This was published 13 years ago
Year of the goat
Tricia Welsh discovers one family's passion for milk and cheese among the pastures of Main Ridge Dairy.
Herd mentality ... milking time.Credit: Tricia Welsh
Damien and Bess Noxon have hundreds of ''girls'' on their farm at Main Ridge on the Mornington Peninsula - and know them all by name. The fact the goats have name tags with numbers around their necks helps but they say they do know them by their coat, demeanour and personalities.
The Noxons run Main Ridge Dairy, a 400-goat, 52.6-hectare farm of lush pastures and natural bush among the region's numerous vineyards. The environmentally conscious duo, who met while studying natural resource management, breed and milk the goats and make goat's cheese all on the same property - resulting in zero carbon miles in its production.
Stacy, Whitie, Georgia and Kris are among the 190 ''girls'' we meet on a milking tour of the dairy. As we walk through the paddock to pat them, Bess tells us about the relatively new family-run business.
''When we started out 10 years ago, we had a small herd of just 30,'' she says.
For the first 8½ years, the Noxons sold their milk to other cheese factories before they decided to make their own. Damien did a cheesemaking course and today is busy making an expanding range of nine cheeses.
They still supply milk to nearby Red Hill Dairy for cheese - ''They make different goat's cheeses to us,'' Bess says - and occasionally to Blue Bay Cheese in Mornington.
''It has taken us 10 years to get the animals and pastures to a healthy position,'' Damien says.
''They graze on the best dairy pastures with a mix of annuals and perennials such as clover, ryes and herbs. We've added a couple of herbs to sweeten the pastures. You can taste it in the milk.''
The goats are also fed hay and silage cut from the farm's own luxuriant pastures.
Since milk production and cheesemaking are the mainstays of their business, it's important to have fresh milk all year round. Hence the Roxons run a split herd of British Alpine, Toggenburg and Saamen breeds with each group kidding in alternate years to guarantee a good supply of fresh milk every day.
Four alpacas run with the herd - ''As guard dogs,'' Bess says.
''We were losing on average 30 per cent of the herd to foxes, up to 50 per cent one year, until we invested in these natural guard animals. We haven't lost any since.''
It's time for milking and the goats almost gallop to the dairy.
The milking shed is an eight-a-side herringbone style designed to be gentle on the milk.
''Goat milk is much more fragile in composition than cow's milk and is best handled very gently,'' Bess says.
We watch the milking process, which takes only minutes, each one filing in to take up its regular spot in the bails. The milk is pumped into a cooling vat to chill and then into a mobile vat that is delivered straight to the cheesery.
In the cheesery, we sample cheeses while watching Damien through an observation window as he ladles soft curds into drainage hoops to produce sweet yet savoury Cashmere.
But it's the mild, moist, semi-hard Caprinella that is the biggest hit with the Noxon family. Named after their daughter Ella, 9, who insists she prefers it to chocolate and ice-cream, the cheese won a gold medal at the Melbourne Specialist Cheese Show last year.
Main Ridge Dairy has also won gold medals for its chevre in 2009 - ''A month before we opened the cheesery,'' Bess says - and again last year.
Main Ridge Dairy, 295 Main Creek Road, Main Ridge, 5989 6622. Melways 171 K8. Open Wednesday-Monday 11am-5pm in January for complimentary tastings, platters (from $10) and sales. Open weekends and public holidays throughout the year. Bookings are essential for milking tours ($7 for adults, $4 for children) on Saturdays. Cheesemaking workshops are also available. The cheesery is closed in July. See mainridgedairy.com.au.
Trail to more farm gates
- At Beechworth Honey in Beechworth, you can learn about the history of honey and the importance of bees.
Watch a video of an experienced beekeeper as he robs hives and try to find the queen bee in a live display in the honey centre.
Beechworth Honey, corner Ford and Church streets, Beechworth, 5728 1432. Open 9am-5.30pm daily (free). See beechworthhoney.com.au.
- Bring a picnic or barbecue to Tranquil Hills Orchards in Cobram. This peaceful place has guided tours of the orchard, which specialises in Valencia and navel oranges, limes, blood oranges and more unusual citrus fruits such as pomelos and the curious-looking Buddha's hands. Along the way, you are bound to meet citrus-loving Harry and Precious - the pet pigs of owners Bev and Noel Fisher. Harry and Precious will sit and wait patiently for an orange treat.
Tranquil Hills Orchards, 70 Wyatt Road, Cobram, 0429 179 639. Twilight tours are on a Thursday and Saturday at 5.30pm ($5 a car). Groups and buses by appointment. See tranquilhills.com.au.
- Meet and pat calves in the shed and watch up to 400 Friesian cows being milked each day between 12.30pm and 2.30pm at Boosey Creek Cheese dairy near Yarrawonga. You can then taste and buy some of cheesemaker Ken Cameron's terrific farmhouse cheese.
Boosey Creek Cheese, 734 Grinter Road, Boosey, 5748 4374. Open Friday-Sunday 10am-4pm and daily during school holidays. See booseycreekcheese.com.au.
- Bring your camera to photograph Heidi, Pip, Bronte and Charlotte, some of the 98 docile alpacas at Nickelby at Darnum, near Warragul in Gippsland.
Visitors can interact with the animals then sip coffee and buy alpaca clothing from the store.
Nickelby at Darnum, 308 Darnum Shady Creek Road, Darnum, 5627 8121. Open Wednesday-Sunday and public holidays 10am-5pm. See nickelbyatdarnum.com.au.
- Children can visit a worm farm, see cattle and sheep and meet other animals, including the resident pet pig and Clydesdale horses, on a working organic farm attached to Peaceful Gardens Organic Cooking School as part of a holistic farm-to-plate experience that culminates with cooking classes.
Visits are available by arrangement and for groups of children only.
Peaceful Gardens Organic Cooking School, 1 Koala Drive, Koonwarra, Gippsland, 5664 2211. Cooking classes for children are held every Wednesday and most Saturdays.
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