I’ll tell you one thing, they have it way easier than us, that’s for sure,” laughs Sinéad Moran.

“Those women are milked at 10am and they spend the rest of the day eating!”

The “women” in question are the organic Shorthorn and Irish Moiled cows that Sinéad and her partner, Mick (MJ) McGrath, keep at Gleann Buí Farm near Ballyhaunis, Co Mayo, to produce raw (unpasteurised) milk for their micro-dairy, which they hope to officially launch by the end of this summer.

The couple have opted for dual-purpose traditional breeds. \ Michael McLaughlin

It’s a project that has been several years in the making – overcoming a few hurdles along the way – but while it’s brand new, in many ways, the couple simply see it as a return to a more traditional way of farming.

“Myself and MJ hate it when people say, ‘Oh you’ve found a niche market!’ No. We literally produce food,” says Sinéad. “We’re only doing what people have done for generations before us.”

“It’s milking cows and selling milk!” adds MJ wryly.

From Ireland to Oz; and back

Not that this was ever the grand plan, explains Sinéad.

While she grew up on a suckler farm run by her mother and grandmother, she admits that “my only ever role was standing in a gap when they were moving cows” and after school, she couldn’t get away fast enough.

“I just wanted to go and live anywhere that wasn’t a small country town,” says Sinéad, who worked in retail before becoming a hairdresser.

MJ also grew up on a suckler farm and after the death of his father when he was just 16, took on a more active role. After school, however, he began working with a kitchen manufacturing company, before setting up his own business with a friend in 2004.

“But come 2008, things had changed dramatically and work had kind of dried up and I kind of had ventured away from farming at that stage,” he explains.

At full capacity, the couple see themselves milking 16 cows, but also hope to diversify into other products, like butter, as well as offering farm tours. \Michael McLaughlin

Like many Irish, MJ and Sinéad went to Australia, but by 2010, their thoughts had turned towards home. As Sinéad did not go to college after her Leaving Cert, she applied as a mature student “from the kitchen table in Perth” and received an offer to study geography and political science at Trinity.

MJ, meanwhile, returned to construction work in Dublin; but at the back of his mind, was interested in getting involved in agriculture again, except this time, at his late uncle’s 27ac farm, where he often helped as a young lad.

“But we weren’t really in a position to do a whole pile with the farm at that stage, because we had only just returned and were trying to get our feet under us again,” he explains.

A different path

But the wheels were turning; though from two very different perspectives.

During her degree, Sinéad got work experience with An Taisce (“I became a complete nerd on the Common Agricultural Policy!”) which led her to pursuing a master’s in Galway, concentrating on agriculture and climate change, with a view to working in agri policy in an “office job”.

“And MJ bought 14 heifers and stuck them on the land,” she exclaims.

They also rear poultry for meat and eggs, which has been an important source of weekly income while waiting to get the micro-dairy up and running. \ Michael McLaughlin

“Oh, I went big, I tell ya,” laughs MJ, but explains that while he did not have a “definite plan”, he knew that he didn’t want to farm the same way as before.

“Because you had no real control over your final product or what you were going to get for it. You were dictated by markets and by what other people decided what the market was, if you know what I mean?” he explains.

“I felt that there had to be a different way of doing it. Maybe not necessarily organic, but definitely I’d put it this way; if you can’t control what you’re getting out of it, control what you’re putting into it.”

Starting dairying

Just how, was the question?

Initially, the couple sold weanlings and investigated the idea of doing “beef boxes”, but realised that this did not suit their type of farm or the 100% grass fed system they wanted to pursue.

“The milk idea came into play; and it just kept coming back,” says MJ, with a visit to Mimi and Owen Crawford’s micro-dairy in Co Tipperary in 2018 providing the push to follow this pathway.

Finding the right type of cow was key.

