About 40 special “ladies” are responsible for an East Yorkshire business bringing home a “best of the best” title from the recent Great Yorkshire Show.
They are the members of a long-established herd of dairy cows – Friesians and Jerseys – that supply The Milk Well, in Willerby, on a daily basis and produce the award-winning whole milk that customers can buy direct from the farm gate. Claiming gold for its raw milk at the huge agricultural show, then being pitted against other category golds to be declared overall liquid milk champion, is an extra feather in the cap for the Collinson family who run The Milk Well from Bellfield Farm.
Moyra and Dave, and their son Phil, set up The Milk Well – a self-serve vending business where customers can buy fresh whole milk and flavoured milkshakes, plus hot drinks from a further machine – just under three years ago. Today, it is a hugely popular feature, attracting regular customers, special schools, local groups and curious newcomers who happen to be passing by.
Phil said: “A few people have asked us what this champion status means for us. It gives us bragging rights, really!
“Before The Milk Well we were milking about 110 cows, not making any money and having to decide what to do. We knew we needed to diversify.
(Image: themilkwell/facebook)
“We had the location – people wouldn’t have to trek down a farm track to find us – and the vending machine market had evolved over the years and had got better. We spent about 18 months setting it all up.
“We went from supplying a dairy to becoming totally independent. We’re down from 110 cows to between 30 and 40 now and we have become much more efficient.
“We have happy cows. Dad asked the feed representative about their food, saying ‘I want food that will make my milk taste nice’; it wasn’t about feed that would achieve the greatest volumes.
“It’s about having that cow that wanders out into the field to graze, comes in to give us a bit of milk, and wanders out again. It’s not about food miles here – we talk in 15 metres, not miles – and we’re all about being independent, sustainable and efficient.”
Some of the wheat and barley grown on the farm goes into a mill mix to create cow cake for the herd. Their diet also includes silage made from the farm’s own grass.
(Image: themilkwell/facebook)
Bellfield Farm has invested in two self-serve vending machines for whole milk and milkshakes, to keep up with demand, and also a hot drinks vending machine where a customer can grab a morning coffee while out walking the dog, for example. Strawberry, chocolate and banana milkshakes are permanent flavours and The Milk Well comes up with weekly specials – most recently banana and maple, biscotti and pink candy floss – with seasonal changes too such as spiced pumpkin around Halloween and gingerbread or chocolate orange for Christmas.
“The most popular is cream egg, which we haven’t been able to keep seasonal because it is so popular,” said Phil. “It’s not just about the milkshakes, it’s the milk as well.
“It is so creamy, it’s whole milk. It is pasteurised but not standardised or homogenised, so the cream rises to the top, like older generations will remember milk.
“It’s a product you can’t buy in the supermarket. If you enjoy milk, it’s really different from normal milk.”
The Milk Well has installed a life-size fibreglass replica of a cow, with milking stools, so children can learn about milking (water comes from the udders) and where their bottles of milk and flavoured shakes come from. There is a model tractor to play on and for photo opportunities and a calf-viewing window gives visitors chance to see the newest arrivals to the farm.
The Milk Well has made major investments in such as rainwater harvesting and solar energy – “solar panels fill two sides of two sheds and we harvest rainwater for our crops and for drinking water for the cows”. It provides reusable glass bottles for customers “to keep plastic out of bins” and is Red Tractor assured, reflecting the highest welfare standards it adopts.
Finalists in this year’s Northern Farmer Awards in the Dairy Farm of the year category, Bellfield Farm/The Milk Well is delighted to have maintained a five-star rating by environmental health since it opened. It also gives back to the local community, by sponsoring grassroots football and helping local organisations with raffle prizes.
“We never thought, three years ago, we would have 20,000 followers on Facebook and that we would still have a growing trade like we have.”