Far North sharemilkers Gav Hogarth and Jody Hansen knew they needed a plan B when Fonterra announced a forecast milk payout with a three in front of it.
The couple had been milking their herd of pedigree Jerseys on a conventional, twice-daily milking system for five years at their Kawakawa farm when the dairy co-operative dropped the milk payout from $4.15 a kilogram of milksolids to $3.90 in early 2016.
“At $3 you’re not making any money and farming is not sustainable at that level,” Gav says.
“The options were either I went back to work or we would have to borrow money to feed the cows,” Jody says.
“Every dairy farmer was in the same position. We couldn’t feed our families on what they were paying us.”
Jody had returned to work as an accountant in Whangarei when they decided to branch out and provide for a niche market, selling pasteurised, full-cream milk in glass bottles straight from their farm, Bella Vacca Jerseys.
The couple set about making the idea a reality, which involved setting up a pasteurisation plant next to the cowshed to process some of their Jersey milk.
Going back to glass bottles was a no-brainer. They wanted something with a point of difference that would also benefit the environment and reduce single-use plastic.
They spent two years on the project, which involved getting the tick of approval from the Ministry for Primary Industries.
Jody admits the new business venture was a gamble.
“It was scary,” she says.
“The banks didn’t want to know us. They’d say it was a great business plan but didn’t want to put up the money because it was something so unique. But we got there eventually and now it’s really starting to pay off.”
This is Gav and Jody’s ninth season on the 81ha dairy farm, which belongs to Pat and Nin Goodhue about 8km up the road over five one-way bridges from the small town of Moerewa.
It’s where the Goodhue family have farmed for more than five generations and where Gav and Jody have farmed their 160 cows since June 2011.
About half the milk from their herd is pasteurised and bottled as full cream milk in reusable glass bottles distributed to 34 shops from Houhora in Northland to Grey Lynn in Auckland. The rest is sold to Fonterra.
There was an initial outlay for equipment including a pasteuriser, chiller, processing plant to meet food processing requirements and a $10,000 Novalum Alkaline Phosphatase tester, which makes sure every batch is free from pathogens.
Gav Hogarth and his partner Jody Hansen run Bella Vacca Jerseys in the Far North and sell milk direct to the public in glass bottles. Symmie the fox terrier and Axel the Rottweiler keep Gav company on the farm. Photos: Jenny Ling
Last season they produced 86,000 litres of pasteurised milk and 90,000 litres of raw milk. They have a target of 220,000 litres this season.
The Jersey cows are milked once a day and spend their time outside among rolling hills bordered by poplar trees providing shelter from the rain and sun.
Milk from the Jersey herd is predominately A2. The A2 protein is found in human milk and is easier to digest than milk that contains the A1 protein.
While they haven’t had the whole herd tested, Gav says most Jersey cows produce A2 milk naturally and because they have used A2 bulls for the last six seasons about 95% of the herd is expected to be A2.
And with Jersey milk known for containing more butterfat and less water and lactose the result is healthy, creamy white gold. Jersey milk is also naturally higher in calcium.
Another factor that ensures quality milk is the way the herd is treated.
They’re like members of the family to Gav and Jody and most have names that match their unique personalities.
“A lot of people believe our cows are spoilt as we try and keep them in a very low-stress environment,” Jody says.
“But a non-stressed cow is a happy cow and happy cows make more milk. They are treated more as members of the family than just a commodity. Cows are very similar to humans in a lot of respects as they have feelings and have amazing memories.”
“They’ve got amazing personalities,” Gav says.
“People don’t realise that. There’s one that will always be the first at the shed to get milked. Daisy will stand at the end of the pit because she gets pats all through the milking.”
Another way they keep the farm sustainable is with extremely low drug use.
The use of antibiotics is kept to an absolute minimum and there are many animals on the farm that have never had any.
Gav says cases of mild mastitis needn’t warrant immediate treatment with drugs.
“A lot of farmers treat mastitis straight away but if they’re milked properly for three or four days and their teats are properly cleaned they’ll usually come right by themselves if it’s a mild case.
“The vets love us because of the health of our cows but then they don’t because we don’t spend much money with them.”
Most of the herd gets mated via AI and any that don’t get in-calf are run with a leased Hereford bull to tail them off.
They have used mainly semen from Glenbrook Genetics, a farm in Taranaki with the highest producing Jersey herd in New Zealand.
They are now looking to beef bulls, using the distinctive Speckle Park to produce calves for sale to lifestyle blocks.
The next round will also use semen from Galloway and Highland, both native to Scotland.
Both are hardy, adaptable and resilient and can cope with feed shortages and other adverse climate conditions.
They are also known for their fertility and mothering skills and are popular with lifestyle block owners.
Gav and Jody don’t have any bobby calves. All healthy calves are reared on the farm by Jody.
Many of the young bulls go to other farms where they are used for breeding and the healthy heifers stay in the herd as replacements with only a few being sold.
After the couple start selling all their calves from new batches of Speckle Park, Galloway and Highland sires they will buy young heifer replacements as needed.
To maintain a constant milk supply they have been calving three times a year, which also allows the cows to have a longer break each year as they prepare to calve.
They plan to increase calving to four times by next year, in July, October, January and April.
“It gives us two things, a continuous supply of milk and it keeps fat and protein levels consistent,” Gav says.
Calving more often also spreads out the workload, Jody says.
“Rearing calves is a lot nicer because you haven’t got this huge influx.”
The farm is run on a system 2 and the cows are fed mainly on grass and grass silage.
Because sorghum grows well in Northland’s climate the cereal grain is grown in summer, with cows break-fed on 6ha.
They’ll typically get two to three grazings out of each paddock and any gaps are filled using dried distiller’s grain along with tapioca and soy husks.
Condensed distiller’s syrup is also used with hay when the cows are dry.
Paddocks are soil tested every second year to keep fertiliser use in check.
Because Gav and Jody get more for their pasteurised milk they can lower their stocking rate, which means they don’t have to put as much fertiliser on.
They plan to keep working hard at farming sustainably and keeping only a relatively small number of cows on the farm compared to the average dairy herd.
But adding value to the milk and selling direct will ensure Bella Vacca Jerseys stays a financially viable.
FARM FACTS:
Farm owners: Pat and Nin Goodhue
Sharemilkers: Gav Hogarth and Jody Hansen
Location: Kawakawa, Northland
Farm size: 81ha
Cows: 160 pedigree Jersey
Production 2018-19: 86,000 litres of pasteurised milk and 90,000 litres of raw milk
Target 2019-20: 220,000 litres
