Spring Sheep’s toddler formula first to market in Malaysia
Spring Sheep Milk Co. has launched a premium sheep milk formula for toddlers in Malaysia – the first of its kind in this market.
Gentle Sheep® Premium Toddler Formula is the company’s first product in its Early Life Nutrition (ELN) range for infants and young children.
Spring Sheep is well-known for delivering nutritional products made with premium New Zealand dairy ingredients. 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. The sheep producing the milk are a specialised and unique elite dairy line, based on imported European genetics, and bred by Spring Sheep specifically for use in nutrition products.
Spring Sheep’s marketing and innovation director Andrea Wilkins says the product takes the very best quality milk and blends it with premium ingredients to deliver a formulation ideal for kids whose diet may need some supplementation.
“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,” she says.
“Sheep’s milk is a really concentrated source of nutrients. In its natural state, its 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.
“It’s also naturally 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.
“We’re dedicated to providing the highest quality nutrition, whilst not compromising on taste. In essence we’ve created products that we would want our own kids to have.”
Spring Sheep chief executive Scottie Chapman says today’s announcement is the culmination of four years’ dedication and hard work by his team.
“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.”
Spring Sheep is a consumer-insights led company. Its extensive research and product testing has demonstrated strong demand for premium Early Life Nutrition products that are naturally more gentle on the stomach and easier to absorb.
“Sheep milk is a wonderful fit for that need – we think of it as nature’s super milk,” adds Chapman.
“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,” he says.
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.
