Located in the heart of Co. Down, Glastry Farm Ice Cream is truly homemade. Will Taylor and his family have been producing a decadent range of ice creams since 2007.
The Taylor family have been farming dairy cows and producing milk on Glastry Farm since 1856. In 2007, as part of a farm diversification project, Glastry Farm Ice Cream was born.
Over the past five years the farm has seen the old milking parlour convert into a modern creamery. The rich fields of the Ards Peninsula provide Glastry Farm with the perfect living ground for their pedigree herd, the mild marine micro climate delivers a plentiful supply of green grass.
The family pride themselves in producing the top 1% of quality milk in Northern Ireland and you don’t have to be an expert to know that best milk equals best ice cream.
In 2010 due to a high demand, Glastry Farm Ice Cream introduced its first range of sorbets and this has expanded over the years. Today the company produces 13 luxury ice cream flavours and 5 sorbet flavours.
“The idea had been fermenting for quite a number of years but the light bulb moment came when I travelled on a farming scholarship in 2004,” revealed Will Taylor who is the fifth generation of the family to farm in the small town land of Kircubbin on the Ards peninsula.
“We were looking at opportunities for the UK agricultural industry in the new Europe and I was personally surprised with the really sophisticated value added farm enterprises that were being operated by farmers in the new accession countries.That followed into market research, product development in 2006 and the launch of Glastry Farm Ice Cream in January of the following year.”
Very much a family affair, Will’s son Gareth has taken over the management of the farm’s dairy herd to enable him and his wife Cynthia channel all their efforts into their burgeoning ice cream enterprise.
What makes Glastry Farm Ice Cream different? Well it’s the cows of course. Only the most premium milk produced from the Taylors pedigree herd is used to produce this luxury range of Ice Cream, you won’t find any artificial additives, artificial stabilisers and artificial ingredients throughout the Glastry Farm range.
Taylor and his family aim to supply both retailers and consumers with a quality of Ice Cream above all others. The range is batched produced in the family’s converted milking parlour, batch production means the company can cater for the individual, creating one off exclusive flavours for your special menu.
“The business has grown quite significantly in that 10 year period and our footprint stretches from Bundoran to Bandon and Galway to Bangor. We’ve grown very substantially.
“Our unique selling point is that milk produced this morning by our dairy herd can be pasteurised this afternoon and, after aging over night, our ice cream can potentially be on the shop shelf in the morning.
“It’s quite unique in that we have complete control over the product, from the grass in the fields to the end product on the shelf. In this day and age of food chains, traceability and sustainability, we tick all those boxes.”
Will added: “The Ards Peninsula in North Down is renowned for it’s micro climate which is broadly similar in terms of rainfall and hours of sunshine to Wexford in the south.
“It’s free draining land and clovers grow very successfully. Our pastures are clover rich which means they are rich in protein, nutrients and minerals and allows us to claim that the milk produced here is uniquely different from many other situations.
“This means , number one, we see a better yield from the volume of milk put into our plant and, two, a much higher quality raw material. Needless to say, both of these things are absolutely essential.”
Trade and food experts share Will’s high opinion of his products and Glastry Farm Ice Cream is no stranger to award success. The company’s curriculum vitae includes 17 ‘Great Taste’ awards plus two Blas na hEireann awards, to name but a few. On a personal level, Will has been honoured with the UK Grassland Farmer of the Year and Northern Ireland Dairy Farmer of the Year accolades in the past.
“We received a Blas na hEirean gold award for our blackcurrant sorbet and a bronze for our pear sorbet. The process involves a selection of hoteliers, restauranteurs, food writers and customers independently blind tasting the products and giving their decision based on quality and appeal. We’ve been fortunate to win many prestigious awards.”
Speaking from experience, Will concluded with a few words of advice for fellow dairy farmers, both young and old, and the sector in general.
“The main difference with Glastry Farm, as distinct from many other dairy farms, is that we’ve done our market research and we continue to do market research projects looking at what we can sell.
“There will always be a market for high quality milk and high quality dairy products but the big trick is to sell at a profit and in a fashion that delivers a sustainable return on primary produce. I suspect very few of the 15,000 odd dairy farmers in Ireland at the moment have conducted any market research.
“What was done yesterday can be out of place tomorrow, what worked brilliantly in the past might not in the future and we, as food producers, have to be flexible.
“We have to look at ways of making the business more sustainable and always ensure succession. I’m very fortunate in that I have a clear line of succession that has taken place on the farm. The real trick is to provide income for two families in that overlap which can be for a short period or can last for up to 20 years or more.
“If farmers can’t provide for two families in that period quite often the higher qualified person leaves to go somewhere else. That’s the saddest part of farming in Ireland at the moment, so many talented young people are finding out there is very little in terms of opportunities and a future to make a decent living. That’s the benchmark moving forward.”
Glastry Farm
43 Manse Road
Kirkubbin
Newtownards
BT22 1DR
Tel: +44(0) 2842 738 671
Mob: +44(0) 7802 207 838
Website: www.glastryfarm.com
Taken from Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 4 No 6, July/August 2016
