Kingsmeade

October 2005
Kingsmeade Partnership, owned by Miles and Janet King, has 11 hectares of flat river loam only 5kms northeast of Masterton, comprising an elite flock of 130 East Friesian milking ewes, a 10 aside herring bone milking shed and a compact but functional cheese factory.

In addition the Kings finish the ram lambs and rear the ewe lambs until a selection is made for milking flock replacements, which are then mated as ewe hoggets. They must produce a lamb to stay in the milking flock. The East Friesians are highly fertile sheep and usually produce twin lambs. This year the lambing is down a little because of the dry autumn, but there are still plenty of lambs around.

Miles has the best milking sheep mated to the East Friesian ram to produce the ewe lambs which are necessary for milking flock replacements about 25 to 35 needed each year. The B group of the milking ewes are mated to a black face sire and all the progeny are finished and sent away for slaughter.

Lambs are kept on their mothers for five weeks and are then weaned onto a feed each day of high protein meal. Each ewe is expected to produce in the vicinity of 2L per ewe per day for up to a 200 day milking cycle.

They come into the milking shed once a day at first while they are still suckling the lambs, then go on to twice a day. The ewes are fed sheep nuts in the milking shed and during the course of the year may be fed a supplement of bread, poplar leaves and baleage to maintain them in top condition.

While Kingsmeade is not organic, sheep are all treated in as natural a fashion as possible without compromising their health. If a milking ewe requires an antibiotic, she will be removed from the milking flock for the required withholding period. Wherever possible herbal natural remedies are used.

The sheep are milked from September to March in the adapted 10-a-side herringbone. The milking plant is the same as a cow milking plant of similar size, except for the cups and liners, which are imported by Alfa Laval. The cluster has only two cups and the liners are twice as expensive, but only half of the size of cow liners. The pulse rate is faster, 90/minute instead of 60, but the vacuum pressure is the same. Milk must be chilled quickly and held at 4oC until Miles has enough for a vat of cheese, which is 200 to 500 litres. Pasteurising takes 20 minutes for 200 litres and then the milk is cooled for the start of cheesemaking, at 32oC.

Miles adds freeze-dried starters and rennet and the cheese making process takes from three and a half hours, for brie, up to seven or eight hours for chedder, plus overnight pressing, before going into brine and being vacuum packed and placed in cool rooms.

Cheeses made are: Brie from cows milk, Halloumi from cow and ewe milk, Mozzarella, Ewe Feta in Brine, Ewe Ricotta, Ewe Gouda, Ewe Havarti, Kingsmeade Cygnet, Kingsmeade Lark, Holdsworth Blue and Wairarapa Jack.

Despite the popularity of their sheeps milk varieties, the Kings have branched out into cows milk cheese, as a way to complement the rest of the range. Lansdowne Gouda, Woodside Emmental, Rimutaka Red, and the one with the fast-growing reputation, Ngawi Brie.

Production is only seven tonnes of cheese annually, which must supply the growing NZ market and develop an export presence in Australia if possible. Cows milk is supplied from two local dairy farmers, one from winter until November and the other from summer until autumn. Miles picks up the milk in a small tanker. Now over 50% of production is cows milk or mixture.

The 11ha of river loam has Olsen P of 24, Mg 23, Ca 9 and pH of 6.2 to 6.5. Miles uses dicalcic lime every year, plus nitrogen on new grass. One third of the farm has renewed pasture, where 2.5ha has been sprayed out in spring and pasja sown, then sprayed out again in autumn and sown to Esteem perennial ryegrass with a low endophyte. Miles expects to replaces pastures every four years. Some of the old pasture has tall fescue and phalaris mix.

When milking sheep receive between 10-20% of their energy intake from supplements, including pea, barley, maize mix, with extra peas for protein levels, and a compressed nut with a high fibre content. Milk testing is not carried out.

The animal health requirements include some antibiotics for mastitis, when the ewes are taken out of the milking flock until clear. Miles tries to treat internal parasites outside of the milking season and the occasional fly strike is treated with cider vinegar. Ewes have been susceptible to pneumonia so they are shorn once only in the hottest months. They are also prone to scald and footrot because of running on long green pastures. Last years lambing was the worst, with a wet winter and a horrific spring, but this years lambing is shaping up as the best.

Miles and Janet have a big food safety compliance and reporting load, including regular inspections, annual validation of their product safety programme, including pasteurisation and cheese-making facility, and even audits of the validation. The costs are high in time and money, for seven or eight different programmes. The proposal to export will add another layer of compliance.

Sheeps milk cheese also has a distinctive flavour, texture and aroma that a lot of people are enjoying since the Kings began business in 1998. Their cheeses have won numerous awards and have gained a loyal following all over the country. Were not trying to revolutionise the world, we just want to provide an option for people who cant tolerate cows milk cheese, Janet King says. People are finding they arent getting the headaches and stuffy noses they usually get from cows milk products. The average retail price of sheep milk cheese is around $35/kg, approximately 30% ahead of cows milk equivalents.