NZ Dairy Summer 2020

6 | nz dairy Clayton Electrical Lyndon Clayton Mob: 027 432 3241 Email: lkclayton@xtra.co.nz Proud to be supporting Otago Fresh Milk Business Advisors & Chartered Accountants Contact Lee McAuslan or Stephen Kornyei 17-19 John Street, Balclutha. Balclutha (03) 418 1256 Email adviser@haymake.co.nz Chartered Accountants HAYWARD McAUSLAN LTD Proud to be supporting Steve and Shelli in their new venture Lawyers O’Malley & Co Ltd 20 James Street, PO Box 44, Balclutha & 94 Union Street, Milton Fax: (03) 418 1363 Email: legal@sho.co.nz Contact our team of friendly professionals: Noel O’Malley & Brigid Clinton in Balclutha - Phone (03) 419 0025 or Annie Soper in Milton - Phone (03) 417 7355 Buying or Selling a Property? Require advice on Leases, Employment Issues, Succession Planning, Subdivisions, Shareholder Agreements, Family Trusts, Wills, Powers of Attorney or Estates? DAIRY PEOPLE » Otago Fresh Milk: Shelli & Steve Mears PHOTOS: Steve, Katie and Shelli Mears have turned their love of dairy into a thriving business supplying local families with fresh milk. Pint-sized platform offers farm-fresh milk Kim Newth F ollowing the launch of Otago Fresh Milk in July, bottled milk home deliveries are back as an option for those living in Dunedin, Oamaru, or anywhere between the two. Otago Fresh Milk is the passion project of former sharemilkers Shelli and Steve Mears who, along with their daughter Katie, have turned their love of dairy into a thriving little business supplying local families with fresh milk. When the couple retired from sharemilking, they couldn’t bear to part with their favourite cows or walk away from precious cow families they had built up over more than 20 years. Instead, they decided to take their special girls with them to a 24 hectare sheep farming block in Palmerston that they then developed into a small-scale dairy platform. “It was probably the world’s smallest conver- sion,” Shelli quips. “To begin with – before the cow shed was built – we were milking one cow at a time in the woolshed; it took hours!” Today their little herd of predominantly Friesian and Jersey cows is living the life of riley on a nutri- tious diet of grass, silage and custom formulated meal with all the right minerals and no palm kernel. There is a no bobby calf system and every calf born is reared. For Steve and Shelli, raw fresh milk with the cream on top offers both taste and health advan- tages that they wanted to share with others. “Of course, hygiene is incredibly important and the shed must meet inspection and verification standards. We carefully wash, clean and dry the cows before we put the cups on and the milk is regularly tested.” Once the milk has left the cow, it is filtered and chilled before being bottled and refrigerated ready for sale. People can buy direct from the family’s farm shop – on State Highway 1 just north of Palm- erston – or arrange for home milk delivery, either in traditional glass pint milk bottles or in five-litre pails. Once purchased, these can be exchanged and re-used. Otago Fresh Milk bottles have reusable plastic tops that have proved a little tricky for some customers but openers are available if needed. “Demand is slowly growing, which is what we want as we’re currently not at the stage of employing anyone outside the family.” Every cow in their dairy herd is known by name and most are registered pedigrees. (Steve and Shelli run Kirbydale stud, while Katie has two Brown Swiss cows and a bull in her own Underdale stud). Between them, they have won a lot of prizes at A&P shows around Otago. At the time of writing, Steve, Shelli and Katie were preparing for the annual South Otago A&P Show (28 November). “We look forward to socialising with the other exhibitors – showing is a great family hobby.” The Mears enjoy their busy lifestyle and recently held a very successful open day. Both Steve and Shelli also work off-farm, Steve as a full-time serviceman for Oceana Gold’s Macraes mine, and Shelli, part-time as the Dairy Women’s Network Regional Leader Manager. Meanwhile, Otago Fresh Milk has teamed up with another local enterprise with a similar ethos – The Honey Crate – to offer honey in reusable glass jars.