Clandeboye Estate near Bangor in Co. Down is one of the largest privately-owned estates in Ireland and is home of Lady Dufferin, The Marchioness of Dufferin and Ava. The estate is well-known in agricultural circles for its award-winning herd of Holstein and Jersey cows which provide the milk that goes into making Clandeboye Estate’s delicious range of yoghurts and smoothies.
The Clandeboye herd currently consists of 65 Holstein and 25 Jersey cows. About 55 per cent of the milk produced is processed into yoghurt onsite, while the remainder is supplied to Dale Farm. Cows have been milked at the estate since the 1950s, and whilst there was some early interest in breeding, it wasn’t until 1992 that the Clandeboye prefix came back into use.
A whole herd grade up was undertaken and since then Clandeboye’s aim has been to breed high-yielding, long-lasting cows which wouldn’t look out of place in the show ring.
Several females from well-established families were purchased. These included Rosinas from Templedale, Willows from Wedgwood and Stars from Bondhaven in Canada. The Ruths originate from the local Ards, while the graded up Marie and Oonagh families are developing well.
In 2001, a new state-of-the-art milking parlour was built with the aim of creating a high-quality environment for both the cows and the people working with them. These renovations reduced the cow spaces available in the existing building from 130 to 100 and the herd was reduced proportionately. With more wheat and whole crop grown on the estate these days, the amount of feed bought in has been dramatically reduced.
The awards have been coming thick and fast for the Clandeboye herd since 2007 when the Holstein herd was awarded Master Breeder status and also won best overall herd in the Holstein Northern Ireland Herd Competition. In the same year, Clandeboye also won the Holstein UK’s Premier Herd Competition. The Jerseys herd has taken second place in the Ulster Jersey Cattle Club Competition in 2007, 2008 and 2009.
Pride of the herd has undoubtedly been Clandeboye Champion Willow EX94-3 SP LP60 who, in 2007, was Supreme Champion at the Irish National Holstein Show, Exhibitor Bred Champion at Royal Ulster and Interbreed Dairy Champion at Ballymena. In 2008, she repeated her success at the Irish National, took Breed and Inter Breed honours at the Royal Ulster and also won the All-Britain Reserve Junior Second Calf Cow award. She won the All-Britain Third Calf Cow title in 2008 and was also crowned the Reserve Champion and Exhibitor Bred Champion at the Causeway Classic Centenary Celebration Show.
Another Calbrett Champion daughter, Clandeboye Champion Francesca, won the Exhibitor Bred and Intermediate Champion titles at the Irish National in 2011 and Supreme Champion in 2012. Other award winners for the estate have been Clandeboye Rocket Mabel EX91, Clandeboye Jazz Evita EX94 and Clandeboye CR Evita EX92 taking Interbreed Champion at the 2012 Royal Ulster Winter Fair.
Having looked at commercial and environmental ventures that could make the 2,000-acre Clandeboye Estate work financially and become sustainable for years to come, Lady Dufferin – a successful artist who works under her maiden name Lindy Guinness – launched Clandeboye Estate Yoghurt in 2007. This has proven to be a huge success. The brand is stocked in major multiples as well as in numerous independent stores. The introduction of a range of flavoured yoghurts and smoothies has put this small specialist yoghurt company firmly on the map.
“I wanted to create a business that was sustainable in the long-term and combined all the elements of Clandeboye that are important, not only the cows and their milk, but also our determination to develop a company with sound eco-values and a commitment to local produce,” Lady Dufferin said.
Clandeboye enlisted the support of the product development team at Loughry College and Invest NI to come up with a range of flavours that have proved a huge hit with consumers throughout Northern Ireland.
Earlier this year, Clandeboye struck a deal to supply its blueberry, mango, strawberry and toffee flavour smoothies to 12 Tesco stores across the North. The listing is set to increase Clandeboye’s annual business with Tesco by up to 30 per cent. Clandeboye’s Bryan Boggs explains: “Our partnership with Tesco since 2008 has allowed the business to grow year-on-year with sales to Tesco in 2014-15 showing a 30 per cent increase on the previous year.
“This gives us the confidence to keep developing and investing.”
He added: “Having established ourselves firstly with Greek-style and natural yoghurts, then a range of flavoured yoghurts, we looked at how we could grow the portfolio of products while still only using our own milk and sticking to what we do best, which is making yoghurt.
“We knew there were people not happy with the texture and high sugar content of standard fruit smoothies, and of a growing interest in dairy-based smoothies, so the obvious move was to develop our own range of yoghurt smoothies.
“They are still based on our whole milk natural yoghurt blended with fruits or toffee to make a luxurious drinking yoghurt. These are ideal drinks, or snacks on the go, and have proved really popular at breakfast and lunchtime.”
Last year, five Clandeboye yoghurt varieties were awarded stars in the Great Taste awards. They were: Mango Yoghurt Smoothie; Blueberry Yoghurt Smoothie; Madagascan Vanilla Greek Style Yoghurt; Blueberry Yoghurt; Greek Style Yoghurt.
In addition, Morellis Cherry Frozen Yoghurt, made from Clandeboye Yoghurt, was awarded two stars.
Clandeboye products are also sold south of the border in Costa Coffee and Café Sol outlets.
Of the 2,000-plus acres on the Clandeboye Estate, 650 are farmed. There is a further 800 acres of woodland and a 400-acre golf course. The farm employs three staff and is managed by Mark Logan. In addition to its Holstein and Jersey herds, Clandeboye has a small herd of Irish Moilies, Ulster’s only rare breed cattle, which graze the wildflower meadows in front of Clandeboye House.
Recently, Clandeboye has started selling free range eggs, unpasteurised milk, raw milk, yoghurts, smoothies and other produce from the grounds of the estate. A new 250kw anaerobic digestion plant, which will use cattle dung, maize and silage to produce electricity, is currently under construction.
“Our aim is to make the estate self-sufficient and more environmentally friendly,” Mark Logan says.
Boasting a chapel and banqueting hall, Clandeboye Estate is also well-known as a wedding venue. It is also home to the Ireland Offroad Experience office and driving course, which is tucked away deep in the woodlands.
Clandeboye Estate
Bangor,
Co. Down, BT19 1RN
Telephone: +44 28 9185 2966
Fax: +44 28 9185 2790
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.clandeboye.co.uk
Taken from Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 3 No 8, September 2015
