| 39 nzdairy DAIRY PEOPLE » Aylesbury Creamery Real milk the way it used to be Russell Fredric The best milk ever, great service, and price’ is not Aylesbury Creamery’s slogan or sales pitch, but Facebook feedback from a customer who loves to buy milk how it used to be. The four year-old business is a sideline to Mark and Kelsey Williams’ 200 hectare, 400 cow dairy farm at Kirwee west of Christchurch. Their business is a family affair with the couple’s two children Reeve, 18, and Addison, 15 taking an active interest as well as being handy helpers when needed. The idea of selling raw milk was prompted by Kelsey seeing a creamery operating from a farm in Timaru. After experiencing the farm-gate payout plummet several years ago, Mark was prepared to consider an add-on to their farm that was not subject to global forces. Milk supplied to the creamery is taken from a speci c herd of 50 A2 type cows which are milked once a day each morning before the main herd to ensure only the best quality milk is sold. The raw milk the creamery supplies is subject to stringent food safety regulations, while strict protocols are imposed for the milking plant. “Everything is spotless, it can’t be any cleaner. You’ve got to have everything right all the time.” The cow’s udders are washed, teat sprayed and dried before the cups are put on and only cows that do not defecate in the shed are selected. Raw milk can only be sold within 30 hours of milking, which means a 24 hour milking cycle simpli es the sale and food safety process. The genetics of the overall herd is moving towards producing A2 type protein milk, with 70% of the cows currently having this gene. “It’s really important for the raw milk, it is a better protein, the human body can digest it a lot easier than A1. Human breast milk is actually A2 type protein.” The milk is sold from a vending machine on-site as well as via a delivery service to home addresses in the Christchurch and Selwyn area. “It’s delivered within hours of being milked. The rst people get their milk at probably nine o’clock in the morning and it was milked at 4.30am.” The creamery also stocks free range eggs and a variety of specialty cheeses made from the milk by a local Italian-born cheese maker. Mark especially enjoys the feedback he gets from customers who have some amazing testimonies about the health bene ts of drinking raw milk. “A lot of people have come back and their kids eczema has cleared up; that is the biggest thing. Often (raw milk) will clear up eczema on people. Those people are your best advertisements.” Despite the farm growing more grass than ever during the past season due to higher rainfall than usual and ve cuts of silage being taken off, production was slightly down over the previous season. This season the cows had All ex collars placed on them. These which provide data about when they are in oestrus (which eliminates the need for tail paint), rumination information and consequently if they are unwell and when they can be taken out of the colostrum herd. Aylesbury Creamery milk is sold from a vending machine on-site as well as via a delivery service to home addresses in the Christchurch and Selwyn area. Need a Sidekick to help your business kick some goals? Sidekick Chartered Accountants Helping you be more successful. sidekickca.co.nz/timaru e: timaru@sidekickca.co.nz ph: 0800 SK TIMARU We are proud to supply ATV’s & Motorcycles to Aylesbury Creamery sales@happershonda.co.nz Ph: 03 329 6757 Mob: 0274 399 281 Email: admin@glasseycontracting.co.nz The gear for all your jobs: Excavators, Trucks, Tractors, Loaders, Graders, Bulldozers Supplying Aylesbury Creamery • Silage Contractors • Rut Busters • Manure & Compost Spreading • Tanker Tracks • Sand & Shingle Supplies • Earthworks & Driveways
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