Sheep milk a growing option for Southland

Interest in dairy sheep is building throughout New Zealand as corporate farms cement the industry’s footing as a viable alternative to traditional land uses.

Bayleys rural consultant Hayden McCallum, based in Invercargill, said Southland offered significant opportunities for milking sheep, given its well established sheep sector and strong pastoral property base.

It is already home to one of the country’s largest dairy sheep operators, Antara Ag which has an exclusive supply agreement with Blueriver Nutrition HK, milking 15,000 east friesian-poll dorset ewes on three Southland farms.

It manufactures infant formula from sheep’s milk for export to China, the first company in New Zealand to do so. Ultimately, the company intends to take on farmer suppliers in what may be a syndicated ownership structure.

As rural catchments come under stricter controls over farm nutrient losses and management, the ability to convert more land to dairying is being challenged. Dairy sheep with their relatively low level of nutrient losses offered an optional land use, McCallum said.

However, he cautioned it was still very early days for an industry with a production base of about 33,000 milking sheep.

‘‘But it also appears to be an industry whose time may have come. For many sheep farmers seeking a potential succession plan, sheep milking may provide a pathway to helping boost farm returns for the next generation to buy into, without necessarily converting the entire farm.’’

Globally the dairy sheep market is estimated to be worth US$8 billion at the farm gate, a mere 2 per cent of the dairy cow milk market.

Sheep’s milk averages 18-19 per cent milksolids, compared to about 12 per cent for cow’s milk.

Keith Neylon, director of dairy sheep venture Antara Ag in Southland and founder of Blue River Dairy, confirmed his company was poised to expand its sheep milking numbers next year.

The company has grown its genetic base to a point it could offer genetic stock to new farmers, he said.

He likened any supply arrangement to a conventional dairy farmer supply agreement with a processor, receiving monthly payments for milk supplied.

‘‘We have made a point of ensuring our growth has been very much demand led. It’s not dissimilar to what the dairy goat industry has also experienced.’’

He said the scale a new dairy sheep farmer might want to operate on would depend on their financial position, and how much equity they already had in their property which would enable them to adapt the farm to dairy sheep.