Sheep milking set to take off

The Wakino Station, on the western shores of Lake Taupo, is the home Maui Milk, a joint venture between the Waituhi Kuratau Trust and Shanghai food company Be Well.

The JV has milked 3000 ewes on a neighboring farm run by the trust since 2015; lessons learned are being implemented in the green-field development at Waikino Station which adds another 2000 ewes to the tally.

Last month the Wakino Station hosted an open day; about 300 farmers, rural bankers and accountants attended.

Maui Milk general manager Peter Gatley says there is plenty of interest sheep milking.

He says New Zealand needs diversification in agricultural exports and every farmer wants a high value product, stable pricing and environmental sustainability. 

“We admire what the dairy goat industry has achieved, but we want to capitalise on NZ expertise in both sheep farming and pastoral systems for milk production.”

A hot topic among visiting farmers at the open day was profitability. Gatley points out that the parallels with other types of farming are strong. 

“Once you have decided on your farm system, the costs are largely fixed. We already know what the expenses look like, but there is a lot of potential to increase income from milk. 

“In the past, large scale operators in this country have struggled with lactation yields per ewe of only 100 to 150 litres. Barn systems in other countries put out 600L plus, but we look to the hybrid grazing system in France where 400L is standard. 

“Grazing offers us a competitive advantage in production cost, but it is also key to our product positioning. It is also the preference of most potential new suppliers in NZ. They don’t want to spend their life in a barn.”

The system at the Waituhi Kuratau farm is all outdoors; there are no barns. The Wakino Station has two Aztech barns with feed conveyors.

Gatley says the barns are there for lambing and occasional use when there are climate extremes. 

“Having both systems enables us to compare the two. We may find both work well and it becomes a matter of preference, just as it is in the dairy cattle industry.”

Payment is expected to be based on milksolids. 

“Like the dairy goat industry we measure total solids including lactose, and we aspire to match the dairy goat payout at about $17/kg. 

“Sheep milk is about 18% solids so that works out at $3/L, so the prospect of a ewe earning over $1000 is possible, but two things need to happen. We need to demonstrate a big lift in yield, and our marketers need to perform well to tap into the top end of the market. The dairy goat guys have done it, but they have a 30 year head start.”

A milking demonstration impressed everyone as ewes competed to get on the 64-bail internal rotary imported from France. 

At a rate of 1000 per hour with two milkers cupping, and automatic cup removers, it was an impressive performance. 

Maui Milk does not expect any new conversions this year, but advises farmers who are contemplating a move in 2019 or 2020 to first think about breeding the sheep. 

“The lowest cost and lowest risk part of the whole exercise is breeding the animals, but it takes time and no amount of money can turn back the clock. 

“Putting some rams out this year would provide first-cross hoggets to milk next year, or first-cross two-tooths in 2020 backed up by second-cross hoggets. We have rams available from our ET and AI programmes and potential new suppliers can lease these to get underway,” says Gatley.