Despite the many challenges facing dairy farmers, the Willis family from Aberdeenshire took the bold step into direct selling this year and haven’t looked back since.

A family of firsts, the Willis’ were the first in Scotland to have an organic dairy farm and are now the first to install milk vending machines. Both have seen the family focus on management systems at Glasgoforest Farm, to produce quality milk in a sustainable and consumer friendly way.

Having relocated from Wiltshire in 1989, to Glasgoforest, a 260-acre unit located on the bypass around Aberdeen, the family also rents an additional 135 acres, all of which is organic. Grass is predominately grown; however, pea spring barley wholecrop has been incorporated into the rotation for the past 10 years.

Until last year, William and his mother Anne farmed together however, last year, brother Angus joined the family business after realising an office job as a solicitor was not for him!

“I had been looking into various diversification options for a couple of years, however, having Angus back confirmed that we needed another income stream to remain viable in the long term,” explained William.

“I’d read about the vending machines in the trade press and seen them in Europe. I always felt our location lent itself to this option, as we are right on a busy by-pass.

“We spent a couple of years researching, visiting farms that had already installed the machines and speaking with environmental health to ensure we met all the standards. We carried out market research to look into the demand in the area and had to assess the farm infrastructure to look at what changes were needed.”

He added: “It’s certainly not an easy process and I would advise anyone to make sure you have the basics right before considering selling direct. You need to be confident in producing consistently high-quality milk, efficiently.”

And that’s exactly what they do – with a rolling bactoscan of 16 and 166 cell count. Average yield is 7665 litres per cow with a butterfat of 3.88%BF and 3.32%P. Milk from forage stands at 4405 litres per cow and margin over purchased feed of £2568 per cow.

“We constantly assess our costs and are looking at ways to improve. “Cow performance depends on health and comfort, so this has been the driver – with a new 163-stall cubicle shed built in 2014 and a second hand 12:24 parlour installed in 2016, which has recently been expanded to a 16:32.

“We’ve found mats and sawdust keep the cows clean in the winter and have a strict routine in the parlour to ensure milk hygiene. We pre-wipe in the parlour with a washable udder cloth, which is applied with warm water and concentrated soap solution, and then the units go on.”

In 2016, the family was fortunate to receive a grant to install a milking system which disinfects the claw between cows and dips cow’s teats with an iodine solution, Activate PVP Plus, when removed. An automatic wash system now washes the whole system after milking twice a day and uses Deosan for all chemicals and annual checks in the parlour to make sure we buy high quality cleaning products.

“No farmer can afford to cut back on this area,” said William. “Obviously, this now applies to our processing business, and its an area we are very focussed on. Luckily Deosan are part of Diversey and can provide hygiene solutions and advice from farm to fork. It was an easy transition in terms of hygiene products.

However, the family did need to invest in some changes to the infrastructure – the farm office was converted into the sales room for the vending machines and added an additional room for the pasteurisation. A glycol chiller was also installed which sends the milk to one of two, 6000litre bulk tanks at two degrees. This has proved particularly efficient and has seen a reduction in bactoscans.

“We pasteurise the required milk for the vending machines every morning, with milk taken directly from the parlour. This is operated with a non-return value that switches over between tanks and compressed air blows though, to remove excess milk,” he added.

The pasteurisation process consists of heating the milk to 68 degrees C and holding it there for five minutes. The hot

water is then drained and used for washing and replaced with cold water. It then goes through the plate cooler and is pumped to the vending machines. Each machine has two 200litre tanks, which allows for cleaning whilst in operation.

Proving popular with customers is the fact that the milk is not homogenised. They also enjoy the observation window which gives them the chance to watch the cows being milked.

“Since we launched in December we have sales now averaging of 270 litres a day, retailing at £1.20/litre, which has given us confidence to purchase our second machine in March. The local support has been unbelievable and social media has played an important role in spreading the word.

“We’ll get up to 150 milking cows this year and have shifted the calving pattern to late spring/summer calving over the last few years. For us, milk from grass is very efficient and suits our system. But you need to understand your farm, know what works and how to manage swards effectively. We are part of the Scottish Organic Group

and have recently been awarded a grant to improve knowledge transfer which I believe will really benefit our business.”

The attention to detail at this farm was recognised last year by OMSCO, which awarded them the Farm of the Year title, with judges commenting on the ‘exceptional attention to detail throughout the business.’

“This is what stands out at this farm,” added David Jackson, Deosan area manager. “They do their research, are willing to change and closely monitor performance in every aspect of business. They are driven, and want to produce milk to the best standards possible.”