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Coles to source milk directly from farmers
Chanelle Mansour
Coles has announced plans to cut out the middle man and source milk directly from farmers for its Coles Brand Fresh White Milk two- and three-litre products.
The supermarket giant intends to bypass processors and start a direct relationship with dairy farmers in Victoria and Southern and Central New South Wales, starting from next month.
The announcement came as surprise to most within the industry, with many peak bodies cautious to trust Coles given the company’s role in the price wars that have crippled the industry.
“At this stage, the nuts and bolts of how and what this relationship and process will look like is pure speculation, with only Coles knowing truly what its intentions are,” says Eric Danzi, Executive Officer at Queensland Dairyfarmers’ Organisation. “What we need to ensure is that this does not give Coles even more power over dairy farmers and does not allow Coles to revert to $1/L pricing.”
Australian Dairy Farmers likewise appears hesitant, saying it is imperative that value is delivered through the supply chain, and that farmers receive their fair share for their hard work, risk and investment.
"Dairy farmers are at the mercy of farm gate prices set by processors and in recent years profit margins have been narrowed to the point where it is unsustainable for some farmers to continue to operate," said National Farmers’ Federation CEO Tony Mahar.
The new sourcing model will offer longer-term contracts, with dairy farmers given the ability to decide between one-, two- or three-year contracts, to keep up with competitive farm gate prices.
“Over many years, Coles has developed direct relationships with thousands of meat, seafood and fresh produce farmers supplying to our stores; it is a successful model, and we think it can work in dairy too,” says Coles’ Chief Operating Officer, Greg Davis.
Coles will also invest an additional $1.9 million into the newly established Coles Sustainable Dairy Development Group, to fund research into the adoption of new technology, pasture efficiencies and business development.
Australian Dairy Farmers says it would welcome the opportunity to work with Coles in ensuring this new development group delivers productivity gains to dairy farmers across Australia.
For shoppers, the price of Coles Brand two- and three-litre fresh milk will remain the same under the new arrangement.
You can read Coles’ official statement here.
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Trace minerals are required for optimal growth, reproduction, and immunity. Optimising trace mineral status relying solely on oral supplements across a herd may fail because of variation in individual intake and reduced absorption due to antagonism of other ration components and minerals. The use of injectable trace mineral supplements has been associated with positive reproductive outcomes including improved conception rate, increased odds of pregnancy and greater final in calf rate. A study conducted on 2,168 dairy cows, administered injectable trace minerals, four weeks prior to calving and again four weeks prior to the start of mating showed treated animals had a 3.3 per cent greater final in-calf rate, and a reduced time from start of mating to conception, compared to control animals 1 . The Importance of B12 Dr Carl Eden, Technical Services Veterinarian with Boehringer Ingelheim says “Vitamin B12 is sometimes referred to as a ‘super vitamin’ because it is only required in very small amounts but vital to many essential metabolic pathways. However, demand for B12 can vary considerably during the year and we see serum levels of B12 fall at critical times, such as the first few months after calving.” Vitamin B12 contains cobalt, so deficiency in cobalt can lead to deficiency in vitamin B12 because ruminants get most of their B12 as a byproduct of ruminal fermentation where the bacteria in their rumen assemble B12 from cobalt for use by the cow. Sub-optimal trace mineral and vitamin B12 status at calving, mating, and drying off has been shown to negatively impact growth, reproduction, and immunity. Using a trace mineral injectable containing vitamin B12 can improve trace mineral and vitamin B12 status at these critical times. Marks-Min with Vitamin B12 – The Evidence In the largest trace element study to date, Marks-Min Injectable Trace Mineral with Vitamin B12 demonstrated remarkable results when compared to a reference trace mineral injection. “Given the differences between Marks-Min and other products on the market, we wanted to generate a compelling data set to demonstrate how effective it was compared to the pioneer product. We entrusted this work to a third-party research company” says Dr Eden. “We chose farms that were at the top of their game from a reproductive perspective. We made sure that the farms had no evidence of trace element or vitamin B12 deficiencies or excess.” Across all outcomes of interest, Marks-Min demonstrated clear non-inferiority when compared to the reference product. Outcomes measured included submission, pregnancy and conception rates, and six week in-calf rate. Marks-Min demonstrated it is highly suited as an alternative treatment to the reference product. Reference: 1. Hawkins, D., and B. V. S. Franklin. New Zealand Dairy Veterinarians Newsletter 24 (2007): 12-16 Company website: livestockfirst.com.au Company email address: CustomerCare.Australia@boehringer-ingelheim.com Company video: https://vimeo.com/1138807630?fl=pl&fe=cm
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