Kernichs practice paddock to plate
When it comes to paddock to plate, the Kernich family has been bottling their own product for 17 years - and they do it all from a 20-foot container.
The family, who have been dairy farming on 72 hectares in the Barossa for 46 years, are big advocatesh for fresh and unprocessed produce.
Erica Kernich supports her four children - Paula Menzel, Amy McDonald, Lisa Werner and Mark Kernich - in their various roles, getting the milk from their 90-head purebred Jersey herd.
Jersey Fresh manager Lisa Werner said deregulation in 2000 meant the dairy industry wasn't really built for small farmers, so it was either go big or go home.
"We are in this awesome region with the Barossa Valley on our doorstep and good food is valued here, making the area a foodie destination," she said.
"Banks didn't know how to wrap their heads around paddock to plate or grass to glass business to loan for it.
We keep our shelf life expectancy to 16 days - after all we are called Jersey Fresh not Jersey four-weeks-old.
- Lisa Werner
"It took us a little while to get our products onto retail shelves because milk was just milk to a lot of people and still is.
"There are a lot of people who still don't understand the value of good milk and the value of supporting local dairyfarmers."
She said there had been a lot of challenges and things they would have done differently.
"Some days we wouldn't do it at all - we have tough days," she said.
Ms Werner said it took a lot of education - particularly when they were putting an unhomogenised product on the shelf.
"The older generation understood it, craved it and loved it but the younger generation just didn't get it," she said.
They try to do as much on-farm as possible.
"We are growing as much of our own feed that we can so the cows can graze ryegrass and then have silage when the grass has been eaten," she said.
"The baled silage this year was all vetch, our pit silage was oats and barley."
Ms Werner said they were breeding and milking the cows themselves in their four-a-side herringbone dairy, before the milk was held in the raw storage vats in the dairy and gravity fed to the factory.
She said there was something to be said for milking themselves, as time consuming as it could be.
"The cows all represent a really pig part of our business so looking after them is in our best interests," she said.
"Once the milk hits the factory all we are doing is pasteurising - where it is heat treated for 72.5 degrees for 15 seconds.
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"Pasteurisation we have to do by law but homogenisation is optional so we don't do it nor do we have the machinery in the factory to do it."
They then package the range, which includes full cream milk, reduced fat milk, a pure dolloping cream, a pouring cream, and an iced coffee - with chocolate and strawberry milk coming very soon.
She said the flavoured milks were all low sugar options that aligned with their ethos of keeping things health and fresh.
"We average 24 hours from the cows being milked to the product bottled and ready to go," she said.
"We keep our shelf life expectancy to 16 days - after all we are called Jersey Fresh not Jersey four-weeks-old.
"Our distribution goes as far south as Norwood/North Adelaide and as far north as Riverton and Auburn with around 60 wholesale and retail deliveries weekly.
"Seventy per cent of our deliveries are in the Barossa - we work with Drake's, Foodland, and some of the largest independent grocers in SA."
The Kernich family have been going to the Barossa Farmers Market almost weekly for the past 18 years.
She said attending the farmers market was a great advertising and educational tool.
"Our only direct sell is at the Barossa Farmers Market and is a lot about promotion - we don't have a shopfront anywhere else," she said.
"It's a really good way to actually engage with those customers face to face, educate on our products.
"We have 10 litre buckets of milk at the market and do a bucket return credit system, which is a good way to reduce plastic waste."
SA Dairyfarmers' Association chief executive officer Andrew Curtis said the grass to glass practice provided the industry with the opportunity to demonstrate to loyal consumers the care and commitment the industry had to producing quality products.
"Our mantra is partnering for premium," he said.
"As an industry, we are committed to producing quality products through partnerships where the consumer can see the grass and can see right back to where the milk comes from.
"They can see the partnership in the fact that we have got expert herdspeople, expert cheesemakers, or yogurt makers, or milk bottlers, who are all committed to producing that quality product in partnership."
Willunga Farmers' Market general manager Jenni Mitton said the flavour and the health benefits of being able to enjoy such fresh, not overly processed food was really important for everybody.
"Dairy stallholders love being able to have that direct connection with their customers, get feedback about new products and educate customers," Ms Mitton said.
- This is the first installment in Stock Journal's paddock-to-plate monthly series, where we will be showcasing industries taking on this initiative.
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Kiara Stacey
Journalist for Stock Journal. Kiara was in classified sales at Stock Journal before joining the editorial team in 2021. Kiara completed a Bachelor of Communication (journalism) at Deakin University the year prior.
Journalist for Stock Journal. Kiara was in classified sales at Stock Journal before joining the editorial team in 2021. Kiara completed a Bachelor of Communication (journalism) at Deakin University the year prior.
