Opportunities ahead for raw milk farmers
After a year supplying raw milk to Southland and Dunedin, Farm Fresh South is looking to branch into the Queenstown and Central Otago markets.
Its owners, Logan and Melissa Johnson, deliver milk to customers in Dunedin, Invercargill, Wallacetown, Makarewa and Otatara twice a week, as well as providing a vending machine in the selfservice section of their boutique dairy farm.
To sell milk in Queenstown and Central Otago is one of the couple’s plans, along with hiring a delivery driver. Melissa does most of the delivery work in a small refrigerated vehicle.
The milking herd of 20 is likely to increase to 50 soon to keep in step with customer demand.
‘‘The feedback we’re getting is really good ... it’s been a whirlwind 12 months,’’ Logan said.
‘‘We thought people would be into it.’’
The idea to produce and sell raw milk came when the couple saw it being done in Golden Bay.
‘‘There’s a trend at the moment of people moving away from processed things and wanting unprocessed, natural, local and environmentally friendly [products],’’ Melissa said.
Customers have told the Johnsons they bought the milk for different reasons, including, to make home baking taste better, the preference of having milk in glass bottles, and drinking it to combat eczema and psoriasis.
The Johnsons had between 350 and 400 customers and about 1200 litres of milk were sold weekly, Logan said. The one litre glass bottles are bought off a Christchurch supplier who imports them from Italy.
Nine years ago the Johnsons moved from Motueka to work on a Southland dairy farm and have progressed to contract milkers.
They took a year off to build and set up the boutique dairy farm before returning to contract milking, on a nearby farm, on June 1. Both businesses are separate.
Holiday makers occasionally call in to the boutique farm.
‘‘We’ve had people in campervans stop and ask what we’re doing ... and they’ve filled up a bottle to take away,’’ Melissa said.