Spring Sheep general manager of milk supply Thomas Macdonald says the covid-19 border restrictions meant the office will become a hub for the Pamu-owned entity in the region.
“It’s building on the scale and momentum we have had in milk supply,” Macdonald said.
Demand for that supply was through the roof, particularly during covid-19 thanks to Chinese government recommendations to its citizens to consume dairy.
“These were Ministry of Health organisations saying, ‘drink dairy to boost your immunity,’ and of course if you struggle to digest dairy, you’re going to look for alternatives to dairy so demand has increased during covid,” he said.
The new dryer at Melody Dairies at Waikato Innovation Park in Hamilton was helping to meet that demand.
He says milk supply had doubled with three new farms coming on board this year to join its one existing supplier outside its three company-owned farms. All of that supply was pre-sold.
Mainland China is well on track to be the largest export market for Spring joining Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Vietnam.
Spring Sheep’s general manager – sales Shane Topp says they saw great potential for its infant formula range in the market.
“Work is under way to recruit a China country manager who will lead the new office alongside additional staff as required in the coming years,” he said.
Spring Sheep has been trading in China through Alibaba’s cross-border e-commerce platform Tmall since July.
Sales through its Tmall Global Flagship store more than doubled from August to September.
Macdonald says it has given them a huge advantage in the marketplace.
“We have seen significant success in the food beverage category,” he said.
Spring Sheep had started with 350g and 850g whole milk powder (WMP) and Macdonald expected more of its products to be sold through the online platform over time.
“It’s about getting more digestible sheep milk to consumers across wider Asia,” he said.
The growth in sales was on the back of better sheep genetics coming through on Spring Sheep’s farms, which was reflected in record production from August-October.”
“We had an incredible wave of milk this spring to the point we wouldn’t have been able to fit it into D1 (Melody Dairies’ Dryer 1). Our new suppliers are exceeding our expectations.”
There are currently seven commercial-scale farms in the group following the addition of three new supplier farms this season.
This will expand to 11 farms in the next season following strong interest from the New Zealand farming community in their sheep milking model.
“We would like to see the group with 35,000-40,000 milking sheep,” he said.
Macdonald says they were constantly fielding inquiries from farmers about converting. Many of these conversations were from Waikato farming families looking for succession, environmental compliance or at repurposing infrastructure without having to build another dairy cow shed.
Chief executive Scottie Chapman says they were actively recruiting new farmers to come on board given the scale of consumer demand.
“Anyone interested should get in touch or come along to our farm open day in Cambridge on November 4,” he said.
That day will have a range of speakers including New Zealand Primary Sector Council and former Zespri chief executive Lain Jager, Alibaba New Zealand country manager Pier Smulders and farmers from the newly-converted sheep milking farms.
