Young dairy farmer launches non-homogenised milk

The first bottles of Jimmy Eggert’s full cream non-homogenised Hastings Riverlands Pure Milk hit the shelves this week at local shops and health stores in Port Macquarie and Wauchope.

The first sale on Monday signalled the start of the 18-year-old’s dairy farming business that produces non-homogenised milk from eight Jersey cows named Molly, Rhi, Pong, Lisa, Jetty, Syme, Oxhill and Rosie.

“I took a few samples around to businesses last week. I felt like I had to get them to taste it, because that will get them over the line and they will want it,” Jimmy said.

Jimmy completed his HSC last year and decided to follow the organic farming journey started by his parents, Chris and Ann, on the family’s dairy farm near Wauchope.

The Eggert’s historic farm supplies organic milk to Norco and produces organic eggs and beef and free-range pork and chicken meat. The Eggert family own a separate former dairy farm nearby at Huntingdon, which is now the base for Jimmy’s Jersey herd and Hastings Riverlands milk.

The milk is produced, processed, and bottled in a small factory that was once the farm’s dairy.

It is not certified organic milk, but Jimmy said no artificial fertilisers, GMOs or pesticides are used in the production of the milk as the farm has organic certification.

“The milk is, full cream and minimally pasteurised. It’s about as close as you can get to raw milk. It’s pure, and because it’s from Jersey cows, its high in fat and protein.”

“With some help from Dad, I am using the same organic and sustainable farming practices that are used at the home farm.

“I want to grow the business. The target at this stage is to get the Jersey herd up to 20 cows, which I hope will happen around April or May this year.”

Proud mum Ann said developing direct relationships with customers buying their eggs and meat inspired the idea to add a micro dairy around five years ago.

“Chris has always wanted to give it a try, but things were busy on the farm and farmgate milk prices started to improve. We did do a few bits and pieces to start converting the old walk-through dairy, but the real action started 12 months ago.”

“We replaced the milking machines and transformed the back part of the dairy into a little factory, which has a batch pasteuriser that takes 250 litres.”

Ann said Jimmy’s enthusiasm for the project reignited their goal of producing, processing, bottling and marketing their own milk.  

“It’s a totally separate micro dairy business from the home farm.”

“Jimmy is running it all himself, doing all the marketing and going to shops and cafes to give them samples. There are lot of ideas he has proposed. He has made a batch of haloumi and interested in making yoghurt.

“There is nothing like running your own business project in terms of getting a real-life education.”

Ann said they will be sending Hastings Riverlands milk samples to some of their Oxhill Organic’s customers, including a butcher in Marrickville that sells their free-range pork and organic eggs.

Oxhill Organics is based at the Eggert family farm on the outskirts of Wauchope, which runs up to 200 milking cows, whose milk is also bottled nearby at the Norco factory in Raleigh.

“We are really proud to be supplying Norco, a 100 per cent Australian farmer owned co-op. Norco has really supported our organic dairy farming business.

Port Macquarie recently hosted an upbeat Women in Dairy conference. Read more here