Canberra Milk - As fresh as it gets!!!!!!

Interesting argument kanucksfan,

1st for those who don’t follow rugby Clyde rathbone was the electric winger for the Brumbies that was Born in South Africa and actually Captained the South African under 21’s team before becoming an Australian and a Canberran.

2nd, Would it not follow that the use of the name “Capital Region Farmers Markets” is equally wrong? As you have said the milk you buy is from Picton, not the Capital region. In fact I don’t think their are more than 4 or five farmers at the Capital Region Farmers markets that come from the Capital Region. But there are a lot of Stalls selling products that are “manufactured” here in the capital region. Why aren’t you writing a long post on why that is false advertising?

JC I was indeed unaware of the information in your post. Geez, they make it hard for us ethical consumers! I really want farmers (preferably those in the region – don’t mind if that’s Bega) to get my business and not be ripped off. However, it seems that both farmers and consumers have been placed in an invidious position.

Hey Miz, interesting post and agree with the first part. But you know the second, well that is where I have the very issue with Canberra Milk. It would appear as if they have manipulated YOU into believing their product is local enough and worth extra when it is far from it.

You mention cheap Victorian milk, out of interest did you know that before deregulation of the RETAIL side of milk production that Canberra Milk was already buying what you call ‘cheap Victorian Milk’? Also it was the milk producers that started to put the screws on the farmers for a better price long before the retail market was deregulated, though clearly the screws have been applied even harder with the major supermarkets having their own brands too.

I disagree Jess and others, this is actually an important issue – it is a classic example of how ‘consumers’ inform ‘the marketplace’, if you like, that people do not always buy what is supposedly in their best economic interest, ie, the cheapest, as the economic models indicate.

I for one will continue to buy local over the other where I can (even if the local product is more exie) if I believe there is a good reason (such as, its localness, or political reasons, such as objections to the way govts and other organisations such as woollies have treated dairy farmers by implementing policies that result in cheapo products flooding the market (eg cheap Victorian milk). Hence, I put my money where my mouth is and support Canberra Milk and my local milko. It’s the principle of the thing.

Nothing to see here. Move Along.

Funky1 said :

Like when the Canberra Raiders were based in Queanbeyan and played at Seifert Oval.
How did they get away with that?

Oh, you mean back when the Raiders were a real team…

Adza said :

Gee, I’ll have to remember to get cranky whenever I see a business with ACT in their name, but that actually trades in Queanbeyan…

Like when the Canberra Raiders were based in Queanbeyan and played at Seifert Oval.
How did they get away with that?

Or the Canberra Times, which is owner by Rural Press which happens to be Victorian company.

Think he meant Bradley Clyde

It’s a registered brand name.

Get over it.

Having grown up on a dairy farm in Bega, and having lived here in Canberra for over 20 years now, I must agree that this is a pretty boring post. And so is milking cows. But I loved growing up on a farm and will always be a bushie in my heart.
But, Canberra Milk has every right to call its self whatever it wants. It purchases bulk milk from Bega, transports it up here, and packages it. Bega doesn’t care what it is called once it is sold.
I used to be able to buy Bega Milk in Queanbeyan till about 15 yrs ago.
May I point out that Bega does not manufacture Bega Milk anyway, even in Bega the milk is marketed under other names.
Anyway, Bega Cheese rocks!!! My favourite!!

Jugs… that is. I’m suffering from withdrawal symptoms because I ran out of milk earlier this evening.

Hey, when can we have 5 litre milk jogs again – I fcking LOVE the stuff.

troll-sniffer said :

Wow. Gee. Welcome to this week’s major Canberra news story.

I dunno about the finer points of milk marketing but it would seem to me that milk that is bottled or cartoned in a factory in Kingston has every right to call itself Canberra Milk.

If anyone can come up with a sensible reason why the above para is not completely valid, I’d love to hear it but scratch my head and contemplate the stars I cannot for the life of me see how it can fail to earn the title of where it is bottled if that’s what the company wants to call it.

