Dairy Goat Co-op Takes Over Mornington

Thursday, February 17, 2011

by BETTER FARMING STAFF

The Ontario Dairy Goat Co-operative (ODGC) has acquired Mornington Dairy adding one million litres to their annual milk volume and acquiring retail product lines and shelf space. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Lisa Thompson, manager of the ODGC, said the board approved the acquisition Feb. 16. It will mean the ODGC will add the 11 producers tied to Mornington swelling ODGC producer numbers to 119.  The former Mornington producers will become ODGC members and they will be allowed to ship the same volume of milk to ODGC as they were shipping to Mornington, plus whatever increases ODGC members are allowed.

ODGC takes over the Mornington name and acquires their retail accounts, some of them national.

"The primary focus of Mornington," Thompson said, "has been processing milk, while ODGC's focus has been brokering it. The consolidation makes sense for ODGC as it gives the co-operative ready access to retail markets." Mornington,headquartered in Millbank in Perth County, produced cheese, fluid milk and butter.

Last year, Ontario Dairy Goat Co-operative members moved 14.3 million litres of milk at an average 85 cents per litre. This year, they are going to be allowed an increase in milk volume of 25 per cent which will include development milk used primarily for new retail products. The return on development milk will depend on what new products net for the co-op.

In nine years, the co-op has grown from an initial membership of 13 - all farmers from Grey-Bruce - to 119 farmers, including the 11 new producers from Mornington. The farmers are spread across the province as far north as New Liskeard, as far east as Cornwall and as far west as Wyoming. BF