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Rural Industries Research & Development Corporation |
Thirty Australian Champions
Shaping
the future for rural Australia
edited by Keith Hyde
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RIRDC's major publication documenting the experience of thirty outstanding Australians who, through their business enterprise, vision and perseverance, are making a significant contribution to the welfare and economic growth of rural and regional Australia. Each chapter is presentedf as a separate html file which you can view, download and print.
Kervella Goat Cheeses
Gabrielle Kervella learned her cheese-making skills the hard way in France in the early 1980s. She began by working for free with a prominent goat-cheese manufacturer. At that stage, she had recently moved to Australia from South America and become interested in pursuing an old dream to build a farm-based small business.
Getting Started
"Although the Department of Agriculture told me it wasn't possible to sustain a small farm, I had observed people living on small acreages in Europe and saw that it could be done," he says. "The French were incredibly generous with sharing their secrets with me, but I worked hard in return. When I left France, the owner of the farm told me that when I got back to Australia I would need to learn everything all over again. I thought he was out of his mind."
But he wasn't (out of his mind), and Gabrielle returned to find that the advice was provident. The conditions were vastly different, the majority of Australians didn't eat goat cheese, and goats had not been imported for decades. "I couldn't find the type of goat I wanted, and it was too expensive to import them," he says." The problems just went on and on and no-one could help me. The phone bills back to France were very expensive, but they couldn't help me either because they couldn't see what the conditions were. Even now, it's a continual learning process."
Gabrielle Kervella in her on-farm goat cheese production rooms.
However, Gabrielle did find some help from a lecturer at the University of Western Australia who knew about goat farming, and provided some advice about setting up the enterprise. The business began in 1984, at her property in the Darling Range to the east of Perth with 15 goats on two 30-hectare blocks." My husband was bringing in money, and I couldn't have started without that income," Gabrielle says, "but I had very little farm training and I didn't know much about people skills."
What Gabrielle did have was a passion for cheese and a strong determination to succeed. Before 1984, she had been involved in two failed businesses, both of which taught her a lot about business practices.“ The beauty about failing is that you learn not to do certain things in future businesses," he says, "and that includes undercharging and buying animals at $2,000 which might be worth $15 a few months later."
Finding a Market
During this initial period, Gabrielle took on every aspect of the business, from milking the goats to selling the product. One of her first customers was a French patisserie in Perth;a small business of which many of the local French community were patrons. Gabrielle attempted to sell the product through health food stores, but she was not successful. "I thought they would be interested," he says, "because I was making this healthy product that could be consumed by people who were lactose intolerant. But the cheese was too expensive and the short shelf life was a big disadvantage to them."
Champion Qualities
- Industry compatible with desired lifestyle
- Location close to transport hub
- Value adding through secondary processing and packaging
- Attention to specialty market development
- International knowledge and skills transfer
During a governmental
fresh food promotion in Perth, Gabrielle met a journalist who was very
impressed with her goat cheese. The journalist took some cheese back to
Sydney and met up with Barry McDonald, a former chef who was starting an
Australian cheese specialty distributorship." arry rang me and asked me
to send him more cheese," Gabrielle says, "but I was reticent because I
wasn't interested in selling into Sydney at that stage. My small business
was just a backyard project at that stage, and cheese doesn't usually travel
very well." But Barry didn't give up and I finally sent him a cardboard
box full of product. By the time the box reached Sydney, the whey had been
leaking and when Barry picked up the box, the bottom fell out to leave
all the cheese at his feet!Since then we've learnt a lot about packaging
for air freight and Barry's specialty cheese distributorship is now my
biggest market."
From modest beginnings, Gabrielle's cheese has become a resounding success. In three of the past five years, the Sydney Morning Herald has voted her product the best cheese overall in Australia, and within the Australian goat cheese industry, it is considered to be without equal. "Now it has got a phenomenal reputation," he says. "The Americans often think that my Kervella goat cheese is the generic name for Australian goat cheese."
