Riverside sheep milk yoghurt a winner for SA in delicious Produce Awards

What ewe’s milk lacks in quantity, it makes up for in quality, say the couple behind SA’s only sheep-based dairy, which has been named a state winner in the prestigious delicious Produce Awards.

WHAT ewe’s milk lacks in quantity, it makes up for in quality, say the couple behind SA’s only sheep-based dairy, which has been named a state winner in the prestigious delicious Produce Awards.

Ellen Chatterton and Kane Boase operate Riverside Dairy on a property that has been farmed by generations of Ellen’s family since 1848.

Looking to diversify, they settled on producing sheep milk and have established a flock of nearly 40 ewes.

“It’s pretty similar to a cow dairy, though the days aren’t quite as long,” Ellen says. “The sheep come in the morning and again in the late afternoon. I use a little milking machine.”

Ellen says that, while each ewe is milked within a minute, she only takes one litre a head over two sessions in a day. Her uncle runs a cow dairy and “what I get from all my sheep he gets from two to three cows”.

Ellen says sheep milk is higher in protein, creamy and surprisingly sweet – making it perfect for Riverside’s natural pot-set yoghurt that was a state winner in the dairy section of the delicious awards.

State judges picked 14 products to go on to the national awards in Sydney later in the year.

“I think it is the quality of the milk,” one of the judges, David Swain, from Fino at Seppeltsfield, says in explaining the success of the yoghurt.

“It is so clean and pure. They have a beautiful farm. This is another generation of Barossa moving forward.”

delicious Produce Awards South Australian state Winners

Dairy

Riverside Dairy Sheep’s Milk Yoghurt

Section28 Artisan Cheeses Tomme du Vallée

Woodside Cheese Wrights Buffalo Persian Feta

Earth

Ngeringa Produce Biodynamic Salad Greens

Singing Magpie Produce Sun Dried Smyrna Quince

Paddock

Falkai Farm Quail Eggs

Mayura Station Full-blood Wagyu Beef

Nomad Farms Nomadic Pastured Heritage Chook

Saskia Beer Farm Produce Vegetarian Chicken

Sea

Aaron Whittle Southern Rock Lobster

Cleanseas Australia Spencer Gulf Hiramasa Kingfish

Gazander Oysters Premium Pacific Oysters

Perkins Fisheries SA King George Whiting

Two Gulfs Crab Blue Swimmer Crab