Wednesday, 11 December 2019 08:55

Ease up on good guys

Written by  Staff Reporters
Raw milk is currently only allowed for sale at the farm gate or via home deliveries. Raw milk is currently only allowed for sale at the farm gate or via home deliveries.

It's time to give complying raw milk suppliers a break by easing the regulations on distribution, says a supplier.

Richard Houston, managing director of Takaka-based Village Milk, otherwise welcomes MPI's crackdown on unlicensed raw milk suppliers.

Raw milk suppliers can only sell direct to their customers, either at the farm gate – often through automated on-farm vending machines — or by home delivery. It cannot be sold at another location. 

“Current legislation’s pretty tight on distribution,” said Houston. 

“They consider the milk to be a really high risk but we’ve been running seven years now and we’ve never been faulted.

“We’ve got a really good procedure we follow every day, we test regularly and we’ve got great animals and a beautiful little farm.”

Houston said Village Milk is sold at the farm in reusable glass bottles, which his customers were managing “really well”. 

“It would be great to be able to take the milk a bit closer to the people. Not everyone can drive to the farm.”

Houston said raw milk is fantastic as a whole food.

“The legislation’s there. The milk’s safe.”

More like this

Bikinis in cowshed

OPINION: An animal activist organisation is calling for an investigation into the use of dairy cows in sexuallly explicit content posted on social media and adult entertainment subscription site OnlyFans.

Editorial: Agri's mojo is back

OPINION: Good times are coming back for the primary industries. From sentiment expressed at Fieldays to the latest rural confidence survey results, all indicate farmer confidence at a near-record high.

MPI: Primary sector exports hit record $60B

A blockbuster year and an exciting performance: that's how Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) Director General, Ray Smith is describing the massive upsurge in the fortunes of the primary sector exports for the year ended June 2025.

Featured

Australia develops first local mRNA FMD vaccine

Foot and Mouth Disease outbreaks could have a detrimental impact on any country's rural sector, as seen in the United Kingdom's 2000 outbreak that saw the compulsory slaughter of over six million animals.

NZ household food waste falls again

Kiwis are wasting less of their food than they were two years ago, and this has been enough to push New Zealand’s total household food waste bill lower, the 2025 Rabobank KiwiHarvest Food Waste survey has found.

Editorial: No joking matter

OPINION: Sir Lockwood Smith has clearly and succinctly defined what academic freedom is all about, the boundaries around it and the responsibility that goes with this privilege.

DairyNZ plantain trials cut nitrate leaching by 26%

DairyNZ says its plantain programme continues to deliver promising results, with new data confirming that modest levels of plantain in pastures reduce nitrogen leaching, offering farmers a practical, science-backed tool to meet environmental goals.

National

All eyes on NZ milk supply

All eyes are on milk production in New Zealand and its impact on global dairy prices in the coming months.

Machinery & Products

Leader balers arrive in NZ

Officially launched at the National Fieldays event in June, the Leader in-line conventional PRO 1900 balers are imported and distributed…

JDLink Boost for NZ farms

Connectivity is widely recognised as one of the biggest challenges facing farmers, but it is now being overcome through the…

New generation Defender HD11

The all-new 2026 Can-Am Defender HD11 looks likely to raise the bar in the highly competitive side-by-side category.

» Latest Print Issues Online

Milking It

Full cabinet

OPINION: Legislation being drafted to bring back the controversial trade of live animal exports by sea is getting stuck in the…

» Connect with Dairy News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter