As you are well aware, there is a massive drought happening, extending from just north of Melbourne and encompassing most regions north. The impact at our farm in Congupna is not extreme just yet, but still sufficiently severe to cause some headaches, and one has caught us by surprise.
Last Friday, we ran out of the custom grain-based ration fed to our tiny herd – an innocent case of just mis-judging the amount of grain in the silo for re-ordering. The problem was it happened on Friday evening and so no grain until the following Wednesday. Usually such a mishap bears few consequences, however, this time was different due to a number of factors, including:
- The number of days
- The composition of the pasture
- The effect of the drought on soil nutrients
One of the consequences of long dry spells is that it causes massive changes to the composition of the soil. This is no problem when the pastures are complemented with the grain, but when the grain stops, the balance is lost, and the cows eat heaps more pasture. Nitrogen rich pastures pose all sorts of challenges to the cows metabolism and many of these changes are reflected in the milk. Most notably the smell and taste of the cream change with the various volatile nitrogen rich compounds associated with the fat content of the milk. It goes like this:
- Run out of grain leads to more pature intake
- More pasture intake with less grain equals unbalanced diet
- Unbalanced diet means big changes in milk yield (less) and fat (more)
- Taste and smell factors are concentrated in the milk, particularly the fat
- Smell and taste are stronger – and can become offensive to some sensitive individuals
Importantly, the milk is not ”OFF” – it is really “grassy”. As you can imagine, the cream is impacted even more – roughly about 10-fold the impact on milk.
What does all this mean – you may have opened a bottle of milk or cream this week and thought it was off… We apologise wholeheartedly. We test all our milk before we process it and can guarantee you there was nothing “wrong” with the milk.
However, if you have purchased a milk or cream and found it unpleasant, please return it to the store for a full refund. If you have thrown it out, don’t worry, please contact me directly and I will organize a replacement for you.
We thank you for supporting our small dairy.