CHINESE dairy group, Tianjin Bright & MengDe Dairy, has purchased a 365-hectare grazing property in the state’s South West.
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It is the first of several planned investments for the Chinese dairy group in Australia and aims to establish a dairy heifer export facility within 70 kilometres of Portland.
In a statement, Tianjin Bright and MengDe Dairy Group chairperson Madam Yu said the purchase, for an undisclosed amount, would enable the company to directly control the quality of dairy stock exported to China.
“Import supply is currently controlled by two or three specialised trading companies, so this direct investment strategy will help us secure our supply chain,” Ms Yu said.
The news comes as publicly listed dairy farming company Australian Dairy Farms Group has bought a farm near Heywood, also in the state's south-west, which it plans will be the first of several in that district.
The group, which already owns five farms in a hub in the 'Golden Triangle' Brucknall/Glenfyne region east of Warrnambool, wants to establish another hub west of Warrnambool around Heywood.
The new farm and others under negotiation would lift the number of cows milked by the group to 2750, taking total annual milk production to about 18 million litres or 1400 million kilograms of milk solids.
The 400-hectare farm at Heywood was bought for $4,750,000 or $11,875/ha, and included a 600-megalitre transferable irrigation water licence.
Settlement is scheduled for mid-September.
The group said the farm had a strong grass growing base and would run 600 cows.
It has already appointed a local management husband-and-wife team.
The group said the the farm would be the first in a new hub of farms it plans to establish in the Heywood area, with due diligence continuing on additional farms.
The group said while the Golden Triangle region remained the primary focus for additional farms, many properties in the Heywood region offered good value for money.
The irrigation water licence was a considerable asset as only a small portion of the water was utilised on the farm.
These water entitlements were transferrable to other properties within the same aquifer, including to three of the group’s other farms at Brucknell and also to Ignatios Farm at Glenfyne, subject to standard licence transfer regulations.
