Seedy milk
OPINION: Seeds of legume plants are being used to make dairy-free milk products by scientists at Massey University’s Palmerston North labs.
Plans to expand the sheep milk industry have advanced to the formation of a society to develop and promote the industry, confirmed at the close of a recent two day conference at Massey University.
The conference exceeded the expectations of its organiser, associate professor Craig Prichard from the university’s school of management.
Prichard told Rural News they set out to attract a few key industry players: 40-60 people would have been great, he said. “In the end, we got 157 people, effectively the whole industry in the same room, which was fantastic. We had sheep milk producers, regulators, consultants, new farmers – a great range of people.”
He says the spirit of the group imparted a sense of what’s possible for this new industry.
The new society is a “coalition of the willing”. It will raise money for in-market research on sheep milk products, he says. The society needs some sort of marketing role given the nature of the industry, which currently has one big company – Blue River Dairy – and smaller ones.
There is speculation Landcorp will form a joint venture with a marketing and brand company and could then play a large role in the industry.
Prichard says there is so far no decision on what structure a sheep milk industry might adopt. The present aim is to get the society running well, hold more conferences, do some research and go from there.
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A vet is calling for all animals to be vaccinated against a new strain of leptospirosis (lepto) discovered on New Zealand dairy farms in recent years.
Dairy
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Telco infrastructure provider Chorus says that it believes all Kiwis – particularly those in the rural areas – need access to high-speed, reliable broadband.
World Veterinary Day falls on Saturday 27 April.