Raw milk vending machine an udder success for Canterbury farmer

Forget the supermarket or the dairy, one Christchurch farmer is selling milk to his customers in a different way.

The raw milk is proving popular with all ages, and customers can get their hands on it with some spare change and the tap of a button.

Mark Williams discovered raw milk dispensing machines last year and had one installed at his Christchurch dairy farm. 

"It was pretty much a business decision at the time to have some say in our own destiny, rather than relying on other people to market our product," he told Newshub. 

Raw milk is straight from the cow, it doesn't undergo the same pasteurisation process as milk on the supermarket shelf.

And for $2.50 a litre it's proving popular with customers with some driving 20 minutes to the farm just to re-stock. 

Customer Nikki King says she likes the idea of it not being processed.

"It tastes good… it's just like what you got when we were kids."

The farm sells around 50 litres of their Aylesbury Creamery milk a day, open for business from 5am until 8pm.

There are extra precautions around raw milk. The machine runs a sterilization cycle after each use and customers have to keep their milk cool and carefully clean their glass bottles.

Mr Williams has 10 cows that produce milk solely for the machine, but with the success of the dispensary he's looking to double the herd.

"It's not often when you're in a business that you have customers that are so happy about getting something off you."

Given its popularity already, it looks like there'll be a lot more happy customers in the future too.

Newshub.