Friday, March 29, 2024

Milking the future of dairy sheep

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The annual Sheep Milk NZ Conference held in Palmerston North recently attracted more than 200 participants, 40 more than the number who attended the inaugural event last year. It was a diverse crowed with people from within and outside New Zealand. The theme was Building momentum and convenors were Linda Samuelsson from AgResearch and Dr Craig Prichard from Massey University. Prichard said that last year had been an enormous year for NZ sheep milk with several new operators and 3500 more milking stock introduced. International and national joint ventures were formed and new exports expanded the sales of NZ sheep milk products into China and Taiwan. The conference had 35 speakers across various sessions covering everything from consumer products, AgResearch updates, manufacturing and regulations, to genetics and breeding.
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Producer and market developments

NZ’s seven commercial sheep milk producers range in scale from 50 ewes at Dunncroft Farm, owned by the Clayton family in Masterton, to Antarag Ag (formerly Blue River Dairy) in Southland with 20,000 ewes spread over three farms.

The conference allowed all the producers to share their insights with the captive audience.

However, in the coming year there are plans for the number of farms to grow to 13 producers with an expected turnover of about $15 million. A highlight of the conference was hearing from the market partners of three of NZ’s largest producers about their international expansions.

Early last year Keith Neylon of AntaraAg sold the marketing and processing arm of his business to Hong Kong-registered Blue River Dairy that is owned by Yuanrong Chen, a Chinese national with extensive experience in importing infant formula into China.

Chen attended the conference with his team, who were also major sponsors of the event and he shared his vision to make NZ sheep milk his third listed dairy company on the Chinese stock exchange.

Blue River’s focus is mainly on infant formula – however, they also promote a range of cheeses and have a coffee house at their head office in Invercargill serving lattes with creamy sheep milk.

‘If we are to make claims about the benefits of NZ sheep milk we need the data to back it up.’

Last year the NZ Government, through state-owned enterprise Landcorp and its marketing joint venture partner SLC opened what is expected to be the first of three large-scale sheep dairy farms on the Wairakei Estate pastoral site just north of Taupo.

The focus of Spring Sheep Dairy (SSD), as the joint-venture company is now called, is not nutritional powders but luxury, high-value sheep dairy foods for Asian markets outside of China. SSD managing director Scottie Chapman described the company’s first sales of powder to Taiwan to conference delegates.

Landcorp chief executive Steve Carden has said the company would make its first play into the luxury foods market with the launch of a sheep milk gelato ice-cream, initially in NZ. The SSD joint venture is part of Landcorp’s new strategy of investing in joint ventures that focus on delivering niche products for particular consumers.

Turangi-based Maori land trust Waituhi Kuratau Trust (WKT) had struggled to develop markets for its products since its inception in 2004. In December last year, WKT got approval from the Overseas Investment Office to team-up with the Chinese shareholders of Shanghai-based Super Organic to create Maui Milk, a joint venture 40% owned by WKT and 60% by Super Organic. Maui Milk leases the WKT farm, located on the southwestern side of Lake Taupo, as well as the trust’s stock and infrastructure.

At the same time Super Organic’s Chinese shareholders, together with well-known NZ geneticists Peter Gatley and Jake Chardon bought the 770ha Waikino Station 20km north of the WKT farm as a base for dairy sheep flock development and a demonstration sheep dairy.

Representatives from Super Organic and Maui Milk spoke at the conference about their various market and genetic programmes.

Maui Milk’s big focus is on China and its most exclusive sheep milk powder is not for direct sale – instead it is distributed to members of the Shanghai Food Club, believed to number in the thousands.

The company is hoping to offer members farm tourism experiences as well supplying exclusive nutritional sheep milk powder. The product is also sold in silver sachets into high-end supermarkets in Shanghai.

AgResearch findings

Results from the first two years of AgResearch’s programme, Boosting exports of the emerging dairy sheep industry, were described to the conference.

