20 years of celebrating Australia’s highest quality milk producers

C.R. & D. Emerton
D.F & J.M Warner
N.G., N.G. & T.J. Pearce

C. & B. Rowntree (Alta Vista Enterprises Pty Ltd)
Misty Brae Holding Pty Ltd  
The Martin Dairy Trust

Circular Head Farms Pty Ltd (Scopus Dairy & Rustic Springs Pty Ltd)
J.R. & J.L. Berne                                                                        
Mc Lennans Holdings Pty Ltd                                                
North View Estate                                                                    
R. & L. Dobson                                                                         
S. & S. Farm       

A.S. & S.L. Moore
D. & B. Farms Trust
D.G. & D.L. Green
D.L. & J.L. Verboon
G.A. & L.M. Paul
Glenmore
J.P. & H.L. Harvey
K.D. &  I.M. Askew
K.R. & L.E. Kirkus
K.W. & H.L. Jones Pty Ltd
L.M. & T.D. Grabham
L.P. & G.D. Van Boxtel
N.C. & V. Joiner
Oanwayje Farms Pty Ltd (Weller's)
R. & M. Cannon
R.P. & M.J. Kenney
S.A. & S.J. Fallon
Westburne Pty Ltd

C. & N. Hibberson
 J.P. & L.B. Edwards
A.J. Fiedler
A.K. & P.M. Lawry
B.P. & C.M. Kervin Family Trust
CL Freemantle Pty Ltd
D.J. & A.L. McGowan
Gledhill Farms Pty Ltd
Gundowring Farms Pty Ltd
J. De Palma
J.C. & C.M. Hicks
J.M. & A.M. Minogue
Janie Park Pty Ltd
McKillop Pastoral Company
Prins Dairy Pty Ltd
R.J. Perkins & S.F. Evans
T.J. Ritchie
The University of Melbourne (Dookie)

G.A. & L.E. Jenkins
I. & R. McGregor
L.J. & V.E. Fitzpatrick
Ranchway Pty Ltd
WA College of Agriculture Denmark
Walsall Dairy

Owners Harper and Oonagh Kilpatrick say earning a gold diamond is a great testimony to the dedication and teamwork of the staff in achieving this milk quality award. They all get daily text messages of the milk quality and work together to ensure that the bulk tank cell count (BTCC)  stays at a low level. The BTCC is maintained around 60 000 for the herd of 900 Holstein Friesian cows. 

Farm workers, Shaun and Shane, felt the consistent attention to milking hygiene and culling high cell cows over the last 5 years has been key to improved milk quality on farm. Alex noted the importance of all milkers being clean and keeping the cows out of stress for keeping rate of clinical mastitis infection low. 

Shrawan highlighted the importance of never missing any teat when stripping to detect clinical infection at cups on. The entire herd is checked for clinical mastitis each morning. There is only one person in the shed at each milking and another bringing cow to the dairy. Teat spray is applied with an automatic spray arm at cups off on the 50-bale rotary dairy and milking machinery checks are completed once a week to detect split liners and pulsator malfunctions. All employees are able to check milking machines, as each person has passed on skills to the next incoming member of the farm team. 

The Union Dairy Company (UDC) is committed to providing a solid and secure dairy processing company that partners with local farmers in south-east South Australia and south-west Victoria to deliver quality Australian ingredients domestically and across the world.

In addition to working with local dairy farmers, it is part of The Midfield Group and has its own dairy properties that supplies milk to UDC. 

UDC has an annual processing capacity of 300 million litres of raw milk and began production in 2017.

The company is involved in Dairy Australia’s Milk Quality Awards. UDC’s General Manager Milk Supply, Monique Jeffries, outlines the participation benefits for UDC and its dairy suppliers.

“We participate as farmers and employees get little recognition for the amazing job that they do on a daily basis – it’s a seven day a week job,” Monique says.

“It’s important to celebrate the success stories. Hopefully in this competitive labour market, it can also assist them attracting new employees as now days you need to be better than the average.

“The promotion of our milk quality award winners raises awareness that the buyers of our products depend on high quality milk to make UDC ingredients shine in their finished products. Our customers also know that our suppliers are focused on milk quality, which is important when selling our products.”

Monique’s role involves sourcing and maintaining milk supply through developing strong relationships and having a clear understanding of UDC’s business direction and performance. 

