Maori Trust into uncharted sheep milk market

A Maori trust farm is becoming a leading player in the emerging sheep milking industry reports Stuff. Waituhi Kuratau Trust chairman William Konui likens the trust's farm bordering Lake Taupo to a navy destroyer. It's not the usual way you might expect a farmer to talk about his farm, but then this is no ordinary farm. The big sheep and beef farm is on the green slopes that roll down to Kuratau, a small village nestled in the southwest corner of the lake. In a bold move of the sort that is becoming the trademark of the better-organised Maori trusts, Waituhi Kuratau has launched its warship into the almost uncharted waters of sheep milking. This ship is well-outfitted for the journey. Not only has the trust invested in the sheep genetics needed to produce the milk, but it has also built a rotary milking plant capable of handling 80 sheep at a time, designed its own automatic cup-removers and installed an in- shed feeding system and the latest data- collection technology. It doesn't stop there. In an industry still finding its feet the trust has suddenly become a big player. It has bought its own factory to turn its milk into cheese, yoghurt and other promising products and sought out overseas markets. And the limpet mines? Mr Konui explains they are his metaphor for the many projects associated with the new venture. He counts them off on his fingers: milking the sheep, running the plant, developing a new farm management system, writing a "how to" manual that he hopes will help other farms decide to join the business, running its own milk tankers, developing new products, selling its special milk-fed "beta" lambs, branding the new products and getting out into the marketplace to lift consumer awareness of the special qualities of sheep milk.