Canada’s biggest dairy co-operative had announced in September last year it would close the former Fromagerie Damafro plant at Saint-Damase, Que. in April this year, but delayed those plans pending talks with the Producteurs de lait de chevre du Quebec.

The company, in a release Monday, said it has “concluded the talks begun a year ago” with the goat producer group. Agropur said a “good-faith effort was made to find a solution but none can be implemented.”

Agropur said Monday it will accept goats’ milk at the plant until the end of December as agreed with the PLCQ, but now plans to shut the plant permanently in March 2020.

Details of talks with the PLCQ weren’t mentioned in Monday’s release. Agropur said a “confidentiality agreement signed by both parties prevents them from publicly disclosing the options that were discussed.”

However, PLCQ president Christian Dube was quoted Wednesday by La Terre de chez nous, the ag news arm of Quebec’s Union des producteurs agricoles (UPA), as saying the producer group didn’t know much about what alternatives the company was considering.

Dube, for one, told La Terre he has now begun to cancel expansion plans at his farm, not far from the St-Damase plant, and that PLCQ members would now see if they could arrange contracts to supply goat dairy processors elsewhere.

Agropur bought Fromagerie Damafro in 2013 for an undisclosed sum from the Bonnet family of cheesemakers, who came to Quebec from the Brie region of France. Damafro had been billed as a leading processor of goats’ milk in both Quebec and Canada since 2005.

In 2018, however, Agropur said “major investments” would be needed to keep the St-Damase plant open. It also cited “inability to reach a long-term agreement with the plant’s employees” as well as “the need to honour commitments to customers.”

Mario Maisonneuve, president of the plant’s TUAC (Travailleurs et Travailleuses unis de l’alimentation et du commerce) Local 1991-P, said in 2018 there was “no doubt” Agropur favoured closing the St-Damase plant before bargaining had even begun. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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A newly-formed co-op that includes some former ODGC members from eastern Ontario, meanwhile, recently secured approvals to act as a goat’s milk broker in the province.

Why it matters: Ontario’s goat dairy sector saw considerable upheaval in mid-to-late 2017, as markets for goat’s milk — which had seen unprecedented growth — quickly fizzled. The drop in milk price resulted in the stockpiling of goat skim milk powder and rearranged the way goat milk is sold in the province.

The new joint venture, called Goat Partners International (GPI), is based in Chicago. The company’s website lists ODGC goat farmers as exclusive suppliers for the newly-created “Green Goat” brand of powdered products.

The website describes GPI as “a partnership between two like-minded organizations” that “want(s) to become the undisputed leader in goat milk products, with a presence in every corner of the world.” Products offered are geared towards industrial and/or food processing applications, and include 50-pound or 25-kg bags of whole milk powder, skimmed milk powder, and whey protein concentrate.

Ontario is the leading goat-milk-producing jurisdiction in North America.

“People involved have known each other for several years,” said Jan van Marwijk Kooy, who told Farmtario he joined the company as CEO on Dec. 1, 2017. “Unica Global was looking for a significant and reliable source of quality goat milk. In 2017, they reached out to ODGC and were informed that ODGC has excess goat milk available that needed to be processed and marketed.”

The Chicago home base was chosen partly because that’s where van Marwijk Kooy resides, but also, he said, to take advantage of “an excellent, high-quality workforce that we plan to tap into when the company starts to grow.”

On April 1, GPI began segmenting milk from one ODGC producer who has attained “non-GMO” certification.

“We see good opportunities to market goat milk based products with the non-GMO certification,” van Marwijk Kooy said.

He added the company will seek partnerships with co-packers so it can introduce smaller package sizes aimed at single consumers.

“We have started selling our whole goat milk powder in small quantities in the U.S. and will be exporting significant quantities to several regions such as the Far East, Oceania and likely South America,” van Marwijk Kooy said. “GPI will also start offering consumer packages such as cans for… consumers in the U.S. and abroad.”

ODGC chair Gerard Van Bodegraven of Burgessville told Farmtario the co-op — which formed in 2002 with the goal of “market(ing) its members’ milk, meeting the co-op’s high quality standards, for the best achievable price” — saw several members depart over the past few months, and is no longer at the 140 level cited on the website. Van Bodegraven couldn’t provide an exact number of ODGC members; van Marwijk Kooy stated the number “fluctuates,” but is currently “over 100.”

A four-member board of directors — two from Unica Global; two from ODGC — governs the joint venture.

The ODGC chair referred all questions about GPI to van Marwijk Kooy. He stressed, however, that ODGC continues to hold its own inventory of goat’s milk powder, separate from the Green Goat products.

ODGC is listed on the website of the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, along with Gay Lea Foods, as one of two brokers of goat’s milk in Ontario. A representative from Feihe International told Farmtario the Chinese company aims to make a deal with a broker or brokers to supply goat’s milk to the Kingston plant.