The issue I have is nothing to do with the name as such or where the milk comes from, but how said company goes around marketing themselves as being local, when they are no more local than any other milk product sold in this town. To me putting the milk in the a bottle in the ACT doesn’t make it local. Sure it creates a few jobs, but then again the ‘other’ companies also generate jobs too, so are just as local in my eyes. Except of course they don’t market themselves as such.

The ‘others’ also produce a much better product. Growing up in Canberra I had thought the milk was ok, until I moved to Sydney in the late 90’s and realised how watery Canberra milk was. Luckily since moving back to Canberra the market has opened up and I very rarely buy Canberra milk for that very reason, though when I do it is still clearly more watery.

I also remember when the milk was advertised as local too. But back then it was like 5% from ACT region farms and 95% from northern Victoria.

Wow. Gee. Welcome to this week’s major Canberra news story.

I dunno about the finer points of milk marketing but it would seem to me that milk that is bottled or cartoned in a factory in Kingston has every right to call itself Canberra Milk.

If anyone can come up with a sensible reason why the above para is not completely valid, I’d love to hear it but scratch my head and contemplate the stars I cannot for the life of me see how it can fail to earn the title of where it is bottled if that’s what the company wants to call it.

Gee, I’ll have to remember to get cranky whenever I see a business with ACT in their name, but that actually trades in Queanbeyan…

Hmm, considering that Bega Cheese is promoted as proudly coming from Bega, why not rename it Bega Milk if thats where most of the milk comes from, im sure they could tie it in with the Bega cheese advertising campaigns and give themselves 2 reasons to be proud of being a large dairy region in NSW. I don’t really care much myself what they call it, but stands to reason if it comes from Bega not Canberra these days why not be proud of that as well and call it Bega Milk?

The mention of dairy flats in this post has made me wonder what possessed the govt to think it is OK to change street names? I am thinking of ‘Dairy Flat Road’, now inexplicably changed to the boring and less historic ‘Dairy Road’. WHY? When so many streets have double barrel names?

krats said :

georgesgenitals said :

If they supply the cheapo Woolies homebrand stuff from the bottom shelf of the fridge, then I reckon they’re doing a great job.

Seriously, there are bigger issues than this in the world.

And your idea of bigger issues would be what??
How come the cheese burger rolls at Maccas have got smaller?(Hey come to think of it they have!)

For example, when I was in Maccas in a south east Asian country last week (which for obvious reasons will remain anonymous), they only include two pancakes in a serve rather than three.

krats said :

bd84 said :

How do you think that milk is not manufactured? Newsflash: The milk we drink doesn’t come direct from the cow’s udder into our glasses, it is processed to make it drinkable.

NO YOU WRONG,”MANUFACTURED” means add water,and lots of it to make it drinkable.while at the same time,very profitable.

You can make your own milk at home.(1)purchase 1Ltr Mount Franklin water.
(2)add white food dye
(3)drink your 1Ltr “MILK”

I was talking about real milk, not skim milk..

The milk hasn’t come from Canberra for years, and even when the farm at Dairy flat was open it only provided a small percentage anyway. Indeed about 10 years ago the ‘contract’ for supply was some Victorian company.

Though I do beleive you are right about the name. They make a big deal about it being local etc, when it fact it is far from local. So yes a tad misleading.

slow news week in Canberra

georgesgenitals said :

If they supply the cheapo Woolies homebrand stuff from the bottom shelf of the fridge, then I reckon they’re doing a great job.

Seriously, there are bigger issues than this in the world.

And your idea of bigger issues would be what??
How come the cheese burger rolls at Maccas have got smaller?(Hey come to think of it they have!)

If they supply the cheapo Woolies homebrand stuff from the bottom shelf of the fridge, then I reckon they’re doing a great job.

Seriously, there are bigger issues than this in the world.

bd84 said :

How do you think that milk is not manufactured? Newsflash: The milk we drink doesn’t come direct from the cow’s udder into our glasses, it is processed to make it drinkable.

NO YOU WRONG,”MANUFACTURED” means add water,and lots of it to make it drinkable.while at the same time,very profitable.

