Dairy News AUSTRALIA November, 2012
14 // agribusiness
WA farmers predict fresh milk export surge Rick Bayne
A Western Australian dairy farm is predicting an upsurge in fresh milk exports as producers look for ways to overcome domestic price pressures. The Bannister Downs Farm at Northcliffe is currently exporting 300 litres of fresh milk per week to Singapore and expects to substantially grow the market from 2013. Overseas demand is growing with weekly enquiries from potential markets. Bannister Downs Farm managing director Sue Daubney said the fresh milk export market could provide a positive future for the dairy industry. “We are doing very small volumes at the moment but are trying to get flavoured products approved for export which would give us seven different lines which is much more appealing for the supermarket shelves,” Mrs Daubney said. “We are still in the experimental phase. We have started on a small scale but see opportunities to grow.” The family farm is a supplier, processor and retailer of its own milk and dairy products and while it is still looking to grow its domestic market, is also conscious of the export opportunities. “As our business grows we will be putting more emphasis on the export avenues,” Mrs Daubney said. “We have been growing at 30% per year each year since start up and just staying ahead of demand with limiting factors shifting between raw milk supply, juggling distribution challenges such as a driving team/truck space and ahead is the restriction of facility
Who:
Sue and Mat Daubney Where:
Northcliffe What:
Fresh milk exports
capacity. Having recently gained the supply of the neighbour’s entire milk production means there is room for expansion.” Earlier plans by the farm to export to Hong Kong were hung up by trade restrictions. “Hong Kong is very challenging because of the import requirements,” Mrs Daubney said. “They require bacteriological tests on every shipment before releasing it, which make it just about physically impossible to send fresh milk there.” However, the market in Singapore is much easier to access. “It’s a very simple process. There are not a lot of trade restrictions. The milk can be in the cow here in the morning, sent by air and in a shop at Singapore the next afternoon,” she said. “It is just an extension of the distribution of our milk to local retail outlets.” Mrs Daubney, who manages the farm with her husband Mat, said she saw a bright future in exports. “At the moment we are under a lot of price pressure. The supermarket price
Sue and Mat Daubney export 300 litres of fresh milk per week to Singapore.
war has devalued milk in the eyes of consumers. It has led them to believe milk is only worth $1 a litre. It’s a false economy but it is hard to reverse and has done long-term damage,” she said. The farm started exporting after being contacted by an ex-pat Australian living in Singapore. “We probably get emails from international customers once a week. We have followed up a few and are looking at options in Malaysia and Indonesia,” Mrs Daubney said. “There are plenty of open doors.” Bannister Downs Farm has more than 1500 Holstein Friesian cows milked twice daily in a 90 stand rotary dairy. “We farm using old fashioned meth-
ods with minimal interruption to our precious environment,” Mrs Daubney said. The farm does not make silage due to the volume of waste plastic from wrapping and fertilises mainly with crushed lime and chicken manure. The fresh milk is piped only 10m directly from the dairy to the farm’s milk processing facility where traditional processing techniques takes place. “The milk is processed for packaging only minutes after each cow is milked,” Mrs Daubney said. “The benefits of this system can be tasted in our milk and boasts a longer, fresher life.” The processing system, which was
set up in 2005, starts with a separation procedure to ensure the correct percentage of fat in all milk. Only the cream is then homogenised to make sure all solids are dispersed evenly. In the final stage of processing the fresh milk is heat treated using a batch pasteurisation method. The milk is heated to 65 degrees where it is held for 12 minutes prior to a fast cooling process down to four degrees that prevents any bacterial growth. The milk is then piped from a chilled holding vat into a filling room where it leaves in a sealed pouch. Once packaged and sealed, the pouches of milk are placed in cartons and transferred to a chilled storage area for distribution.
Fonterra increases Chinese investment sudesh kissun
Fonterra has
signed an investment agreement with Yutian County, to develop two more large-scale dairy farms in Hebei Province. The two farms will complete Fonterra’s ‘hub’ of five farms in Hebei Province and are the next step in its strategy to build a high quality, sustainable fresh local milk supply in China. The two farms, located 120km east of Beijing on a 80ha double site, will house about 3350 milking cows each and collectively produce up to 65 million litres of milk a year once
fully operational. Kelvin Wickham, president of Fonterra Greater China and India, said the investment was part of Fonterra’s strategy to build an integrated local milk pool in China. “The demand for dairy in China is expected to double by 2020 and much of this growth will be met from local production. We need to build a safe, sustainable local milk supply to feed this growth,” he said. “This announcement completes our first farming hub in Hebei Province. Once fully operational, it is expected to produce around 150 million litres a year. We intend to follow
this farming hub with several more through China, with the ultimate goal of producing up to 1 billion litres of high quality milk by 2020.” The double site will operate as two farms, with separate 50 bail parallel milking parlours and cow barns; however they will share common facilities such as workshops, feed mixing areas, effluent treatment and staff accommodation to maximise the efficiency of the operation. Nicola Morris, general manager of Fonterra China Farms, said the herd will be made up of Chinaborn cows bred on Fonterra’s other farms and
supplemented by around 4300 cows shipped from New Zealand. “The right people are critical to the success of our farming operations in China. We will be utilising the great farming and animal husbandry talent that we have developed on our existing farms, to make up the 175-strong workforce we need to employ locally,” Morris said. “We have a very well established training and development programme across our farming businesses in China which is helping to feed the talent pool needed to manage these farms to Fonterra’s high
Two new large-scale dairies in China will complete Fonterra’s ‘hub’ of five farms in Hebei Province.
standards.” Construction will start in December 2012 and the farm is expected to open in October 2013. Zhang Yaowu, deputy
magistrate of Yutian County who’s in charge of agriculture sector, welcomed the investment. “Fonterra’s first farming hub is helping to
solidify Yutian County’s position as a national agricultural demonstration zone. We welcome the impact this will have on our local economy.”