Science supporting industry growth: Sheep Milk

With the rapid growth of New Zealand’s sheep milk industry, crown research institute AgResearch has launched a new online resource to showcase the science supporting the industry.

The suite of research undertaken to prove the quality of product from the industry, and how it is produced and what impacts it has, is captured at https://www .agresearch .co .nz/sheep-milk “In this world of high consumer expectation we need to provide knowledge to support the farmer, the exporter and to inform new customers,” says AgResearch senior scientist David Stevens . “This emerging food industry must understand their footprint and be able to quantify the nutritional benefits of their products . This empowers the consumer to balance their nutritional outcomes with the production systems that deliver that nutrition . ” The culmination of a six-year research programme, the online resource houses the new knowledge generated in milk composition and processing, milk nutritional values, farming systems and environmental impacts . The programme funded by the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment, ‘Boosting the export earnings of the emerging dairy sheep industry’,

involved industry partners and aimed to provide relevant knowledge through a joint process that kept researchers and the industry fully involved in the discovery and development work . “The programme was split into four parts to directly answer industry questions,” says AgResearch science team leader Linda Samuelsson . “Parts of the programme delivered answers to underlying questions such as ‘what makes New Zealand sheep milk unique?’ and ‘how big is out environmental footprint?’ . Other questions addressed the best ways to convert our raw milk into high-value consumer-ready products and what types of functional benefits can we expect from consuming New Zealand sheep milk . At the same time we investigated how our farming and feeding systems provide subtle variations in the composition of our milk . ” “A significant objective of the industry is to ensure high ethical standards of our farming practices . Lamb rearing, as an important part of production, has received special attention . This has led to the development of a suite of options and practices ensuring the care and best possible outcomes for each lamb crop . ” The online resource guides the user through each objective to link farmers, industry and consumers to the range of new knowledge developed in the research programme . This includes, for example, fact sheets about lamb rearing practices, environmental impacts and composition of New Zealand sheep milk . “At the other end of the spectrum we have papers defining the effects of on-farm practices on milk composition, as well as the functional properties of sheep milk in immune function and bone growth . ”

Dr Linda Samuelsson

Dr David Stevens