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New Zealand farmers John Falkner, Simon Berry set to market cheese made with deer milk

By New Zealand correspondent Dominique Schwartz

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NZ pair produce cheese from deer milk

ABC News

A New Zealand farmer and a cheese maker have joined forces to craft what they hope will be the world's first commercially produced cheese using deer milk.

Scientists say deer milk is rich in nutrients and protein, and could also have wide-ranging therapeutic and cosmetic uses.

Milking sheds are dotted across New Zealand's rolling pastures, but there are none quite like Clachanburn Station possibly anywhere in the world.

At Clachanburn, in the Central Otago region of the South Island, it is not cows clattering through the milking runs but deer.

"It's quite exciting," venison producer John Falkner said.

"I don't like doing the same thing every day and every year."

Issues exist with any new, as yet untried venture, Mr Falkner says, such as getting what is an essentially wild animal safely into a milking stall.

"They're just farm deer. They haven't been hand-raised like a dairy cow; they're straight off the hills," he said.

Mr Falkner has designed a special shed with padded stalls and adapted milking cups to fit the deer's slender anatomy.

"There's not a lot of room between the legs of a deer, the way the deer stand," he said.

"They've got a very small udder - more like the mare of a horse than a sheep or a cow."

But the milk is flowing. Mr Falkner aims to get two litres a day from each of the 40 deer taking part in this initial milking season.

Producers seeking a high price and health benefits

Simon Berry's job will be to turn the deer milk into cheese - not as hard as turning water into wine, but difficult nonetheless.

"With the deer's milk, we won't be stirring it very much at all," he said.

"The solids are really high, so that means that we're dealing with three times the amount of solids in this milk than we would be with cows, so we need to treat that curd differently.

We're looking at some options with pharmaceuticals, with health products, with supplements.
Deer milk producer John Falkner

"Looking at the premium cheeses of the world, you're up around $100 a kilo for some of the ones coming out Europe. So, that'd be the top end of the market and the range."

Deer cheese is something the pair hope to market not just for its unique flavour - whatever that may prove to be - but for its health properties.

Otago University research shows that deer milk is rich in minerals and omega-3, and may benefit the brain and immune system.

"We're looking at some options with pharmaceuticals, with health products, with supplements. There's potential opportunities out there that are really exciting," Mr Falkner said.

It is early days, but Mr Falkner says he has already come a long way since last year when he and his brother-in-law first tried their hand at milking deer.

"The first day we milked deer, my brother-in-law, who's a dairy farmer, was involved, and we drank more beer than we got milk," Mr Falkner said.

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