took about three days for the product to get from the milking shed to the Asian supermarkets.
The first bulk shipment of Fernglen milk headed overseas last week for processing to be used as a pharmaceutical supplement.
A litre bottle sells for about $9 in New Zealand.
Ravenwood, 23, has a masters degree in agribusiness and food marketing and saw other industries had SPCA animal welfare certification, but dairy was conspicuously absent. Around two of years ago he approached the SPCA, and they have worked together to formulate the standards and audit processes for sheep dairy animal welfare certification.
One of the biggest differences between how they run their milking operation that differed from most large scale cattle dairy farms was that they didn’t separate mother and babies at an early age.
They milked the ewes while the lamb was still with its mother, just taking the sheep’s surplus milk. This required drafting the lambs from the ewes before the once-daily milking, and then re-uniting them afterwards.
Other conditions of the SPCA’s newly-minted accreditation for sheep dairy covered general humane treatment of animals and high levels of animal husbandry with an extensive auditable checklist.
‘‘It is about keeping your animals as healthy as possible and never letting them be in a stressful situation.’’
SPCA certified farm animal welfare and standards manager Dr Rob Gregory said the aim of the programme was to celebrate good farming, raise animal treatment above current legal requirements and ‘‘encourage others within the industry to follow suit’’.
Ravenwood said a big motivation was enhancing the average New Zealander’s impression of the industry. ‘‘I’m really keen to make urban folk proud of farmers again.’’
As a premier grade rugby player, Ravenwood first tested his products on his Shirley Rugby Club teammates while at university in Canterbury.
Moore Wilson supermarket Masterton fresh department supervisor Elly Johnston said Fernglen’s sheep’s milk tasted ‘‘creamier than the blue [regular cow’s milk]’’.
‘‘This doesn’t taste like goat’s milk, which can be quite strong and a bit nasty. Fernglen sheep milk is a lot closer to cows’ milk – it is extremely similar.’’