Butter maker a spreading concern

King Valley Dairy (formerly Myrtleford Butter Factory) has moved into the refurbished building after an extensive $1.3 million expansion and refurbishment of the old factory site.

The dairy was started in late 2010 by Naomi Ingleton and her husband David.

Victims of their own success, with glowing accolades from chefs all over Australia and countless awards, they soon found demand for their butter steadily increasing, and outgrew the former site on the Great Alpine Road.

“Resurrecting this old building has been a huge undertaking, but the new factory will enable the future growth of the King Valley Dairy brand, making us the largest premium, naturally cultured butter producer in Australia,” Naomi said.

“The quality and packaging hasn’t changed and we can now produce enough butter to meet increasing customer demand, which we couldn’t do from our Myrtleford factory.”

Moyhu is just under three hours’ drive from Melbourne, in the KingValley, and less than 15 minutes from the Milawa Gourmet region, a hub for food and wine makers.

Its neighbours include Milawa Cheese, Brown Brothers Winery, as well as olive, honey and mustard producers.

The new dairy has created 10 new full-time jobs, with plans to increase this as production grows. A second stage of its development, incorporating a larger tourism offering and product expansion, will begin once production and distribution channels are re-established.

Wholesale customers will now have access to the entire product range, including the flavoured Fancy Butters, such as black truffle, smoked salt, confit garlic and whipped Valrhona chocolate.

The temporary factory store, providing tastings, sales and viewing area, is open daily from 10am-4pm.

Visitors will be able to explore the gardens and see the chickens. Plans are under way to expand the newly established orchard and vegetable gardens and a range of classes will also be offered, including cheese and butter making, lacto-fermenting vegetables, beekeeping, composting, permaculture gardening and buttermilk soap making.