The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Milk deliveries return
Lewis: Former engineer opens first dairy farm on island since 2012 and has plans to expand
A crofting family has become one of the most northerly dairy farming families in the UK by bringing milk production back to the Western Isles.
Gordon Mackay, his wife Colleen and son Scott aim to restore milk deliveries to islanders who have not been able to get local milk for their cornflakes since the last dairy farm in Stornoway closed in 2012.
They hope milk from their 60-head herd of Guernsey and Ayrshire cattle at Moorpark Dairy in South Bragar, on the Isle of Lewis, will provide a profitable future for their family, eventually helping them offer jobs for locals, too.
Having spent most of his career working offshore as an engineer, the idea for the dairy came from Gordon, whose mother’s family were dairy farmers.
After being turned down for a crofting grant to help get the project off the ground, Gordon waited until the end of the milk quotas before funding the project himself. Using his own savings and inheritance, he invested £900,000 in two sheds, slurry storage, a secondhand Manus milking parlour and processing facility.
“There was nothing on the croft when we first started,” he said. “Clearing the site alone cost £45,000. We started excavating to put in slurry tanks in the winter and it was like a swimming pool. I had to bring in 1,000 tonnes of rock just to make the site workable. It was a terrible time and I wondered if I had made a mistake.”
Getting planning for the development was a huge challenge, too, he added, as the planners had no previous experience of dealing with an application for a dairy unit. “There were many people who told me I was mad for doing this, especially when we were having so many issues with the planning,” he said. “It was horrendous.”
Eventually the family hope to produce 700 litres a day, giving them enough to supply local shops and businesses – including a hotel and distillery – and do doorstop deliveries on the island.
Having done a leaflet drop of potential customers and spoken to people across the island, Gordon says he is confident there is real interest in buying local milk.
“People were very sad when the last dairy closed in Stornoway. They like fresh milk and they like knowing where it is produced,” he added.
The family is retailing the milk at £1.18 per litre, selling it in one and two-litre plastic bottles.
Having had a hand in processing milk on his family’s dairy farm in the Borders, Gordon plans to use his experience to produce gelato and is even considering producing his own cheese.
“We got a lot of visitors over the Easter holidays, as people brought their children to show them the cows, and a lot of them said we should open a café or a farm shop, so that’s something we’re thinking about,” he said. “I’m also looking at putting a cheese plant in too; if that goes ahead, it would create up to 10 jobs, which would be brilliant.”