Guernsey herd A2 yoghurt gives Canadian farm a viable business

A small household dairy farm within the Cowichan Valley on Vancouver Island is again in manufacturing with a unique breed of cow and a wholly new enterprise mannequin.

Caroline and Mark Nagtegaal rented land and milked cows for 2 years earlier than shopping for Promise Valley Farm in 2006.

Right here, they constructed up a small herd of Holsteins, which they ran for eight years earlier than the pressures of the job and a younger household proved an excessive amount of.

See additionally: How one dairy farm moved to a regenerative grazing system

They bought the cows and the milk quota, switching to pigs, broilers and laying hens and rising fruit and greens for a farmgate stall.

In time, nonetheless, they realised this fashion of farming was “probably not our ardour in any respect”. Caroline remembered having tasted some yoghurt constructed from Guernsey milk throughout the border in Washington State.

After a go to to the yoghurt plant, she was satisfied processing was the best way for them to create a viable dairy enterprise.

They purchased six Guernsey heifers, three of them in-calf, from Washington State, to kind their new herd.

They lined up quota and put collectively a marketing strategy for the processing plant and a farm store. As soon as the heifers have been in milk, Caroline set about testing yoghurt recipes.

“We obtained one other six cows simply earlier than Covid hit and began delivery milk to Island Farms [a dairy co-op] immediately, whereas we have been nonetheless engaged on the processing plant and all of the approvals wanted from the BC [British Columbia] Centre for Illness Management.

“All of it took time. We opened the farm retailer in January 2022 promoting yoghurt, and milk from a dispenser.”

Natural A2 milk and yoghurt

Throughout this time, she and Mark had grown more and more excited by regenerative and natural manufacturing and determined to go for natural certification with Ecocert Canada.

This three-year course of created much more work, however the end result was a novel promoting level because the island’s first, and solely, natural dairy farm, says Caroline.

She and Mark are additionally selling the beta casein protein content material of their Guernsey milk.

This incorporates solely A2 beta caseins, stated to be simpler to digest than milk containing a mixture of A1 and A2 beta caseins.

“It’s made the world of distinction to prospects who can’t eat [other cow’s] milk,” she says.

4 forms of yoghurt are produced: plain (the preferred), vanilla bean, honey, and lemon.

Every week, 360 of the 625ml tubs (made from plant-based packaging) are produced on the market on farm and in outlets as distant as Victoria and Nanaimo.

They get about CAD$1/litre (60p/litre) for milk collected in bulk, however as much as $8/litre (£4.78/litre) when retailed as yoghurt.

At the moment, direct milk gross sales account for 40-50% of manufacturing; yoghurt gross sales make up 30-40%; and the rest goes to the Island Farms dairy co-op.

© MAG/Judith Tooth

Grazing administration

Cows are fed a mixture of peas, barley and oats within the parlour and graze from April to October.

Hay is made in Could, with second and third reduce conserved as round-bale silage.

Withholding chemical fertiliser within the first yr of natural conversion was “painful”, says Caroline, however they utilized cow and hen manure and in yr two, the land began to select up.

“By the third yr, the grass was the very best it had ever regarded.

“The land is benefiting from rotational grazing – though we’re nonetheless engaged on getting numbers and relaxation intervals at their best, and never having irrigation is difficult,” she says.

Final yr, 30C temperatures lasted into November and winter rainfall was very low.

Some years, there is no such thing as a rain from Could to October, provides Mark.

“We’re making an attempt to adapt by defending the soil,” he says. Whereas soil natural matter is a wholesome 8.9%, additional enhancements are deliberate, together with liming, to elevate the marginally acidic soil pH.

“This could enhance institution of legumes within the grassland to supply a higher-protein forage and repair nitrogen.

Seasonal manufacturing

© MAG/Judith Tooth

Mark argues a yearly quota would give them extra flexibility than their each day one to develop their enterprise.

“In future, if we might grow to be a closed producer/processor and pursue extra of a seasonal mannequin; we might have a brief break from milking and take extra benefit of the seasonal grass cycle.

“It will permit for a extra sustainable administration mannequin for a small household farming enterprise,” he says.

Farm store gross sales

© MAG/Judith Tooth

The farm store is open three days per week. In addition to milk and yoghurt, it sells beef from the farm’s Guernsey cross Angus cattle, eggs and reduce flowers produced on farm.

Guernsey milk cleaning soap and hand restore balm, made by Caroline; and a spread of merchandise, reminiscent of jam and honey, from native farms are additionally on sale.