Last year Daniel and Chelsie Hales purchased Prom Country Cheese, at Moyarra in South Gippsland, to value add to their organic dairy farm.
They milk a herd of 130 cows off 214 hectares, in a 12-a-side herringbone dairy, once a day. Their farm is organic accredited.
At the moment, most of their milk is bought by Pure Harvest.
“We use 15 per cent of our milk for making cheese, and within 12 to 18 months we’re aiming to increase that to 20 per cent of our production,” Daniel said.
Purchasing the milk processing factory and cheese crafting business was an ideological decision, Daniel admits.
“My ideology is to be in control of the supply chain from soil health and growing grass, to making and packaging the cheese product,” he said.
Daniel took over the family farm and during the succession phase he also oversaw changing the production systems from mainstream to organic accreditation and once-a-day milking.
The purchase of Prom Country Cheese has potentially increased the milk processing business’ diversified focus from producing sheep and cow’s milk cheese and dairy products, to more organic cow’s milk products.
To do this, Daniel is undertaking a cheesemaking apprenticeship with Burke Brandon, who founded Prom Country Cheese.
The factory is also accredited to produce raw milk cheeses.
“As a supplier of milk to Prom Country Cheese, my interest about making cheese was piqued and I decided to buy the factory when it was listed for sale,” Daniel said.
“The facility was already accredited for making raw milk cheeses. We had to go through an audit process on the farm to be certified for using cow’s milk to produce raw milk cheeses.
“Then we went through the process of getting the factory accreditations to produce certified organic cheeses.”
Daniel is interested in diversifying product development, growing the organic cow milk cheese products and expanding local market demand.
Prom Country Cheese’s first raw milk organic cheese produced from cow’s milk, named the Glen Moidart after the dairy farm of origin, is currently under production; it is cellared for five months.
“Our cows produce 12 to 15 litres milk/day/cow, with 4.8 per cent fat and 3.9 per cent protein,” Daniel said.
“We’ve always tried to build components in our milk.”
On the farm, milk is pumped directly into a 1200-litre tanker, bypassing the vat, and is delivered to the factory less than two hours after the cows arrived at the dairy.
Milk quality is critical.
Milk is still pasteurised at 65°C for the pasteurised cheeses produced at Prom Country Cheese. The raw milk isn’t pasteurised, so this milk is tested twice weekly to identify cell count and any pathogens.
“The regular testing means any anomalies are easy to identify,” Daniel said.
“The certification agency and the purchaser are confident the stringent testing ensures the raw milk product is fit for human consumption.”
Daniel said the raw milk cheese was full of flavour from the mixed pasture species grazed by the milking herd.
“I think we’ve got a good balance with the farm production, and value adding through the cheese business,” Daniel said.
“The cheese factory gives us a buffer, especially with the organic side of its production, and being in control of the supply chain is future proofing the business.”