Jamie Mackay: The Country host on Waikato-based Spring Sheep gaining brand registration for infant milk formula in China

A Waikato-based sheep milk company has managed to gain brand registration for its infant milk formula in China.

Spring Sheep will be able to directly import and distribute infant formula to China - and increase export volumes long-term.

The Country's Jamie Mackay explains the significance of this deal.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Jamie mckaye, Host of the Countries with me right now.

Speaker 2 (00:02):
Hey, Jamie, get I hear that. But with pronouns like
they and them, Darlene will never walk along?

Speaker 1 (00:07):
Did get the joke the first time round?

Speaker 2 (00:10):
Well, I think the whole thing's a joke, to be
perfectly honest. I think anyone with the pronoun of they
or them is a bit of a joke. But I'm
old school, so I'm the wrong person to ask.

Speaker 1 (00:19):
Yeah, yes, that's a generational thing. I think there. Hey, listen,
I'm so the real rural food charity.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
Hang on that stage.

Speaker 3 (00:25):
Just I was trying to give you a slipper, like
an easy way to get out of the whole you
were digging yourself, Jamie, would you like me to help
you to dig it further?

Speaker 1 (00:33):
We can carry on.

Speaker 2 (00:33):
I don't know. I'm quite happy with the depths. I
got to thank you fair enough.

Speaker 3 (00:38):
Just a good grave depth. They listen, meet the need.
This is the rural food charity they want. They want
a mass of one million dollars, one million meals.

Speaker 2 (00:47):
What is this for, Well, it's for food banks around
the country. This is a wonderful organization that was originally
set up by Wayne Langford. I know, I know who's
a regular on your show, President of Federated Farmers and
a wonderful woman by the name of Shivorn O'Malley. On
the West coast. It's grown into a New Zealand farmer
lead charity donating livestock, milk and cash and they're basically

(01:10):
turning all that into mints and milk for families. You know,
the stats are awful for food deprivation in this country, Heather,
we were once the land of milk and honey. We're
one on five families run out of food sometimes or often.
Demand on food banks this year has increased by forty percent.
These guys have delivered over two million meals to New
Zealanders in need since twenty twenty. And they've got this

(01:33):
lofty aim. I don't know whether they'll get there, but
it's certainly a lofty goal. One million meals they want
to raise this week. That's two hundred and fifty thousand
letters of milk they need to help do this. That's
five hundred farmers donating five hundred liters each. So if
you have some spare cash or you want to help
out of family and need, because this is giving them

(01:54):
protein go to meet the need dot Org. Yeah, it's
very good.

Speaker 1 (01:58):
Jamie. Hey, listen, you ever heard of spring Sheep before?

Speaker 2 (02:02):
Yes, I have. In fact, the marketing guy there is
the young well, it's all relative heather. He's a young
bloke by the name of Thomas McDonald who was a
winner of the Zander MacDonald or way back in about
twenty nineteen. I think they're quite a dynamic company. They're
milking sheep mainly in the White Hatto. I think they've
got some farms down on Talpo as well, and they've

(02:23):
had a big breakthrough in China. They've basically managed to
gain brand registration, which is very difficult to do for
their infant formula. Chief executive Nick Hammond said the deal
was highly significant and exciting. I'll put some numbers around
this for your spring Sheep at this stage only has
fifteen suppliers milking just over fifteen thousand US We can

(02:46):
expect twenty five thousand lambs to be born over the
next month. They'll be kept on mum and raised while
a mum is being milked. So that's a better story,
for instance, than perhaps the dairy industry. They have a
lower environmental footprint in the dairy industry. Prior to receiving
this registration in China, they could only sell their infant

(03:07):
formula through online channels. Now they've got and through their
English brand. Now they can sell under a Chinese label
and tell the good news story of New Zealand grass
fed sheep milk.

Speaker 1 (03:17):
Yeah, that's very very cool. Hey, Jamie, thank you very much.
Look after yourself, Jamie mackay, who is the host of
the Country.

Speaker 2 (03:23):
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