THE Pines dairy owners Kel and Mahlah Grey have had immediate competition success taking a silver medal at the Sydney Royal 2014 Cheese and Dairy Show.
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After only starting their commercial milk and gelato business midway through last year, the award came in the non-homogenised milk section.
"Despite the fact that we are getting amazing feedback from our gelato, we decided to only enter our milk at this stage and were blown away when we found out about our medal," Mrs Grey said.
"In fact there was no gold medal in our section which is judged on a points system, with gold having to earn an 18+, while silver is between 16 and 18.
"The judges commented that the milk overall had a slightly lower fat content than is needed, but we think that is more a reflection of the overall climactic conditions that are prevailing at the moment."
The medal was accompanied by the rights to use a special logo on their milk for the next two years, something that will be important as they try and break into the lucrative Sydney market.
"We are already selling milk locally and some is starting to be distributed in Sydney through Flavour Shoalhaven," Mrs Grey said, "The feedback has been outstanding and we will be receiving new pasteurising equipment this month - that will allow us to increase milk production and be a real game changer.
"Our gelato is also getting rave reviews at local markets and at our distributor in Berry and we are hopeful that, in time, we can expand on that."