Farm milking consistent accolades

THE largest sheep and goat dairy farm in Australia has cause to celebrate.

Meredith Dairy won big at the Sydney Royal Cheese and Dairy Produce Show 2022, with four of their items announced for accolades last month.

Co-owner Julie Cameron said the awards, for her, reaffirm the farm’s direction.

“What is fantastic about it is that we’re producing a consistent product despite being a rapidly growing business,” she said.

“It’s really a tick in our box. The reason why we enter these things is so that we get the benchmarking from people who know what food should taste like.

“It’s a check-in on our quality, and not something we just put aside. The whole company celebrates with us.”

Meredith Dairy received gold medals for their Mediterranean style sheep milk yoghurt, their dill goats cheese and chevre goats cheese, which was also included in the Australian cheese board perpetual trophy.

The accolades, alongside the farm’s gongs at the Brisbane Royal Show and the Dairy Industry Association of Australia’s Awards of Excellence in May have netted the farm a place in the 2022 Grand Dairy Awards.

The farm has won at the Grand Dairy four times, and will also be eligible for the Sydney Royal’s president’s medal, which the farm won in 2019.

With over 5000 sheep and over 10,000 goats including Saanen and British alpines, sales manager Rugby Wilson said the awards highlight the farm’s ethos of sustainable consistency.

“There’s been a real drive here in the last few years to actually consolidate what we’re doing,” he said.

“We’ve actually shrunk our stable of products so we can invest in producing them efficiently and consistently which is what these shows really judge us on.

“They’re telling us we’re not on the wrong track.”