It was this that led to Neil’s father Tom Gray 50 years ago taking the then-unusual step of establishing a Jersey-Friesian crossbred herd of medium-weight cows to minimise the winter problems. ![]() In doing so, Tom Gray beat the Livestock Improvement Company’s (LIC) introduction of crossbreed genetics by 30 years, and the family always has bred its own replacements, with the herd sitting in the top 10% of New Zealand herds for genetic merit. The farm has two milking sheds, a modern 44-a-side herringbone in which the commercial herd is milked, and a restored 12-a-side HB shed for the raw milk cows. From the small roadside shed the raw milk passes into an Italian-made dispenser from which clients upload quantities ranging from a single litre to 30l. The DF Italia dispenser was bought through raw milk consultant Richard Houston’s Takaka-based agency. Buttercup Dairies’ clients can ll their own containers from the dispenser, but most take advantage of the one-litre glass bottles with a screw-lid that Grays sell for $4 each. They also supply two-litre stainless steel containers for $20 each. The roughly 1300 litres of raw milk produced weekly by Buttercup Dairies sells for $2.50 a litre, equivalent to a return of around $30kg/ms, compared to Fonterra’s commercial milk solids return of about $9/kg. Glenda and Neil manage the raw milk operation themselves with the help of a part-timer. They do a once-a-day milking in the morning, the clients roll up during the day, and the dispenser is cleaned in the evening ready for the next day’s milk. The Ministry of Primary Industries imposes a strict testing regime on raw milk, one that includes checking for pathogens – something not necessary with commercial herds where the milk is pasteurised. The emergence of glass bottles as raw milk consumers’ preferred container has been “quite a cool story,” Neil Gray says. “It seems people never forgot getting their milk delivered daily to their door in glass bottles, and their recycling potential has made them even more popular in this day and age.” “It seems people never forgot getting their milk delivered daily to their door in glass bottles, and their recycling potential has made them even more popular in this day and age.” Glenda and Neil Gray (top).
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