BUFFALO
GOAT
Shaw River Buffalo Cheese is a family-run buffalo milking and cheesemaking business, that started in the 1990’s when Roger and Sue Haldane imported a herd of river buffalo from Italy and Bulgaria in 1996. The Shaw River herd has never been crossed and is the only pure Riverine Buffalo herd in Australia. The factory and herd are located on the banks of the Shaw River in Yambuk, Victoria where the buffalo roam free on the pasture and are cared for in a low stress environment. The Shaw River team believe happy buffalo are healthier, will live longer and produce better quality milk. The buffalo are milked once a day and the milk is driven a few kilometers down in a small tanker to the factory where the cheeses and yogurt are made.
Meredith Dairy, located in Meredith, Victoria, roughly 100km west of Melbourne, specializes in sheep and goat milk production and cheesemaking. Originally Meredith focused on lamb and wool production, but when the sheep industry collapsed in the 1990’s, owners Sandy and Julie Cameron decided to look for an alternative farming business. In two years, after researching animal husbandry, sheep and goat milk production and cheesemaking, the dairy factory was built on the farm. The Cameron family aim to value-add and utilize all farm product and focus heavily on environmentally friendly and sustainable farming. The cheeses and yogurt are made with the milk collected that morning, the grains grown on the farm are feed for the dairy animals, and the straw their bedding. Cheese whey is fed to cattle and the manure is a fertilizer for the farm soil.