Sinead Moran and Mick McGrath believe there is a role for everybody in farming, whether you have two acres or 200. \ Michael McLaughlin

“Being a small farm we had to make every acre of it pay, but for me and MJ, it’s trying to find that balance of making everything pay, but not intensifying the system,” says Sinéad, of why they opted for the “dual purpose” traditional breeds.

“The calf for us has to be a dual purpose, viable calf for us to sell on, so that kind of led us to the Shorthorn and the Moiled, because traditionally, the shorthorn would have been the original dairy cow of Ireland.”

The next step was setting up the infrastructure for a milking parlour and a processing room. With just one existing hayshed on the farm, MJ drew up plans to build on to that, but the couple found it difficult to access finance for the build from the bank.

“One of the biggest issues is they have a template for dairying,” says Sinéad, explaining that as they were trying to do something different, they were seen as “high risk” as they were small by the usual standards and would be selling direct, rather than supplying a co-op.

Fortunately, Microfinance Ireland came on board, as did LEADER with some grant aid towards equipment, but Sinéad and MJ say that the majority of the project has been self-financed, with an estimated €50,000 spent from groundworks to the final build to start milking full time this summer.

According to regulations, producers of raw milk for direct consumption who sell more than 30 litres per week, or who sell any quantity further away than 20km from their farm, are now required to register with the Department of Agriculture.

They have to test regularly to meet food safety and hygiene criteria, while there are also rules regarding labelling; for instance, the label must include the health warning issued by the Food Safety Authority and the Department of Agriculture stating: “This milk has not been heat treated and may contain harmful bacteria. The FSAI strongly advises that, unless it is boiled first, it should not be consumed by children, pregnant women, older people or those who are unwell or have chronic illness.”

Sinéad and MJ, however, believe that the extra regulation is essentially “a good thing” for consumer confidence, and at the time of interview, were awaiting their inspection from the Department of Agriculture to give them the go-ahead to sell over 30 litres/week. At present, they plan to milk six of their 10 dairy cows once a day, with the milk sold in reusable glass bottles, which will retail at €2- €2.20, depending on the delivery run.

Sinead Moran with some of the poultry they keep at Gleann Bui farm. \ Michael McLaughlin

They say they have received a lot of interest from chefs, but also other rural people, which has surprised them, as they thought they would be catering initially to an urban market. And it seems they are as interested in their methods of farming as much as the final product.

“They’re very tuned in now to where their food comes from,” says MJ.

Farming with nature

While Sinéad and MJ are working towards being organically certified by January 2021, they see themselves very much as farming with nature. They are passionate about conserving the species-rich grass, mature trees and biodiversity on the farm, as their cows as 100% pasture grazed.

“We would be deemed ‘marginal land’. It’s marginal because it doesn’t fit an intensive system, but if we manage it and farm it this way, actually it’s not marginal; it’s a beautiful landscape that’s biodiversity-rich and yet can still produce food and both of those things can work in harmony and the trick is to try and find a way that sustains us and keeps us on this land to be able to do that, to be custodians of it,” says Sinéad, who is also a co-founder of Foodture, which promotes like-minded agrarians.

At full capacity, the couple see themselves milking 16 cows, but also hope to diversify into other products, like butter, as well as offering farm tours. They also rear poultry for meat and eggs, which has been an important source of weekly income while waiting to get the micro-dairy up and running.

In the past, this 27ac farm supported a family of 13; but ultimately, their hope is that it will provide a living for them both.

“Talk to us in five years!” laughs Sinéad.

But whatever you do, don’t call Gleann Buí “niche”. After all, it’s just farming.

“As farmers, we’re all trying to feed ourselves and feed others as well and it’s made up of a whole load of people bringing in different things,” says MJ.

“It’s a different set up, but there’s definitely room for everyone and there’s definitely a role for everyone; whether you have two acres or 200ac.

“It’s all food production at the end of the day.”

For further information, visit foodture.ie/job/gleann-bui-farm/ or follow on Instagram and Facebook

Read more

‘The idea was to have a business that could grow as the children grew’

Adventures in small holding: dairy for beginners