A third player has apparently also entered the picture in recent weeks. Goat dairy producer Jeff Leroux confirmed to Farmtario that Goat Milk Canada not only recently received its approval from the Ministry of Finance to operate as a co-operative in Ontario, but it also recently attained status as a goat’s milk broker in the province.

Leroux is a member of the fledgling co-op’s board of directors.

“It’s probably going to be longer and slower than some of us might want it to be,” he said of the process of getting into business marketing milk. He added, though, that Goat Milk Canada is open to discussing the entry of new members from beyond what is now a regional base in eastern Ontario.

Saputo is the other major buyer of goat milk in the province with its Woolwich Dairy.

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“Don’t look at average production,” advised Davison on March 21 in Woodstock, as she addressed producers attending the annual general meeting of Ontario Goat (OG). Look instead, she said, “at the poorer performing goats and examine what’s limiting them.”

Why it matters: Many of Ontario’s goat milk producers experienced a collapse in pricing last year, and the Dairy Nutrition Advisor for Shur Gain/Trouw Nutrition was asked to speak at the OG AGM about reducing feed costs as a means toward stabilizing operations affected by those price declines.

“The statement I hear pretty often is that I want more milk for less money,” Davison said.

• Read more: Goat group continues to look for savings

Her presentation fit nicely with a subsequent talk given by Dwight Garret, milking system technician with Dortmans Bros. Enhanced monitoring equipment in the dairy industry, “is giving you the opportunity to manage your goats individually,” Garret offered. This can help with culling decisions, and with early detection of sick animals.

“It’s interesting talking with the producers in the room that have been using the software, and they’re seeing improvements in profitability, just based on the decisions,” said Garret.

Instances cited included having a goat that they assumed was giving lots of milk but monitoring revealed that’s not the case, or another goat that doesn’t look as nice visually, but is producing way more milk at the same stage of lactation.

It’s to those lesser-producing goats, however, that Davison would like to see a focus shift. “If there’s a reason for goats to perform poorly, they will find it,” she said. And for that group of the herd, she offered the following management tips for improving Return Over Feed (ROF) results:

1. “Check your water. The easiest way to increase your dry matter intake is to improve your water intake. So clean your water bowls!” If you go into the barn and there’s a goat guarding a water bowl and other goats standing back, you should look at installing more water sources. Also check water quality.

2. Provide excess straw. The first couple of days, they’ll eat lots because it’s new. But if they keep eating lots, they’re probably lacking effective fibre in their diet.

3. Environment. Optimize air quality, and moderate temperature swings in the barn.

4. Herd demographics. You want about one-third of your milking herd to be doelings. After three kids, lactation potential tends to decrease. One exception is if you’re keeping around an exceptional doe for its offspring. As a strategy, though, try breeding the bottom third of your herd to meat breeds.

5. Culling to improve ROF. If every goat you’re culling falls under the “involuntary cull” categories like illness or injury, though, it makes it difficult to implement other culling strategies.

6. Milk components. “Chasing components isn’t always the most effective,” Davison said, because you can end up causing swings in production at the same time, thereby affecting profitability negatively on the other side of the equation.

7. Transition does (60 days pre-kidding to 30 days post-kidding). “It’s critical that an animal’s mobility isn’t compromised during the transition period.” Davison recommends trimming hooves a month before breeding, then re-evaluating 90 days pre-kidding. Also make yourself knowledgeable about strategies for avoiding Pregnancy Toxemia. Elements to this strategy should include good nutrition, exercise (Davison has seen benefits to having transition does make the daily pen-to-parlour walk, even if they’re not milking), water, bunk space, and early intervention. “Don’t be afraid to drench a goat as soon as you suspect something.”)

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Montreal-based Saputo announced Monday it has paid $80 million for the family-owned cheesemaking company, including its three plants and distribution centre.

Based at Orangeville, north of Guelph, Woolwich has operated since 1983 and has been owned by the Dutra family since 1989. The company makes Chevrai, goat brie, cheddar, feta and mozzarella cheeses and branched out in 2011 to include the Wholesome Goat line of goat’s-milk ice creams and goat cheese-based salad dressings.

Woolwich, on its website Monday, said its customers can “expect the same quality product as Woolwich Dairy operations will remain active.”

The company sources goat’s milk from over 200 goat farmers in Ontario, supplying its 40,000-square foot plant at Orangeville. Woolwich in 2011 also set up a 25,000-square foot distribution facility at Amaranth, just west of Orangeville.

Woolwich’s Fromagerie Madame Chevre plant, built in 2005 at Princeville, Que., southeast of Trois-Rivieres, is focused on high-end surface-ripened specialty cheeses.

Woolwich since 2008 has also operated a plant at Lancaster, Wisconsin, about 130 km west of Madison, buying from U.S. producers and focused on the U.S. market.

Saputo, whose own brands include the Alexis de Portneuf line of goat cheeses, said buying Woolwich, which employs about 190 people, allows it to “increase its presence in the specialty cheese category in North America.” — AGCanada.com Network

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