“We are the link between our milk suppliers, transport, factory, finance, regulators, management and sales teams,” she explains.

“We plan milk volumes annually for the sales team to set a strategy and continually forecast supply – daily, weekly and monthly. We also plan factory resources to determine the most efficient way to run the plant and optimise the product mix.”

UDC is constantly assessing milk quality and compliance for regulatory purposes and to ensure milk test results are correct so finance can pay its farmers correctly and on time. 

“A large part of our role is offering assistance to stay on top of milk quality issues. Our aim is to be as proactive as possible so that our farmers don’t get outside of premium for more than a couple of days.” Monique says.

“We want our farmers to be paid for premium milk and it is imperative that the milk is as good as it can be to maximise the customer’s experience. High quality milk results in better flavour, texture, functionality, and shelf life.”

Monique says that to progress the industry and ensure longevity, business owners need a team around them to keep people investing in the industry. 

“Farming is a multi-million-dollar enterprise. They need people to assist with the most important job of all – getting the milk into the vat and ensuring the best possible quality,” she says.

“It’s the most valuable job on the farm. We also need to grow the experts in quality, environment, water, HR, pasture and crops, finance – the list is long.

“It’s important that we keep growing the knowledge as farmers have such a broad knowledge requirement and we need to be there for them to ensure they have long future in the industry. 

“Without them, we have no dairy industry.”

This year was the first that Beston Global Food has been involved in the Dairy Australia Australian Milk Quality Awards, which recognises dairy farmers throughout Australia for their exceptional milk quality.  
Beston is a South Australian-based ASX listed dairy and meat processing company. The operation manufactures cheese and dairy products at Jervois and Murray Bridge in South Australia’s Murraylands region. Beston processed over 150 million litres of milk in FY2022, accounting for over 30 per cent of South Australia’s milk pool.
Samde Ramah is the processor’s Milk Supply Manager, and he explained why Beston became involved in the 2022 awards. 
“Beston has continually evolved since our origins as a start-up in 2016 and with that has come a focus on continuous improvement in all areas of the business but particularly in the quality area,” Samde said. 
“In FY2023, the company has reached a stage of relative maturity and as such we believe the timing is right.” 
Samde said the awards are a terrific opportunity to recognise the intense focus on quality being applied by Beston’s suppliers. 
“We believe it also sends a good message to broader industry and Beston’s quality story,” Samde said. 
Suppliers like the Martin family, who for the first time were named in the top five percent of suppliers (silver winners) in Australia based on bulk milk cell count (BMCC) in the 2022 financial year. 
“We were pleased to see Martins recognised, as Sam and his wife Nadia are some of the rare breed of younger generation farmers – they are really having a go and showing industry leadership with a strong focus on quality and growth,” Samde said. 
Sam is a third-generation dairy farmer, following in the footsteps of his father Graham. The Martins milk 500 cows and produce around four million litres at Wall Flat, located in the Murraylands. 
“We have been working for a while to improve the quality of our produce and it’s nice to be recognised for the effort,” Sam said. 
Sam returned to the family farm in 2011 to work with his father and uncle. He has attended a lot of Dairy Australia-facilitated workshops and utilises a lot of resources produced on the DA website. 
Sam said that mastitis has not been a massive issue for his operation. 
“Our staff are good at identifying early signs and treating it – staff training has been our main focus and really highlights the reasons why we need to detect these issues early,” he said. 
“We now have a better record keeping system for high cell count cows and better communication with the vet in which medications to use.” 
Sam loves the variety of jobs in dairy – from milking, mixing, rearing calves, spraying, irrigation and fertilising – and seeing all of these parts come together. 
“There are many moments to be proud of in dairy farming, whether it’s improving conception rates, hitting really good milk solids or breaking new farm records with milk litres. We feel very proud when we get recognised for the effort,” Sam said. 
“We would love to expand and continue to grow the farm. Ideally, in a decade’s time we would be in a barn with a new dairy.” 
Meanwhile, Beston will continue to support dairy farm businesses such as the Martins’. 
“As positive, energised, and hard-working young farmers, they are showing the pathway for young people to succeed in the dairy industry,” Samde said. 
“For Beston, the connection to our farmers remains the most important part of the job. We believe in old-fashioned service, in getting to really know them, and having them understand they are so much more to us than just another supplier number.” 
Beston Global Food would like to thank Dairy Australia for the 2022 Milk Quality Award on behalf of its valued supplier.