Why it’s buffalo time at Giffard West.

STILL basking in some of the reflected glory of the World Championship win by Berrys Creek Gourmet Cheese, a few weeks ago, is Gippsland buffalo farmer Bryan Jans of Giffard West.

The milk from his buffalo cows is the essential ingredient in Berrys Creek’s sumptuously creamy ‘Riverine Blue’ cheese, awarded the ‘Best Australian Cheese’ outright at the International Cheese and Dairy Awards in Staffordshire, England last month.

It was also part of an array of cheeses entered for the prestigious event which helped Berrys Creek’s master cheesemaker Barry Charlton, and his team, claim the award for the best specialist or artisan cheesemaker in the world.

“I remember when we started out here, taking our first refrigerated containers of buffalo milk down to Barry’s processing plant at Poowong about 10 years ago and the next year they won an Australian Bronze medal for that cheese,” said Bryan this week.

“Now it’s right up there on the international stage as one of the best cheeses in the world. It’s pretty exciting.”

And why not when the milk comes from a herd of big, beautiful and smart (yes smart!) buffalo cows by the name of Electra, Esmeralda, Pebbles, Stellar and Feebi among others. You’d expect nothing less.

“They are smart. I’d put them between a dog and a horse for intelligence. There really is such a thing as ‘Buffalo Time’. Everything has to be done at their pace and to their liking to get best result, to get any results really,” said Bryan at his family’s Giffard West property this week.

“See big Phoenix over there (the 900kg buffalo bull), he’s got his head down and he’s just checking you out at the moment. When he lifts his head up and goes on eating, you know he’s not worried.”

And with that, the cows that Phoenix has been looking after all move as one and come across to the fence to see us after getting Phoenix’s nod of approval.

Since first establishing a milking herd of Riverine buffaloes from the Northern Territory, but with pure Italian bloodlines, with a group of 36 cows and a bull some years ago, the operation has steadily built up to about 200 head now, in all stages of growth from calves to mature cows.

“We’ve probably got the number we want now so it’s a matter of refining it.”

Bryan says buffalo cows, which are milked once-a-day, are capable of producing 5000 litres annually, across a 300-day lactation, but most of those in his herd are still working their way up to that.

“We milk them all year round, so we can supply Barry throughout the year. We send some across to Nicholson River Soups as well but Berrys Creek Cheese takes most of it.”

It’s no mean feat producing milk at Giffard West, between Yarram and Sale, with the surrounding country often drying off for extended periods over the summer.

But the past few years have been easier, with plenty of pasture to supplement the hay and what they feed in the bale at the morning milking.

In welcoming the announcement of their international awards recently Barry Charlton and his partner Cheryl paid tribute, not only to their cheesemakers and “cheese family” staff at Fish Creek but also to their key suppliers, John, Tina and Bryan at Sunrise Plains Buffaloes and Graham and Jill Nichols, their milk suppliers of Fish Creek.

“They’re just so fantastic to work with and they’re as passionate about making a high quality product as we are,” said Barry this week.

According to Bryan Jans, Barry often calls down to Giffard to pick up the milk himself. It’s a part of the process that both men enjoy.

And what’s not to like? It’s a chance to see these massively, powerful animals, contentedly grazing in their family groups; cows, calves and with Phoenix the big-horned bull watching over.

There’s little doubt that the unique paddock-to=plate approach adopted by Berrys Creek Gourmet Cheese, and its suppliers, is one of their secrets to world acclaim on the international cheese stage.

As well as running the family buffalo farm at Giffard West, Bryan is also the President of the Victorian Branch of the Buffalo Industry Council and a member of the board of the ABIC.