During our holiday in the Gold Coast, we had a chance to visit Melany Diary in Melany, Queensland. We drove down from Nambour, where we were staying in an Airbnb. It was 31 km and it took us a half an hour to drive through the beautiful Queensland countryside. We joined a Group tour lead by a proud local lad, Che, who was really good at his work. Although being from India, I vaguely knew how dairies operate but this was a unique experience and I really learned a lot.
Melany Dairy farmsChildren with calves.
Maleny Dairies is a premium milk company of Sunshine Coast owned by the Hooper family since 1948. Currently, it is the third generation of Hoopers, Ross and Sally Hopper, who are running the show. The Dairy has seen many ups and downs including a really bad time in 2000. The industry was deregulated at that time so thousands of Australian farmers were forced to close their farms. Hoopers, on the other hand, decided to fight back by building their our own processing and bottling plant and like they say rest is history.
In 1948, when Great Grandfather Hooper purchased the land it was for a Cream only farm. However, now Melany Dairy buys milk from other local farmers on the Sunshine Coast Hinterland. This benefits both parties with local farmers getting a better price than before. The present Melany Diary commenced operations in 2002 and has always received a very positive response from its customers.
A kid feeding the Calf.A Guernsey CowMilk vansCows are milked hereMilk storage containerCows being feed
They have Guernsey cows(bred on the Channel Island of Guernsey), which are known to produce the highest percentage of A2 protein in their milk and a high level of butterfat. It has a creamy golden appearance and taste. One of their cows 'Belladonna' was a World champion, breaking the records in milk, butterfat and protein production, when she produced an amazing 70.5 litres of milk in one day. An average cow gives only about 15 litres in a day.
Apart from milk, they also sell flavoured milk Yoghurts, Custard and Cream. I really loved their Apricot Yoghurt.
I would definitely recommend this tour for families with young children as they would love the experience.