South Gippsland Dairy colostrum goes from paddock to plate
Two couples have formed a venture supplying dairy colostrum as an immune tonic for humans, and the prospects look bright.
IT’S hoped products designed to improve immunity in humans will do wonders for the long-term health of a new farming business in the rolling green hills of South Gippsland.
South Gippsland Dairy – the brainchild of dairy engineer Campbell Evans, his wife Krista, and Korumburra dairy farmers Neil and Shelley Walker – has made a grand entrance on the dairy product scene in recent months, marketing itself as Australia’s sole supplier of colostrum from paddock to the end-consumer.
Colostrum is the first milk given to the young of any mammal to set up their immunity system and is considered a wonder product for a range of human conditions, including digestive problems and immune deficiencies. It is also said to accelerate healing of injuries and wounds, and lead to healthy ageing.
South Gippsland Dairy released its own brand of colostrum powder last month and in December will launch its chewable tablet range. It’s the result of three years of intense research and development, and all-hands-on-deck for the two families.
Campbell, who has worked as a dairy processing engineer for almost his entire working life, is in charge of technical development, with Neil responsible for farm services and Shelley, marketing.
SOUTH GIPPSLAND DAIRY
KORUMBURRA
RUN by Campbell and Krista Evans and Neil and Shelley Walker
AUSTRALIA’S only paddock-to-plate colostrum suppliers
PRODUCES branded colostrum powder and will soon launch chewable tablets
SEES a big opportunity for overseas consumer demand
Neil has been farming since he left school in 1990. He and Shelley took over from his parents and now milk 180 mostly Holstein cows on 93ha at Korumburra.
Campbell admits that the business initially had “a staggered start” as they investigated potential value-added products such as milk and flavoured milk.
“When we did the business case on a number of other products, they were not niche enough. There are too many multinational players and they are all constrained by the supermarkets,” Campbell said. “If you’re a start-up, two private families, you’re going to struggle, you’re going to have to get big really quick and have a lot of capital.”
EYES ON THE PRIZE
CAMPBELL said a lot of their product plans – “we’ve been down many paths” – were dismissed as they sought to find something that fitted with their families and circumstances.
They eventually settled on colostrum, which Campbell said was marketed worldwide, but a relatively small industry dominated by large North American companies.
Dairy cows produce the thick and creamy-coloured colostrum in the first three or four milkings after giving birth and it is not accepted by drinking milk processors. A cow can produce about eight to 10 litres of colostrum, but only about four litres is required to feed calves.
The first colostrum produced by a cow is considered the “very premium product” with it diluted in successive milkings.
Campbell said the business was focused only on harvesting the “premium-quality stuff – to service the very high end of the market” to use in its products.
“This is a product that there was previously no decent market for,” he said.
Under the South Gippsland Dairy business plan, Neil and Shelley’s property has effectively been used as a “trial farm” where systems have been developed and fine-tuned.
The couple have contributed about half the colostrum to the business so far, with four third-party farmer suppliers within 25-30km of their farm accounting for the remainder.
Neil said the herd calved from January to March to take advantage of out-of-season premiums and “like everyone” they previously fed most of their colostrum to their calves.
“And we still make sure the calf doesn’t miss out on its colostrum,” he said. “If the calf doesn’t get its first colostrum from the cow, its immune system is no good.”
“We just didn’t know you could feed it to humans,” Shelley added.
GREEN DREAM
THE Walkers’ farm receives about 960mm of rain annually. Last year 827mm fell and this year they have already eclipsed 800mm. Neil said the season was tracking well following a wet winter.
“We can grow a power of feed here in spring,” he said.
“We usually get two or three cuts of either silage or hay, so we can put some away for the hot and dry months.”
Neil said their pastures were based on clover and ryegrass, with a mix of herbs, and complemented by crops grown over summer for fresh cows.
The herd is milked twice a day in a 22-a-side swingover herringbone dairy with cows averaging 8000 litres of milk annually for Parmalat.
Neil said milk prices were “heading in the right direction” but “still not ideal because you’ve got your milk price here and then you’ve got your cost of production up there”.
In an effort to keep power costs down, they have installed solar at the dairy. Their biggest cost is grain “which has gone through the roof” at almost $500 a tonne, which they described as “ridiculous”. They usually feed about 6kg of grain to cows in the bail each day, but given the high price have reduced this to about 2.5kg.
The Walkers have also moved from artificial insemination to natural matings.
KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON WINNING
CREAM RISES
NEIL said their 180 cows have produced an average four litres of premium-grade colostrum each this season for a total of about 700 litres.
With South Gippsland Dairy paying $7/litre for good-quality colostrum, that equalled an extra $6300, which Neil said was “a good money spinner”.
Under the South Gippsland Dairy model, farmers collect the colostrum in a separate test bucket and pour it through a strainer into traceable lots, which are then placed in to a mobile freezer on farm. Once it is frozen, it is weighed, tested for antibiotics and measured for colostrum quality. Payment to the farm is made accordingly.
The colostrum is then taken to frozen storage space in Korumburra before being processed at the business’ factory at Leongatha and then freeze dried at extremely low temperatures such as -30C.
It is then milled into a powder like form and packed.
Campbell said most dairy powder-type products were made using spray-dry techniques but colostrum was very heat sensitive.
Neil said the quickest thing for the business to get to market was the colostrum powder sold in 60g sachets for $54.95 (or about $916/kg), which were released last month. Vanilla chewable tablets will be available in the next few months.
Campbell said the product was stocked online as well as in health-food and wholefood suppliers in South Gippsland and Melbourne. The business owners see big potential for overseas markets, especially China.
They are undecided on future products but “we cannot go down the same path as the US colostrum industry which we believe is built on bulk feedlot cows, thousands of animals in a row and calving year round”.
“They are just churning it out by the tonne and there’s not much focus on quality,” Campbell said.
“We are at the high end of the market, but we have a premium product.”
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