More than milk... 

At Gippsland Jersey, we pride ourselves on ensuring farmers are paid a fair price for milk, smashing the stigma of mental health, being kind to ourselves and others as well as delivering a great local Australian-made product. If you think you have what it takes to support us in making the world a better place then we want to work with you.

We are always looking to partner with new farmers to supply Jersey milk. It is part of our mission after all to support farmers. If you would like to become of our Gippsland Jersey Family, simply get in touch below.

Meet our Farmers

Steve Ronalds

Steve Ronalds is the co-founder of Gippsland Jersey and its original supplier, hailing from a farming legacy spanning four generations. Together with his wife, Bec, Steve acquired the family farm from his parents.

Facing Adversity and at a crossroads in November 2015 when a severe motorbike accident left Steve with multiple injuries, including broken ribs, a broken collarbone, a broken shoulder blade, a punctured lung, and short-term memory loss. This incident rendered him unable to milk cows for eight months due to the weakness and pain in his arm and shoulder.

In 2016, at a critical juncture, with a share farmer in place, Steve found himself impacted by the dairy crisis while working off-farm as a milk supply manager for Burra Foods. Faced with a loss of faith in the industry, he recognised the value of his milk and sought to enhance it through value addition.

Dairy manufacturing is in the Ronalds blood, George Ronalds, who established Jindi Cheese back in ?,  Steve became the original milk supplier to the factory.

Gippsland Jersey operates on ethical principles, striving to oversee the entire supply chain from cow to customer. Steve employees staff on his farm to manage the day to day operations while he is also the CEO of Gippsland Jersey.

Luke & Mel Wallace

Luke and family were our second supplier to join the Gippsland Jersey team and are gold medal milkers! They were recognised in the Dairy Australia Milk Quality Awards as being one of the top 100 suppliers in Australia for their milk quality. Many of you will recognise them from the Gippsland Jersey socials, where we regularly go behind the scenes on this very special farm in Poowong North. Luke is very generous with his time and in sharing his extensive knowledge, derived from farming for over 20 years. He is an exceptionally hardworking farmer who has a strong family heritage in dairy farming and ensuring his farm is run efficiently, sustainably and in a responsible way. Jersey cows are ingrained in Luke's blood with stud cows that started multiple generations before him. Alongside producing exceptional milk for Gippsland Jersey, Luke is a qualified judge for Jersey Australia - judging cows from all across Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia. When Luke gets off the farm he enjoys running and you'll often find him at a local Park Run with his family.

Matt Wilson

Our Farmer Matt has recently retired from farming to pursue his career as a chef with his very own food truck!

Kevin & Siahn LeBrocq

Absolutely stoked to announce that following on from our launch into Coles, we’ve been able to secure our 4th Gippsland Jersey supplier farmer! This is exactly why we started our brand, to help local Australian dairy farmers and to give them a fair price for their milk. Kev, Siahn, and their three children live on the family's property with Siahn’s grandparents. Siahn’s Grandfather grew up on the property and with his brother cleared a fair percentage of the land so it could be a viable dairy farm. The farm has been in the family for roughly 82 years and Kev and Siahn would like to see it remain in the family for another 82! The farm is situated at Bravington and is now the only remaining dairy farm on the main road between Warragul and Neerim South.

 

“We have only recently changed the herd to jerseys. We reared 20-odd jersey heifers alongside our other herd, and decided to make the change for a few reasons," Siahn revealed. "Better quality milk, less impact on the paddocks and therefore less environmental damage, more efficient cows for our farm, better temperament and those BIG BROWN EYES! How could you not fall in love with them?!” said Siahn. Kev added, “Dairy farming’s in our blood, we’ve been doing this for so many years as have my mum and dad’s parents before us. To have an opportunity like this with a homegrown Australian brand is such an honour for us. For a small brand, Gippsland Jersey is doing such big things for the Aussie dairy industry and for our region in general… and to think that something like this could help our livelihood continue for our kids and the next generations makes us feel so proud and so grateful.”

 

Welcome to the herd Kev and Siahn, so proud and grateful to have you with us!

 

 

Trevor Stammers

Introducing Trevor Stammers, not only is Trevor our most recent farmer to join Gippsland Jersey supply farms, he is also new to the whole dairy farming world. Making the switch from beef to dairy in building a brand new dairy shed in September 2023.

Trev purchased all of Matt Wilson's Jersey cows, when Matt decided to retire from farming and hand the batten over to Trev. 

Growing up in Neerim East, Trevor began his career as a carpenter in Melbourne and locally. Between working as a chippy, helping a mate with some agriculture contracting and Trev also assisted on the family beef farm, that once was more focused on dairy in the 1980's, a picturesque farm that overlooks the Tarago State Forest.

Trevor began assisting on Matt's farm with the milking to allow time to test managing the herd and for the 120 cows to get use to him, before they moved to their new home. 12 months on from talking about the ideas, milk tankers were turning up to the front gate. 

We love having the new energy of a fresh young farmer in our supply chain and getting to visit such a gorgeous farm is even better! Thanks for being apart of the Gippsland Jersey family Trevor & Sophia!

 

Brenton & Richelle Ziero

Kenny (as we affectionately call him) & Richelle have been on the Gippsland Jersey journey from day one and has rolled with the punches, obliging to lots of crazy and fun antics. You'll often find their daughter Gianna in the Gippsland Jersey milkshake van making delicious milkshakes at markets and events! We’ll never forget the look on his face when we drove to Melbourne to see him up in lights on Billboards…! He is one of the hardest working dairy farmers we know - and that’s saying something! He tirelessly tends to the health and wellbeing of his cows, and has a thirst for producing exceptional jersey milk in Jindivick. We are grateful that everyday he takes such genuine pride in tending to his very friendly herd of jersey cows, which are his pride and joy. We absolutely LOVE that Kenny has a thirst for producing exceptional jersey milk and is our OG Gippsland Jersey farmer, thanks for coming on the ride with us Kenny! Fun Facts;

• Kenny loves Lee Kernaghan
• He doesn’t own a jumper
• He is lactose intolerant - but can drink Jersey milk!

Interested in becoming a Gippsland Jersey supplier?

Our Story

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