Milked Dry

You guys may have seen this clip on The Project last night, I missed it but have since caught up today.

I don’t know the ins and outs of this, and of course if you have local brands of farmer’s milk to support, then you should 100% do that. Living in dairy country (we used to have over 200 dairy farms in the Highlands in the 60’s and now only have around a dozen left) I just feel outraged for these poor bastards who work their arses off. We have a couple of families at the school who are dairy farmers. They are up at 3am, work hard and I know for ME, even though I know this, there is STILL a disconnect between them and when I buy my milk from the supermarket shelf.

We go through litres of the stuff, and it’s easy to just grab those $2 for 3 litres of supermarket branded milk, well I do and have done in the past.

But not any more. Not for me anymore. Have a watch, see some of the brands that you can support, and of course if you have a farm local to you you can buy from, then of course do that too. We’re the ones in there buying the stuff, and I reckon most of us could make a switch.

This is the only graphic I have been able to find with brands on it (some are not Australian owned I understand but are still being recommended). Of course, as I said, if you have locally owned and produced stuff, then go for that too.

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You can also sign this petition if you wanted to. Of course, you are entitled to do whatever the hell you want to and don’t need ME to tell you anything, just wanted to share that for me, I’m not going to buy anymore supermarket branded milk. Again.

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Comments

  1. Woo Hoo – thanks for sharing this Beth!! I grew up on a dairy farm and saw my father work his date off for so many years for so very little reward. But he still made sure we didn’t go without anything. It is so tempting to buy the cheap arse milk when you are raising a family, but if you just go without one take away coffee a week and use that money for the real deal milk, you covered your costs 🙂

  2. Thank you Beth. I’ve been meaning to write a blog post to succinctly put into words what has happened in the past few weeks but mere words haven’t seemed enough. I’m afraid actions might even be too late for a lot of farming families.

  3. Michelle Collins says

    Woolies Bowral today doing my groceries and of all the people i saw with milk in their trolleys, there was only about 2 in 20 that didn’t have supermarket milk. I wanted to march up to each and everyone of them and tell them to put it back! I know money’s tight for a lot of people, but seriously ask yourself, is a couple of dollars a week really going to make that much difference to your lifestyle? I haven’t bought supermarket milk for quite a while now and have educated the rest of my family to do the same.

  4. I’ve seen a few FB comments today from people warning that Dairy Farmers in particular is foreign owned which is true but I implore people to look at the bigger picture and still support these companies (or boutique local dairy brands – love Mungali products for those who can get them).

    The Atherton Tablelands in Far North Queensland is home to dairy producers who provide milk for Dairy Farmers – it’s also home to the Malanda Milk factory so not only are the farmers at stake here but also so many locals who work in supporting roles for the industry and I’m sure it’s the same for other regions.

    For anyone who is boycotting the boycot on the basis of foreign ownership please just check you’re not accidentally hurting farmers further while trying to make a (very valid) point.

  5. I buy a2 and have done since they came on to the market. Some of their milk comes from nearby farms in the southwest of Sydney. I find the supermarket milk to be watery.

  6. when I lived in Australia , and every time we visit from Kiwiland, we are stunned at how cheap milk and other dairy products actually are in Australia. We pay around $3.50 for just 2 litres – that is for the cheap non-branded supermarket milk. For brands like Anchor it will be $4-5 for 2 litres… my boys will easily drink 2-3 litres a day – $35 on milk a week is crazy?!! I’m not sure our framers are any better off with the higher prices here or not.

    http://shop.countdown.co.nz/#url=/Shop/SearchProducts%3Fsearch%3Dmilk

  7. Ts is something I’m really passionate about and whilst I’m still catching up on last nights clips, I’ll say this……I will only be supporting the local dairies who are not part of a corporate like National Foods and Fontera. Dairy Farmers and Pura Milk are owned by National Foods for example. Woolworths and Coles $2/2ltr milk is also made by National Foods. Same milk, same price to the farmer per litre but just put in a different bottle. It’s wrong and illegal in many other countries. Buying those brands is still supporting the company who extorted our farmers in the first place. We need to change the labelling laws and food manufacturing laws to stop corporates doing this to our farmers in the first place.
    Support local first. And research your brands!

  8. I’ve always refused to buy supermarket brand milk. Currently we get ours through Aussie Farmers Direct. Some of the yummiest milk I’ve had is Maleny Dairies. Check it out when in Qld.

  9. HI Beth
    I think this is one of the most important issues at the moment for anyone who values the quality of food we eat and drink, so thank you for raising it. Today it’s milk, but tomorrow it could be wheat, or meat, or fruit and veggies. We should be really proud of the quality of Australian fresh produce, and we should all know where it comes from, the farmers who produce it, and why it costs what it does.
    We have such high standards of food safety and food quality because of the efforts of Australian farmers. The very least we consumers can do to support them by buying their products for a fair and reasonable price.

  10. We are very fortunate to have a local farmers market operating in our south-west Sydney suburb. One of the stallholders (a fruit grower) also sells milk an behalf of one of his neighbours, a dairy farmer. We have been buying their milk for years now and honestly it is soooo worth it. Hands down I would rather buy it than anything from my local supermarkets. The milk has a delicious taste whether on it’s own, on cereal or even in coffee or tea. Their award winning milk comes in full cream, lite and skim as well as organic. They do yoghurt and cream too. I am so happy to be able to support a local farmer. They are Country Valley in Picton NSW. Here is the link to their website. http://www.countryvalley.com.au

  11. Growing up in a Dairy farm area I have never purchased (and will never purchase) cheap supermarket branded milk. I don’t care how much it costs me, farmers work to bloody hard for me not to support them.

  12. Yep! I’ve even stopped eating Lurpak and have been using Western Star (although I’m going to give Pepe Saya a try).

  13. Sam Spring says

    I signed the petition yesterday after hearing the 14 year old daughter of a dairy farmer who organised the petition. He thought she was going around her school with a clip board and never guessed what she was organising! The dairy farmers were earning 40c a litre, now it is 14c! Why would you get up in the morning and then go out again in the afternoon! I want to be able to source Australian grown produce. If we squeeze our farmers then we will be eating off shore! Support our locals!

  14. Sam Spring says

    Yep! Just read the previous comment to mine! I need to stop buying Lurpak and support the local guys. Pepe Saya is great but I hadn’t considered it for home until I read that post. Thank you

  15. This is a very important issue. I have never purchased the cheap milk – to be frank it was always obvious to me that such a cheap price could only be as a result of completely screwing over the producers.

    There are other issues at play too. I try and support the smaller producers (Barrambah and Maleny Dairies) as I hope they have more humane processes. Some farms have a despicable approach to dealing with male calves.

    I hope all of the publicity can improve the issue.

    I also wonder about some of the other key items that Coles / Woolies compete on eg $1 loaf of bread and $8 roast chook. Are grain and chicken producers being nailed to the wall over these promotions?

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