Te Tihi

Just keep focusing on your milk quality - you can check your milk quality excellence days via the On-Farm App or the Farm Source website.

And we'll let you know how you achieved at the end of the season. If you need help, remember that you have your Milk Quality Team who are happy to visit you on-farm to provide advice and support.

Milk quality ratings are calculated per supply number.

Milk Quality is a key driver of value for the Co-op. Periods of the season where milk volumes are low are the most important times to have quality milk. Focussing on 90% of the days supplied rather than 90% of total milk supplied recognises farms that supply high quality milk every day of the season.

There are lots of reasons - here are a few:

• We pride ourselves on producing the highest quality milk and it is a core part of the Co-op’s international reputation.
• Higher quality milk on-farm can enable manufacturing efficiencies and better quality products (e.g. improved shelf-life, yields, functionality and flavour).
• Our customers and consumers expect the highest levels of food safety and quality when they buy our products. That’s one of the reasons why we see a premium paid for New Zealand-sourced product sold through the Global Dairy Trade platform.
• We anticipate increasing customer demand for specific milk product characteristics (eg. Barry Callebaut have a target of 100% certified sustainably sourced feed (PKE and soy)), and recent consumer research has shown ‘naturalness’ (eg. grass-fed and no antibiotic use) is becoming increasingly important.

• Call the Farmer Support team on 0800 65 65 68 to ask about milk quality support.
• Book a milk quality visit with one of our team.