The team, led by scientist Dr Linda Samulesson, is a $6 million Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment-funded programme with four pillars of research ranging from composition analysis of NZ sheep milk through to best practice effluent management.

“NZ’s dairy sheep systems are unique to us, and we have the natural advantages of our year-round pasture-based farming. We need to establish the particular qualities and advantages our systems produce,” Samuelsson said.

“If we are to make claims about the benefits of NZ sheep milk we need the data to back it up.”

Differences established so far include research by Marita Broadhurst analysing 500 milk samples collected at different times of year over the past three years. It shows that on average NZ sheep milks have higher levels of protein and twice the fat of cow’s milk, with high levels of calcium, phosphorus and magnesium.

Dr Sue McCoard presented research showing that early weaning – from four weeks rather than the standard weaning of six weeks – can increase milk yield without compromising pre-weaning or post-weaning growth rates.

Establishing guidelines to limit the industry’s environmental effect was the focus of work presented by Natalie Watkins and Bob Longhurst who looked at the volumes and nutrients generated in sheep dairy effluent. They presented details of the effluent characteristics and provided best practice management guidelines.

Workshop groups

After the two-day conference two workshops were held. One was a small flocks tour by 38 people through Wairarapa and Hawke’s Bay, the second an artificial insemination workshop for 14 people led by Massey University’s Sam Petterson and genetics company owner Ian Macdonald of Rangiora.

Participants on the small flocks tour got insights into regulations and compliance at Dunncroft in Wairarapa, a genetics update at Kingsmeade in Masterton and an example of a cost-effective niche milking operation and micro-cheese operation at Wild Bush in Woodville.

From there the group travelled north to Origin Earth’s new Chalk and Cheese Restaurant alongside the company factory at Havelock North.

At Andy and Kat Gunson’s nearby farm they were told of the pasture management strategy that underpins the supply of sheep milk to Origin Earth’s award-winning cheese range alongside their pasteurised milk and yoghurt products for the domestic market.

South Island sheep milk seminar

A week after the conference, Guy and Sue Trafford from Lincoln University hosted the first South Island sheep dairy event in Christchurch. The seminar attracted 45 people ranging from new entrants, farmers and artisan cheese makers to business development managers and bankers.

Canterbury has no processors or producers but that is set to change this year as the Traffords start milking their 200 East Friesian flock in early September. 

The couple farm at Charing Cross in mid Canterbury where they own 10ha of irrigated land, lease an additional 10ha and winter-off their ewes. The couple had experience breeding East Freisian ewes in Gisborne before moving to the Charing Cross farm in 2011 where they began building their flock.

As many experts have warned it’s important for farmers to have supply and market contracts in place before looking at investing in the sector. To that end, the Traffords are joining forces with Deep South ice-cream to manufacture and market their sheep milk ice-cream both in NZ and overseas.

Provided the venture goes well, the Traffords will look for additional suppliers in the region allowing Canterbury to be another sheep milk hub to add to those in Southland, Wairarapa and Taupo.

• Reference: Peterson, S and Prichard C (2016), Imagine There’s No “Dairy”: The rise and rise of sheep milk, The New Zealand Land & Food Annual 16(1): 264-278.

Israeli dairy sheep

For Lincoln University’s Sue Trafford, a highlight of the South Island sheep dairy seminar was listening to international small ruminant expert Haim Leibovich speak about the Israeli sheep dairy system. Leibovich also spoke at the Sheep Milk NZ Conference the week before.

Unlike sheep dairy operations in NZ, Israel has an intensive housed system where animals are kept in sheds and fed total mixed rations. The returns for meat are much higher in Israel than NZ so farmers use artificial insemination and CEDR devices to enable ewes to lamb three times in two years.

While NZ sheep dairy farmers average 200 litres a lactation, in Israel they average 400l per lactation and because they lamb more than once a year, the average flock produces about 600l a year.

The Israeli system favours an Assaf breed, pictured above, that’s a cross between East Friesian sheep from Germany and the Middle Eastern Awassi, or “fat tail”. 

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