You can make your own milk at home.(1)purchase 1Ltr Mount Franklin water.
(2)add white food dye
(3)drink your 1Ltr “MILK”

Wow…the troubles of the world eh?

I don’t care whether it comes from Canberra or not. The fact that it’s nearly a dollar more expensive then any other milk makes me refuse to buy it. I always believed that “local” products were supposed to be cheaper, this explains a lot.

I really want milk that has not been pulled apart and put back together again, without having to have my own cow or goat (see here

http://www.choice.com.au/Reviews-and-Tests/Food-and-Health/Food-and-drink/Groceries/Milk-products-compared/Page/Diluting-our-milk.aspx

If Canberra Milk brought out a ‘farm gate’ (pasteurised only) product, I would be happy to pay for that. It disturbs me greatly that there is so much interference to what is essentially an excellent product in its natural state.

That said, I do only ever buy Canberra Milk via the local Milko, as all good Canberrans should! (It’s good to keep the money local – and I HOPE they are paying the farmers properly).

Actually it annoys me too – why not call it Bega milk and be done with it.

Something is seriously wrong with our world when it makes more sense for a ‘farmer’ to grow astroturf (during a drought even) than to run dairy cows – surely milk should be more essential to a city than rolls of turf.

I have to drink lactose free milk so it doesn’t make any difference to me.

bd84 said :

Geezus talk about a rant.

Did you really think Canberra Milk was made from *all* the cows that live here in Canberra? Read the company history, it’s always been affiliated with Bega with the milk processed here in Canberra, their corporate offices are here, hence “Canberra Milk”.

How do you think that milk is not manufactured? Newsflash: The milk we drink doesn’t come direct from the cow’s udder into our glasses, it is processed to make it drinkable.

CCFA is as Canberran as possible, it tastes good, it supports local causes and yes it’s here for the money. Are your friends in Picton dairy farmers for the fun of it or for making money from selling milk to people? You know the answer to that.

bd84 said :

Geezus talk about a rant.

Did you really think Canberra Milk was made from *all* the cows that live here in Canberra? Read the company history, it’s always been affiliated with Bega with the milk processed here in Canberra, their corporate offices are here, hence “Canberra Milk”.

How do you think that milk is not manufactured? Newsflash: The milk we drink doesn’t come direct from the cow’s udder into our glasses, it is processed to make it drinkable.

CCFA is as Canberran as possible, it tastes good, it supports local causes and yes it’s here for the money. Are your friends in Picton dairy farmers for the fun of it or for making money from selling milk to people? You know the answer to that.

That is the best post I have read on here for a long time!

I don’t care mate. Hi Lo is still the best-tasting milk you can buy.

And, as you note, they seem to put some money back into the community. So, what’s the harm?

Tell it to the ACCC

Who cares. Milk is milk is milk. Never had a problem with the freshness of Canberra milk. Can’t believe you’re about to pop a nut over this non-issue.

Interesting abstraction.

Who’s Clyde Rathbone anyway? *sigh*

I don’t mind. It employs Canberrans, and I like it better than Dairy Farmers milk.

You aren’t involved in the Dairy Farmers milk brand are you? 😉

Geezus talk about a rant.

Did you really think Canberra Milk was made from *all* the cows that live here in Canberra? Read the company history, it’s always been affiliated with Bega with the milk processed here in Canberra, their corporate offices are here, hence “Canberra Milk”.

How do you think that milk is not manufactured? Newsflash: The milk we drink doesn’t come direct from the cow’s udder into our glasses, it is processed to make it drinkable.

CCFA is as Canberran as possible, it tastes good, it supports local causes and yes it’s here for the money. Are your friends in Picton dairy farmers for the fun of it or for making money from selling milk to people? You know the answer to that.

since when is advertising accurate anyway? especially in the dairy industry

next thing, they’ll tell you that you *need* 3 (or whatever) servings of dairy per day to be healthy

or that pasteurisation is still entirely necessary, and must be performed

*yawn*