Direct selling since 2008, Castlemine Farm is a wholly-independent, family-run enterprise producing and selling supreme quality meat. We travelled to Roscommon and touched base with Derek Allen to find out more about this exceptional operation.
The lush grassland that is Castlemine Farm boasts a rich heritage in the heart of Roscommon. The Allen family have farmed the land here for the best part of two centuries, dating back to the 1820s. From the original Walter ‘Wally’ Allen, the farm was passed down through the generations to Sean Allen, who took over during the 1950s. Today, the completely reinvented business is overseen by Sean’s sons, Derek and Brendan.
The firmly-held belief at Castlemine Farm has always been that grass-fed animals taste better, giving rise to the highest-quality, world-class beef, pork and lamb.
The recession proved to be a real watershed in the history of the business. Eschewing the traditional path of rearing and selling meat to factories (and from there on to supermarkets), the Allen brothers decided in 2008 to shorten the supply chain and open their own farm shop, thereby taking control of their entire distribution and retail operations. They derive tremendous pride and satisfaction from knowing that every animal raised on the farm is butchered by their team of skilled butchers and sold with full traceability and high quality guaranteed.
The award-winning Castlemine Farm produces hand-reared, pasture-fed, dry-aged beef, lamb and free-range pork. Livestock breeds such as Black Angus and Hereford beef, a variety of lamb breeds including Llyenn X Texel and Charolais and free-range pig breeds have been carefully selected for the quality of their meat.
Animal welfare and ethical values are at the heart of Castlemine’s principles. Animals are allowed to grow and mature slowly, at nature’s pace, raised in a healthy and respectful environment that enables them to experience a good quality of life.
As well as being a one-stop shop for their own beef, pork, lamb and turkeys, Castlemine Farm Shop also prepares an excellent range of cooked meats and associated products (such as pies, sausage rolls etc.) as well as offering a wide selection of Irish artisan products (handmade pasta sauces, seasonal chutneys, speciality chilli sauces, organic porridge oats, traditional condiments etc.), which are sourced locally and nationally.
Reflecting on how he and his brother came to take over – and transform – the business, Derek Allen notes: “I’ve been working on the farm since I left school at the age of 14. I’m a qualified carpenter and was working on the buildings and then farming part-time, while Brendan is a marine scientist. When work dried up for both of us during the recession, we decided to turn our full attention to the farm and to go down the road of direct selling.
“We bought a refrigerated van and started doing farmers markets in Moycullen, Galway, with a local abattoir / butcher killing and packing the meat for us. We also started doing turkeys at Christmas. When we got into Galway city market, that was a big thing. We opened a small farm shop and built a processing unit. After a-year-and-a-half at that, we moved into small premises in Roscommon town the year of the hard frost. About four years ago, we moved again to larger premises, beside Roscommon Mart.”
The Allens farm 250 acres in total, including 40 acres of tillage – winter barley, spring barley and spring oats, which is used to feed their own animals, leading to a fully-sustainable, self-sufficient system, which currently comprises 200 head of beef, 300 breeding ewes, an average of 100 pigs at any given time plus some 400 turkeys per year, which are reared between August and Christmas.
“Everything goes through Castlemine Farm Shop, which is open to the public,” says Derek. “To enhance the service, we built a kitchen at the back, where our chef does a full range of cooked foods including beef pies, prepared dinners, sausage rolls etc. We also cure and process all our own meats – sausages, hams, black and white puddings etc.
“All our animals are grass-fed, which is complemented by our own meal. We finish the Hereford and Angus beef early, which leads to high-quality meat. They are hung on the bone and dry-aged the old-fashioned way, so you get better flavour and the meat is tenderised naturally.”
The quality of the end product is beyond question, but how difficult is it to operate the business as a viable commercial operation, i.e. to make money? “There are a lot of overheads and a great deal of work involved, but when we went down this road at the beginning we wanted to focus on quality first and foremost so that our customers would come to us if they wanted quality meat.
“The emphasis has been very much on quality and that has led to steady growth since we started. It has been a success so far and you are always looking at ways to become more cost-efficient – without compromising on quality – while also keeping on top of promotional tools such as marketing, social media, public relations etc.”
A healthy regular clientele has been built up in the Roscommon / Galway region, while a substantial amount of meat is also sold online, through castleminefarm.ie, with next-day delivery in a temperature-controlled refrigerated unit to anywhere in Ireland.”
Between the farm and the shop as well as wholesale sales to restaurants (which are overseen by Brendan), there’s plenty of work to keep everybody going. In total, gainful employment is provided to a team of nine – something to be proud of:
“If you go back to the beginning, there were three of us and a farm – now we have a business that’s sustaining seven or eight families. When you look at it that way, it has definitely been a success,” Derek muses.
Everything – bar combine work, which is contracted – is done in-house, with an enthusiastic, hands-on approach to feeding, ploughing, silage etc., always with a mind towards producing high-quality meat. Derek works six days a week plus a half day on Sundays to keep the business moving and that commitment to efficiency and quality will continue unabated for years, nay decades to come.
“We’re buying an automatic feeder, which will make a big difference,” he concludes. “In the beef game, you have to keep things moving and weight gain is obviously very important. We’ve started rearing Hereford and Angus calves to bring to beef and overall we’re very happy with where the business is going.
“Going forward, I’d like to grow the cooked food range and also to one day open a second outlet either in Galway or Dublin.”
Whatever the future holds, Castlemine Farm will always be synonymous with quality beef, lamb, pork and turkeys.
Castlemine Farm,
Circular Road,
Roscommon,
County Roscommon.
Tel: 090 66 29886
Email: [email protected]
Web: castleminefarm.ie
Taken from Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 4 No 3, March 2016
