sheep milk | Taranaki farmers and the opportunities of sheep milk

The question shouldn’t be how do you milk a sheep but why aren’t we doing it more often, according to Nick Hammond, chief executive of Spring Sheep Milk Co.

Edited by: Gonzalo Battaglino
STUFF
Stephanie Ockhuysen

Hammond was speaking at the Spring Sheep Milk Co. Taranaki Farm Open Day in partnership with Parininihi Ki Waitotara (PKW) on Friday.

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PKW teamed up with Spring Sheep Milk Co., the largest sheep milking operator in the Southern Hemisphere, to milk 1500 sheep in purpose-built sheds on its Koetuku farm in Normanby, South Taranaki.

“This partnership all started with a conversation over, sadly, a cow’s milk coffee, but we’ll change that,” Hammond told the crowd of around 200.

The open day was designed to present sheep milking as an opportunity for local farmers and for them to ask questions.

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Taranaki farmers and the opportunitie — VANESSA LAURIE/STUFF
Nick Hammond chief executive of Spring Sheep Milk Co. told the crowd about the opportunities’ sheep milk presents and how it is more gentle on animals, land, and digestion.

Spring Sheep Milk Co. aspires to have more than 30 sheep dairy suppliers in Taranaki by 2030.

The company started with a single farm in 2015 and now have 16.

Last year, the company took home the title of Best Infant Nutrition at the World Dairy Innovation Awards, beating heavyweight competitors like Nestle.

Taranaki farmers and the opportunities of sheep milk 2 — VANESSA LAURIE/STUFF
By introducing European genetics to the sheep, each ewe was now able to produce more than 300L of milk annually.

“Around the world sheep milking is a billion-dollar industry,” Hammond said.

“It’s making dairy better being gentle on the land, the animals, and the milk.”

Hammond said they had sold out of every single drop of sheep milk they had ever produced.

Taranaki farmers and the opportunities of sheep milk 3 — VANESSA LAURIE/STUFF Attendees of the open day got to watch a milking session at the Parininihi Ki Waitotara farm in Normanby.

Thomas Macdonald, Spring Sheep Milk Co. chief operating officer, told the crowd that by introducing European genetics to the sheep, each ewe was now able to produce more than 300L of milk a year.

That milk then gets sent to Waikato where it is processed.

“We’re creating a blueprint farm here in Taranaki, sheep are thriving here, it’s a natural fit.”

Taranaki farmers and the opportunities of sheep milk 4 — VANESSA LAURIE/STUFF
There are 1500 sheep at the site, the milk from which gets transported to Waikato to get processed.

Warwick Tauwhare-George, chief executive of PKW, said he first engaged with Spring Sheep Milk Co. about four years ago.

He called PKW intergenerational long term investors and said they had looked into a lot of diversification options.

“At first I thought sheep milking was a crazy idea, but it’s turned into a brilliant idea, it really lives up to who we are.”

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