An udder look at the

Moove over Fonterra. Smaller companies are filling demand for organic and other niche milks. Chris Hutching reports

NEWZealand’s dairy industry has been big business for decades – but now a few innovative producers are looking to cash in on the trend for more boutique, craft-based foodstuffs.

When Pahiatua farmer Norman Daysh invented the first mechanised vacuum pump milking machine 100 years ago, cows were still often handmilked and the milk was collected from the farm gate and treated by local companies. Rivalries grew around laws giving companies specific territories – laws only repealed in the 90s as Fonterra formed through mergers and takeovers.

But now a handful of farmbased craft milk producers have made a comeback.

In Matamata, the Vosper family’s Jersey Girl Organics farm is selling non-homogenised ‘‘A2’’ whole milk in shops in Wellington, Bay of Plenty and Auckland from Jersey cows, which make up just 9 per cent of the national dairy herd and produce the highest milk fat.

John Vosper said the milk is processed on the property and the retail side is slowly growing.

‘‘We’ve had to learn a whole lot of new skills around marketing and dealing with supermarkets. Hopefully we’ll build more brand awareness in time.

‘‘There’s a social conscience aspect to what we do. My wife is a social worker, and I’m doing a course on climate change and its effects,’’ Vosper said.

People can buy Jersey Girl Milk in supplied glass bottles or fill their own container from a vending machine which keeps the milk cold and slowly stirred.

Boutique farm owner Glen Herud runs Happy Cow Milk in Ohoka in Canterbury – where he tows a mobile milking platform to wherever his small herd is grazing.

Although the property he uses is not certified, he farms organically and sells the whole milk in glass bottles to six shops in Rangiora and Christchurch and supplies more than a dozen cafes whose owners say the whole milk is creamier and better to steam.

Herud said the reason there were so few craft producers was because it was hard work – but he was having to expand to meet demand.

Recycling of the glass bottles is a major attraction for consumers of the farm-based milk producers.

Consumers have switched onto the fact that not all milks are created equal, beginning with the cows that produce the milk.’ ANGELA WEEKS

The Oaklands Milk company at Stoke, near Nelson, also highlights the bonus of milk from A2-tested cows. A2 milk is said to have certain health benefits including factors which can improve digestibilty.

Owner Julian Raine said the company was introducing a national brand to be sold in