It’s all change here at the farm this month. Less than four weeks ago, Daisy started school for the first time – a big adjustment for both mummy and daughter – then, as of September 1, Rootfield’s milk started going to pastures new, too.
For as long as I’ve known him, Nick has been threatening to leave the dairy industry.
Like his farming peers across the UK, the reason is always the same: money. Once again, the price being paid to British farmers for their milk has fallen to a level that makes dairying unsustainable.
For Nick, the latest round of price cuts would have seen him being paid 23p a litre; it costs him an average of 28p to produce a litre of milk (cost of production fluctuates naturally with the seasons, feed prices, etc) and that’s even with all his latest cost-cutting and ongoing efficiency-boosting measures in place.
Surplus quantities of the white stuff and cheap supermarket prices for milk have combined to create this latest dairying disaster, and what’s frustrating is that the farmer is (almost) powerless to do anything about it.
Fortunately, for the future of Rootfield, Nick has been in talks with a local cheesemaker for several months with the goal of becoming their main milk supplier.
When I do the school run in the morning now, I no longer have to play chicken on the farm drive with the Graham’s tanker.
Instead it’s Rory Stone’s slightly smaller tanker from Highland Fine Cheeses I meet, but only every other day when it comes to collect about 6,000 litres of milk – minus the small quantity we use in our own ice-cream production.
Highland Fine Cheeses in Tain was established in 1963 by Susannah Stone when she revived the ancient Highland croft cheese, crowdie. I remember interviewing Susannah back in 2009 for a Scottish food guide book and being charmed by her story.
The enterprising dairy farmer’s wife used to make crowdie at home in the 1960s, souring fresh milk by a warm fire or sunny windowsill before cooking it over a gentle heat until it curdled. The enigmatic Mrs Stone told me that she separated the curds and whey over their bath and that one time, she made too much and sold the excess to a local grocer. Such was the appeal of the fresh crumbly white cheese that not long after Highland Fine Cheeses was born.
Today, the company is run by Susannah’s son and artisan cheesemaker, Rory Stone.
Still specialising in cheeses unique to the Highlands and islands, the craft dairy now produces seven cheeses including two types of crowdie, two blue cheeses as well as a delicious brie-style cheese.
It was earlier this year when Highland Fine Cheeses secured a new contract to supply a supermarket chain with its award-winning products that Rory and Nick decided to formalise their ongoing talks.
Before forming their partnership, Highland Fine Cheeses had been sourcing milk from two small Caithness dairies and topping up with milk collected from Graham’s at the Nairn processing plant.
Rory continues to use some milk from the one remaining Caithness dairy (the other closed down not long ago) with the majority now coming from Rootfield.
The benefits of the new arrangement are multifaceted – even Graham’s benefit by not having to traipse over to the Black Isle seven days a week to pick up Rootfield’s milk (their main milk suppliers in the north are based close to Nairn).
Equally, Rory now doesn’t have to trek over to Nairn, almost 50 miles away (we are 27 miles from Tain).
The all-important money factor has obviously been critical. Nick and Rory have agreed a price per litre that is higher than the cost of production, yet lower than Highland Fine Cheeses was previously paying for Graham’s milk.
In the longer term, the Rootfield Highland Fine Cheeses partnership has several positive implications for the future of the farm.
Having a constant, higher-than-production-cost price for his milk makes Nick feel that he has a more secure, sustainable and predictable business to manage. And having this security will enable him to plan ahead more effectively. One of the areas he is looking at first is breeding.
To make the best cheese he can, Rory prefers milk featuring high amounts of butterfat and protein.
Having our handful of lovely Jersey cows in the herd will certainly help with this, but Nick plans to select bulls with these special attributes for his artificial insemination programme to ensure that future calves coming into the herd are producing more of this creamy type of milk.
General cow health will remain a priority when selecting sires, but breeding for volume of milk will be less important than quality. The added bonus is that milk with higher butterfat and proteins will be great for using in our ice-cream as well as the yoghurt and butter, when they come on stream later this year.
And as well as financial security, there’s something rather nice about knowing that Rootfield’s milk is being used to create a local, artisan product rather than going into some homogenised plastic carton on a supermarket shelf.
So although change can be challenging, it can often be for the best, although at the moment I think this is more true for Nick than it is for me.
As I struggle to adjust to the quiet at home while Daisy is at school, Nick is content knowing he can concentrate on running the farm and ice-cream business instead of worrying if he can stay in the dairy industry at all.
However, he appreciates how lucky he is to be in a position to choose who he sells his milk to.
Thank goodness for Susannah Stone’s surplus crowdie all those years ago – and for Rory growing the family business to a level where he can take all of Rootfield’s milk.
Next time: Foodie Scotland – brand new ice-cream trail.
Rootfield Farm is on the Black Isle, where Jo lives with husband Nick, a fourth-generation dairy farmer, their daughter Daisy and 150 cows