One of Victoria's best known goat cheese makers is closing its dairy doors.
Holy Goat is run by Ann-Marie Monda and Carla Meurs, with their signature La Luna cheese found on the menus of some of Australia's finest restaurants.
Ms Monda and Ms Meurs run 100 Saanen and British Alpine goats on 82 hectares of organically farmed land at Sutton Grange, south of Bendigo.
"We are not really retiring, we are just stopping milking our goats and subsequently making cheese," Ms Monda said.
"I have spoken about this idea of impermanence - it's acknowledging, as farmers, you don't go on forever doing something you have done really well.
"We have really run our farming life as a vocation, as most farmers do, for nearly 25 years."
She said it was time for a change, partly because of the illusion that running the dairy would be permanent.
"We see in the farming and cheesemaking world how changeable things can be, with the weather, a thunderstorm or a hot dry north wind blowing, the birth or death of a goat and the changing hierarchy in the herd, or the milking machine breaking down and another pump to fix," she said.
Holy Goat is one of a number of successful Victorian goat cheese producers.
Ms Monda she and her team had had to do a lot more of the work on the farm recently, as Ms Meurs had not been well.
"I think we have made our mark, we have worked with a lot of young people, who have gone into dairying and cheese making," she said.
"We are just going to live with our herd and go off, maybe in another direction."
She said there may be a role for the goats, in a therapeutic setting, or in education.
"We have just had a French vet here with us who said when animals are ruminating, they go into this alpha-mode in their brainwaves and into this quite meditative state," Ms Monday said.
"It may be a way for people to interact with animals, very differently, than just using their fibre and their milk."
There could also be a role for education on how to care for goats, as many people did not have the basic skills in their management.
The pair took to cheese making after working on a dairy goat farm in Western Australia, although Ms Monda said she had dreamt of working with goats since she had them, when she was 16.
"Goats are a good size, they've been domesticated for more than 10,000 years so they connect, engage and display affectionate qualities," she said.
"They are herd animals, and we have become part of their herd."
She said she strongly believed goats contributed to the "economy of life.
"We care for, and protect them, and they produce milk to make exquisite cheeses," she said.
"We have made cheese, every day, on our farm for more than 20 years.
"We milk twice a day, that's the way you make good cheese, it's using the freshest milk, the healthiest animals and being present with your herd."
Ms Monda said as an organic farm, Holy Goat did not use the range of medications available in conventional production.
"You really know your goats well," she said.
Holy Goat had stayed small, which meant control of the market and prices they charged, she said.
"We have had good backing from an incredible range of restaurants, cafes, cheese stores who have supported us by talking about our farm, selling our product, and believing in us," she said.
'So, small farms are the way of the future, but requires a lot of work.
"I think people will come back to this way of farming.
"Advances of technology always talk about improving production and reducing costs and we have to do that on a small farm too - but you can make a decisions on how you make those changes."
Normally growth was about increasing profit, "but what if growth is about better care of animals, better care of people, better care of the land?" she said.
"We have to do things differently.
"Young people came to work for us, because often they wanted to work in a place where there was hope and they felt they were doing something good for the planet and they felt connected with other people."
The goats will be milked through to April and the last cheese will be sold in May.
Andrew Miller
I'm a general reporter with Stock & Land, with a special interest in irrigation issues. I completed my cadetship, with the Age, in 1980. Over my career, I've worked for ABC radio news (Mt Isa, Qld) and at provincial and suburban newspapers.
I'm a general reporter with Stock & Land, with a special interest in irrigation issues. I completed my cadetship, with the Age, in 1980. Over my career, I've worked for ABC radio news (Mt Isa, Qld) and at provincial and suburban newspapers.
