Right place, right time, right people

Ten years ago, third-generation dairy farmer Glen Herud found himself concerned with the way milk was being produced. 

“I felt there were things the farmers could change,” he says. 

Recognising a growing customer hesitation toward dairy, Herud set up North Canterbury-based Happy Cow Milk Co, an ethical dairy company that allowed calves to stay with their mothers, encouraged regenerative farming practices, and eliminated plastic bottles. 

Unfortunately, that business failed. 

“We bit off more than we could chew doing the farming, as well as the processing and distribution. It was a little bit too much with the resources I had, but the real problem was that we couldn’t find farmers who wanted to farm the Happy Cow way” he says. 

After some years of regrouping, Herud and Happy Cow have shifted location, and focus, relaunching as a hardware and software company. 

Now based in Waerenga in rural North Waikato, the company sells the Happy Cow technology, platform and brand to other farmers to help them set up a more ethical, regenerative dairy operation. 

Herud’s wife, Angelica, joined the business two years ago. With a Master’s degree in Business Administration, Angelica deals with the behind the scenes operations. 

Happy Cow has a vision to help family farmers in New Zealand and around the world sell their milk directly to their local communities, she says.

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Here’s how the Herud’s make it work from the regions. 

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How did you come to be living and working from Waerenga? 

Glen Herud: [Waerenga-based farmer] Chris Falconer is our first partner and has been in touch for a couple of years now. He was always interested in farming in a more sustainable way and selling their milk direct to consumer. So that’s why we’ve come here. We had to go wherever we could find the farmers who wanted to change. 

Also, Auckland is a bigger market, so we thought it’d be a good place to get in there.

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What did you learn from the first iteration of Happy Cow Milk?

GH: We’ve learnt to be more efficient – we weren’t in the first iteration. Distribution was expensive; milk processing was labour-intensive. I’ve spent the last five years redesigning our equipment to make everything work seamlessly. The big finding was that we can’t rely on other parties in the supply chain. So, we created our own direct to consumer supply chain. 

Angelica Herud: It’s fun to run against these big organisations but they are often not set up for something different. For instance, when we came to Auckland, we approached some supermarkets, and they were not set up for selling milk in reusable glass bottles, even though the customer was asking for change. 

[Happy Cow] 2.0 is a redesign of the whole supply chain. To accomplish the mission, you can’t leave any part out. You have to build your own way. Our “milk factory in a box” allows farmers to process their own milk on the farm. 

Then, our online platform enables to sell direct to consumer; and to know who those consumers are and what they want. 

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How has the infrastructure in your location impacted your startup?

GH: When I started, I was in Rangiora. I didn’t know anyone. The dairy industry didn’t like me because of our message. Startups don’t think of us as a startup because we’re a milk company. 

The biggest growth was when I moved into Saltworks, the coworking space in Christchurch, in 2018/2019. We met so many people there who became core parts of the business – software developers, engineers, graphic designers, and so on. 

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Who has helped you grow? 

AH: Our crowd of supporters and our team. They’ve been the people who have been there to share the struggles, who want to change the way cows are treated, who love the mission and the product. I've never seen this level of support from the crowd in any other businesses I've worked for. Our fans have played a crucial role in helping Glen get us to where we are now.

GH: It is definitely our crowd of supporters who have enabled us to grow and have enabled me to do what I love.

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How have you funded Happy Cow? 

GH: We’ve raised $1.2 million equity crowdfunding on PledgeMe. Over the years, we’ve done three rounds, all of which have gone to R&D. 

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Do you have to travel often? 

GH: We have to travel to Auckland on every delivery day and we fly back home often. 

AH: We have the kids in Christchurch. Leaving our family and friends is a big emotional cost but you have to make hard decisions to pursue a dream. 

GH: We were only meant to be up here for a few months. Hopefully, we can get back down to Christchurch soon, but we’re not quite ready to leave yet. 

AH: The plan is to find a second farmer in Canterbury who wants to farm the Happy Cow way and sell their milk directly to their local community.

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What advice do you have for other founders starting up in a regional or rural location?

GH: The downside to being in the regions is that you aren’t around the startup ecosystem. Now, we’re an hour from Auckland. It’s not so difficult to drive there. Engage with the startup ecosystem in the cities as much as you can.

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