North Canterbury News: November 24, 2022

RURAL LIFE
North Canterbury News, November 24, 2022
Tiny herd the heart of anew milk venture
Atiny,individualisedherd of show cows
forms the heart of anew operation—
supplying raw milk to the public, three
minutes from Rangiora.
Peter and Claire Hansen’s Fernside
Fresh, has blended Peter’s lifelong
obsession with registered Jersey show
cows, into abusiness model witha
difference.
The beauty of atiny herd, arare
phenomenoninNew Zealand,includesa
lot of natural advantagesfor the 16 handpicked
cows, whosemilk filltwo,
200­litre self­serve milk vending
machines, every day at the family’s new
dairy at 492 Oxford Rd, near the
Fernside school.
The cowsare pasture fed and only
have ashort 200mwalk to the dairyeach
day. Milking takes no more than 20
minutes twice­a­day,and as the milk
doesn’t have to go the milk factory, fresh
milk is available at afast clip.
All the calves are reared at Fernside
Fresh, including the bull calves.
While the national averagelifespan for
adairy cow is between three to four
years, Fernside Freshhas cows still
milking aged 14 years.
Without the pressures of alargeherd,
the cows liveacomfortable life witha
local purpose.
They carry registered nameslike
Chanel, Bright Eyes, and Viyella, and are
shown by the family at the Canterbury
A&P Show.
Its beenafamily dream to be able to
sell aquality producttothe publicand
cut out the middle man, Peter says.
Claire says, Pete’spassion is for the
cows, and becauseofthat ‘‘we have milk
and we wanted to makeitavailable to the
public’’.
The small Fernside Fresh herd comes
with some Royal connections.
The late Queen ElizabethIIowned a
Jersey herd(which was established at
Time for milking ... Peter brings in the
small herd for milking.
Windsor in 1871).
She is looselylinked to two of the cow
families at Fernside Fresh—Viyella and
Bright Eyes. They were bought from the
New Zealand breeders who the Queen
ownedcows in partnershipwith for many
years—FerdonGenetics, at Otorohanga.
AlthoughFernside Fresh is a
newcomer to the market, Peterhas been
working towards this reality since he was
10­years­old.
Peter’s grandparents, Fred and Freda,
farmed Jerseys on Fernside Roadfrom
1936,and despite owning his successful
drainlayingbusiness Peter Hansen
Drainlaying, Peter has neverwavered
from his passion for Jersey cows.
27
Apassion for jersey cows ... Peter and Claire Hansen with one of their herd of Jersey
cows which is supplying raw milk to the public.
PHOTOS: SUPPLIED
He and Claire travelled to Australia in
2017, buyingfour registered Jersey cows
from arenownedAustralian breeder to
bring hometoNew Zealand.
Atravestyoftiming thwarted their
15­yeardream.
Ten days before the cows boarded the
plane from Australia havingpassed all
their tests and completed their
quarantine,New Zealand's Ministry for
PrimaryIndustries (MPI) reported NZs
first outbreak of Mycoplasma bovis (M.
bovis)in New Zealand.
The border was shut. The dream and
the investmentsufferedamajor setback.
Fernside Fresh’sconcept to reality
took agame­changing step forward two
yearsago when the couplefoundthe
perfect farm.
Sincethen, they have been workingto
develop their new property,including
building acowshedand shop front.
Approval to market their milk from the
Ministry for Primary Industry (MPI)
completed theirfinalstep.
‘‘Every week, we see messages on
community Facebook pages asking for
milk.
‘‘We have been so looking forwardto
getting the final thingsinplace, and now
to have the MPI approval we are excited
to be openfor business,’’ Clairesays.
FernsideFresh is opentothe public
between 7am and 7pm.
Big picture solutions to
match big
Innovation isatthe root of everything we do. Talk to your local Zimmatic ZIMMATIC dealer today
www.zimmaticanz.com Built for today to
Talk to your local Zimmatic irrigation dealer today to find
keep pace with tomorrow.
out how they can help make every drop count.
Zimmatic ® is aregistered trademark ofthe Lindsay Corporation. ©2021 Lindsay. All Rights Reserved
www.lindsay.com/irrigateanz