Spring Sheep toddler formula first to market in Malaysia
Gentle Sheep Premium Toddler Formula is the company’s first product in its Early Life Nutrition (ELN) range for infants and young children.
The company launched its first product, whole sheep milk powder, in New Zealand and Taiwan in 2016. This was followed by the introduction of probiotic sheep milk powder and calcium chews in 2017 to Taiwan, Vietnam and Malaysia.
Gentle Sheep Premium Toddler Formula is for children aged 1-3 years. It is produced from grass-fed sheep milk sourced directly from the company’s Central North Island farms in New Zealand.
Spring Sheep’s marketing and innovation director Andrea Wilkins said, “We always knew that grass-fed sheep milk was incredibly nutritious and digestible. But the more we looked into the science and learned about the features and benefits of sheep milk, we could see how well suited it was to the early life nutrition needs of infants and young children.
"Sheep’s milk is a really concentrated source of nutrients. In its natural state, it’s higher in almost every vitamin and mineral than cow’s and goat’s milk. It has around twice the protein of cow’s milk and is full of quality fats, which are essential for growth and development.”
Wilkins said it is an A2-type milk, free from the A1-beta-casein protein found in most cow’s milk, which has been associated with digestive discomfort such as painful cramps and bloating.
"We also experienced strong consumer interest and demand in this space for digestible, highly nutritious, safe and trustworthy products. When selling our family products, like our probiotic milk powder and calcium chews, we were constantly getting requests for an Early Life Nutrition range."
Spring Sheep chief executive Scottie Chapman said the launch is the result of four years’ of work.
"It is an exciting milestone to get this range launched in Malaysia and to be the first company to offer a sheep milk toddler formula in this market. It represents years of developing our farms, getting our genetic programmes up and running, lots of consumer research and testing, and listening to customers in our markets," Chapman said.
"Malaysia was an ideal launch market for this product as the country’s consumers have a good understanding of the benefits of sheep milk and our research showed demand there was strong for quality specialty dairy products.”
Spring Sheep plans to roll out its Gentle Sheep Premium Toddler Formula to Australia and New Zealand and other key export markets in the near future.
Spring Sheep Milk Co. is a partnership between Pāmu (New Zealand Government-owned enterprise) and sales and marketing company SLC, and was established in 2015.