Gabrielle has adopted bio-dynamic farm practices, and she expects that the farm will soon be certified. Even in the early days of the operation, she farmed using a bare minimum of artificial chemicals. Until she learnt how to supplement the goats' feed with minerals, the only chemicals she used were for drenching. Artificial sprays were never used on the land itself. "We've been due for a certification for a long time," he says, "but I have had trouble getting enough bio-dynamic food for the goats. People really appreciate bio-dynamic certification and awards. I've also been working with a woman called Pat Colby, who's been wonderful in helping me focus on bio-dynamics and the lack of minerals in Australian soils."
Below: Gabrielle Kervella's
goats are a cross between the milking Swiss Saanen
and the Middle Eastern, Anglo Nubian.
Life on the Farm
Since those early days, the herd has grown to approximately 200 goats, with about 110 being milked at the present. The herd consists of some six Swiss breeds and a variety of Middle Eastern breeds. "I'd like to focus the herd more on a hybrid between the Saanen — which is a high producing and longer lactating Swiss goat — and the Anglo-- Nubian, which is a Middle Eastern goat with high milk solids, "Gabrielle says. "The cross would give me an animal with a hybrid vigour that can cope with the summer heat. And summer is our peak production period. I can't have the herd sitting in the shed sulking because it's too hot outside."
Sourcing the stock was not a problem, with most of the herd bought at reasonable prices, usually from eastern States. "It was easy to track down the goats I needed," he says."It was a commercial industry, they were cheap, and I could buy any buck that I wanted."
Gabrielle is currently sponsoring a South African cheese-maker and his wife, who work on the farm. "They have really helped me turn this place around," he says, "especially with the finances. She also sponsors Japanese students, mostly from Tokyo, who work for short periods on organic farms in Australia. Gabrielle also tutors French students in cheese- making. "In order to set up a goat cheese business in France, new cheese-makers need to have a minimum of six months training with a viable business," he says,"and they are only allowed to register when their work experience is completed. And with all the mistakes and changes I've had to make, I think it's a very good idea for them to come out here, even though a lot of these kids have grown up around a goat cheese business. I always try to teach them the marketing side of farming, so they are exposed to everything. I think most industries should have a farm apprenticeship scheme."
The farm day at Kervella begins with milking at 6. 30 am. The cheese is then made by around 9. 30 am after which work stops for breakfast. The rest of the day is filled with stock-work and the general duties around the farm.
Cheese Production
The daily output of the Kervella farm during peak production is usually between 35 to 40 kilograms of cheese. The annual production is almost one tonne. "I believe that the product lends itself to a soft coat cheese," says Gabrielle, "which is uncooked curd. We really only have one type of curd. When it's set it, looks like rennet — it's still very delicate and it's ladled into moulds by hand. Then it settles by its own weight without any pressure on it. The curd is then turned into a variety of different specialty cheeses.
Left: A selection of Kervella goat cheeses
“Sometimes we drain
it less than usual and mix it with salt so it looks like a cottage cheese.
Then there are lots of fresh cheeses for which we drain the curd for an
extra 12 hours. Those cheeses are the kinds used for salads. There are
others which we cover with edible ash; which extends the life of the cheese."
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Left: Gabrielle milks about 110 of her 200 goats supported on her small farm block in the Darling Range, east of Perth. |
Gabrielle is also maturing some cheeses. Penicillin is put in the curd and it forms a skin which resembles camembert. "To preserve a cheese you need to put a rind on it," Kervella says,"and I don't believe in waxes or anything unnatural, so we have to find some other kind of natural rind.
The cheeses are sent out in a couple of shipments each week to major cities around Australia.
Demand for the product has grown since the early eighties, perhaps due to the heightened awareness of the benefits of goat cheese and the amount of press it has received, as well as a dramatic shift in Australia cuisine. Goat cheese does, however, remain an expensive product.
