REVEALED: Milk, cheese and yoghurt factory plan for Eungella

Dale and Paula Fortescue are in the final stages of opening a milk bottling factory.

Eungella dairy farmer Dale Fortescue. Picture: Paula Fortescue

EUNGELLA dairy farmers Dale and Paula Fortescue are in the final stages of setting up their own milk bottling factory, which they hope will be up and running before Easter.

With only two dairy farms remaining in the Mackay region, Mr Fortescue, who owns Eungelladale dairy, said it was too expensive for local farmers to send their milk south to be processed and bottled.

The milk bottling factory on his farm will allow Mr Fortescue to provide 100 per cent local milk to the region.

It's also a tourism opportunity. "We've built all the factory, we are just fitting it out now,” he said.

"The refrigeration has got to be done... the conveyor belt on the bottoming machine still has to be finalised, a couple of little electric motors have got to be put in. Safe Food Queensland, all the applications and procedures have also got to be done.”

Opening the factory will enable Mr Fortescue to undertake the whole process on his farm instead of his milk being transported to be pasteurised and bottled.

"It will be milked one morning, pasteurised and bottled in the afternoon and in the shops the next day,” he explained.

Mr Fortescue has been raising money through a Crowdfunding campaign for just over 12 months to build the factory.

He has raised about $60,000 and said he was appreciative of the people who had donated time, money and machinery.

But his plans don't stop at a factory; he also wants to open a cheese factory and organise tours to promote tourism in the region.

"I want to get my pasteurising going, then I want to do a cheese factory up here,” he said.

"Then I have to build another building and try to get government backing for a tourism venture for a cheese factory. It's more for tourism in the local area up at Eungella here.”

Flavoured milk and yoghurt are other products Mr Fortescue hoped to make once he starts pasteurising his own milk.

He would like to see the the opening of his factory help expand the dairy industry in Mackay.

"Hopefully expand the industry and get a few dairy farmers back up here going again.”

Originally published as REVEALED: Milk, cheese and yoghurt factory plan for Eungella