The 100pc merger offer was welcomed by the majority of voters at a meeting on Wednesday.

"For the merger to be approved, we needed 75pc in favour, but we got 99.3pc in the end – so you can't get much better than that," Tatura deputy chairman Rick Cross said.

The Northern Victorian processor's 330 shareholders will now receive two Bega shares for every share they own.

This has resulted in the issue of about 24 million new Bega shares, bringing the total number of shares to about 150 million with a market cap of $250 million.

An application has been made to the Supreme Court of Victoria for approval of the merger, with the move to be finalised tomorrow (December 23).

Mr Cross, who is set to join the Bega board with fellow director Jeff Odgers, said Tatura dairy farmers would benefit from the merger.

"The big thing is that we will have the support of a company with a strong balance sheet, with a turnover of close to $1 billion," he said.

Tatura Milk, which was established in 1907, will retain its name.

"The Tatura name is well-known on international markets as a quality brand and it's important to maintain that," he said.

The company exports more than 60pc of its product and should now reap rewards from Bega's domestic sales too.

Mr Cross, who is a third generation dairy farmer at Toolamba, said he was proud to see the Tatura name carried on. "We would have been struggling to exist as a company if this merger had never happened," he said.

"Now the company has been completely turned around."

He said most dairy farmers saw last week's vote as the conclusion of a deal that began four years ago.

"It was a risk in the beginning, but it's paid dividends now," he said.

Russell and Cath Pell, who milk 650 cows at Wyuna, were just two of Tatura Milk's dairy farmers who voted in favour of the Bega amalgamation.

"Bega has been open and honest throughout the process during the past four years and last week's vote was a great indication most people are happy with where the company is heading," he said.

"We were just too small on the world playing field and we needed a bigger partner."

The couple has been supplying Tatura for 15 years and admits the merger has made them feel more secure about the future of the company.

Bega chairman Barry Irvin said he was delighted the merger had been overwhelmingly endorsed by the Tatura Milk redeemable preference shareholders.