The Bio-dynamic Approach
There are probably two reasons why the cheese remains relatively high priced. The primary reason is that it is recognised as a gourmet product. The second relies on the fact that the bio-dynamic regime of the farm lends itself to a higher product price.
All the hay and mineral additives are put through a mixer, and the stock is hand-fed;and if a farmer hand-feeds, it follows that he or she needs a product which will cover the expenses. "But the biggest challenge wasn't the labour, it was the transition from drenching to not using any chemical whatsoever, "explains Gabrielle."The goats were building up resistance to the drenching, and the use of chemicals became horrendous. Initially, I also lacked knowledge about how minerals should be used and I ended up losing a lot of goats. That's not a problem of bio-dynamic or organic farming, it was more or less my fault, I had to learn how to make the transition.
“I've since had a lot of help from bio-dynamic farmers, particularly Pat Colby, who does regular soil analyses for me. Now my goats do not need drenching, they're much healthier, and we're getting less and less weeds as we're getting the soil balanced. The feed is more nutritious. It just goes on and on. Sometimes the problems that we [farmers ] bomb with chemicals are really just deficiencies."
The primary minerals used for the feed include dolomite, copper sulfate, sulfur and seaweed meal. The minerals used on the soil also contain a high percentage of dolomite, lime and a copper supplement. "What happens is that the minerals are bound so tightly in most Australian soils," Gabrielle says, "and often when you release some minerals, it can allow the others to also become available."
Cleanliness at the farm is of paramount concern, and in recent years they have been used as a demonstration by the Department of Health as an example of a hygienic farm.
The Future
Many of Gabrielle's customers have become good friends, and she has seen the awareness and prosperity of the goat cheese industry grow over the last 15 years. A high proportion of the goat cheeses are sold to specialty restaurants, as the growth of specialty cheese shops continuing slowly. “The people working in this industry work so hard," she say. "I really love and admire them for what they do. We're lucky to have people who are so passionate about Australian food."
Gabrielle Kervella has no plans for expansion. She is happy with the size of the herd, and she believes that the next step up would involve maintaining a herd of around 2,000 goats. "There is no middle size," he says, "a family can really only operate a small goat farm successfully."
Bio-dynamically produced
hay is purchased to supplement
Gabrielle Kervella's bio-dynamic farm operations.
Gabrielle considers wearing all the business hats as her greatest challenge. "Every now and then there was one aspect I wasn't paying enough attention to," says Gabrielle, "or I wasn't interested in. Or the financial side kept slipping because I was too tired. I was lucky in the beginning because I had income and I started very small. I wasn't employing anyone. Every aspect has to come together. There's no letting up with a dairy."
In hindsight, the advice she would liked to have had involves keeping better financial records. "Starting a business is all 'head down and bum up'— you hardly have time to explore and learn," he says," and if you're dedicated you end up having to sacrifice things like friendships. The only good friends I have are the ones who would say, 'We're coming for dinner and we'll bring our own food and wine, and when you've finished your chores, dinner will be ready for you.' That's a bit sad, especially when you're getting older. But I'm beyond that now and I have more free time."
In the future, Gabrielle will be working with a South African consultant who is deregulating the industry. With the shift towards organic farming and healthier eating habits, she would like to see the introduction of unpasturised cheeses. "Unpasturised cheeses have been made in Europe for centuries without any problems," she says. "It would have to be regulated, but that could be arranged. And with Australia getting a 'clean green' reputation in places like Japan, it might be a good idea. Japan is importing a huge amount of specialty cheeses from France, and they're very focused on organic products. If we made unpasturised cheese, it might be a way of reaching the top level of the market."
Gabrielle is also giving
a series of lectures on the industry, involving topics like deregulation
and establishing new business ventures. "Hopefully some of the people I
speak to won't fall into the same traps I did," she says."The most important
thing of all is to keep your own happiness and your own health, because
if you end up with an ambulance on your front lawn, and you're not sure
you'll come out of it alive, then what's the use of the whole thing."
