White stuff fresh from the teat to the table
The first milk vending machine in Ayrshire is pouring out pintas fresh from the herd.
It is the latest diversification at Corton Farm, just outside Ayr.
Customers can buy a litre glass bottle for £ 2 and use it again and again at the milk machine.
And farmer Alison Kerr said: “You cannot get any fresher.
“We’re really hoping it catches on so we can sell more and more directly to local people.”
The Kerrs – five generations at Corton since 1925 – have constructed The Milk Hoose and the Milkbot vending machines providing “untampered, nonhomogenised” milk from the Corton herd.
Customers on Friday gushed praise on the creamy taste, saying it is nothing like mass- produced products.
The Kerrs are charging £ 1.50 per litre and say it cuts out plastic waste from supermarket bottles.
Although it is more expensive than supermarket pricing, they say their milk compares favourably to speciality gold top products.
Willie and Alison, both 46, have been joined working the farm by son David, 19, and are being helped by daughter Joanne, 16, when she is not at Belmont Academy.
Willie said: “It would be a dream to sell every litre we produce right here.
“But we have had a great start and it has been so well received.”
The farm produces between 5000 and 6000 litres of milk a day, depending on the time of year.
That is courtesy of the 220 Friesian- Holstein milkers.
The Kerrs own 260 acres and rent another 250. Fourteen years ago they expanded into the Corton Plants nursery and 14 months ago the Coo Shed coffee shop.
But Alison said: “The Milkbot really completes the story of selling your own product.
“We siphon off what we need into churns to be pasteurised and it is put into the Milkbot.
“I guarantee it tastes completely different as all the fats and proteins have not been stripped out.
“It is non- homogenised and the cream settles on top like the the old- fashioned milk.”
At the moment it is thought only three farms in Scotland are selling direct via a vending machine.
Alison added: “People now are so detached from where the food comes from and I think supermarkets are to blame for that.
“Some kids think milk comes from a bottle in a supermarket.
“Plastic has just become a huge issue and it has been good timing for us.
“People are loving our branded glass bottles.”
Peak time for the new vended milk is between 5pm and 7pm and there can be 20 cars in the car park at a time with people leaving work keen to top up their supply.
Alison added: “Hopefully this continues to grow. Milk is sold too cheaply in supermarkets and farmers have been down- trodden for a long time.
“We have just had to take what we can get and be paid sub- 30p a litre. At the moment the Milkbot is doing a couple of hundred litres a day so we have a long way to go to reach 5000 a day.”