Nō re reme te tau, ko te tau kei runga - Miraka hipi open day a huge success

An open day on the new Koetuku PKW miraka hipi farm, hosted together with partners Spring Sheep Milk Co, was well attended by both local farmers and industry personnel, who learnt more about sheep making a footprint on the whenua at Matapu.

Parininihi ki Waitōtara owns the only two sheep milking farms in Taranaki – Koetuku (70 hectares), and nearby Waitokorau (50 hectares) – both located south-west of Normanby.

Joe Highet, Commercial Manager of Milk Supply at Spring Sheep, says the November 11 event went brilliantly. “We think it was an absolute success, not just to showcase the milking shed, but to generate interest because we want to scale and grow in Taranaki.”

About 250 to 300 people attended the open day to see sheep milk farming in action.

“We were hoping for that many but it’s unknown in a new region, so we were delighted to get that number despite the heavy rain,” he says. “It was a broad mixture of locals who were just interested in what was going on, landowners looking at it for a potential opportunity in converting to sheep milk farming, and a lot of industry associated people.”

Shane Miles, Te Rau Whakahaumako / General Manager Ahuwhenua, says the two sheep milking farms began actually milking on July 20, 2022.

“It’s one of the most widely used milks in the world, but there’s not a lot of trade between countries,” he says.

“There’s a demand for sheep milk products offshore, and fresh milk in supermarkets.”

Milk from the two farms is sold to Spring Sheep Milk Co, which has a processing plant in Hamilton.

Shane says a core reason PKW decided to enter the sheep milk industry was the organisation’s drive to consider ways to diversify its business interests, the use of whenua, and spread risk.

“It’s still core to our skillset. It’s not a big deviation away from what we know and what we are good at, but it’s still diversifying away from just being bovine milk producers.”

The farming systems are similar, but where a dairy farm has three cows to a hectare, an ovine milking farm has 15 to 20 sheep per hectare. “From a distance, you might not know whether it’s a cow or sheep shed, but internally it’s a lot different.”

Along with the sheep milking, each farm has a specialist team for rearing lambs. “The number of employees goes up from July to September,” Shane says.

“It’s a people business ultimately, and we recognise the significant role that our on-farm kaimahi and farming partners on the whenua have in terms of the immense contribution they make to PKW’s success. We are custodians of the owner’s interests and, as kaitiakitanga of the whenua, it is critical how we operate. Part of that is considering how we can have a smaller footprint on the land, which is something we believe sheep milking will provide over time.”

Joe Highet explains why sheep milk farming can support succession by inspiring the next generation to do something different.

“They wouldn’t come to milk the cows, but doing something new and entrepreneurial is quite appealing. People enjoy milking sheep – they are a fantastic animal to work with,” he says.

“In an ovine dairy shed, it’s quiet, it’s calm and the sheep are a lot smaller and less intimidating than cows. There’s less chance of an injury from sheep.”

In Aotearoa, the sheep milking farms also support a balanced workforce of about 50:50 men and women. Environmentally, Joe says there are also great benefits from ovine farming, including lower water use, nitrate leaching and methane emissions.

“It has to stack up economically and we are really excited about the returns we will be able to achieve at a farm level,” Joe says.

“We have been working with PKW for a year and the results show it (Taranaki) is going to be a fantastic area.”

The Spring Sheep Milk Co transforms the products into “advanced nutrition”, including baby formula, toddler milk drinks, and milk powder.

Most of these products are sold offshore. “China is an important part of our portfolio, as are Malaysia and Australia. We are actively looking at additional larger markets.”

In Taranaki, the sheep milk company and the intergenerational Māori business have established a longterm relationship. “We would love to continue to grow in the region with PKW,” Joe says.