The nation’s milk man
Robert Graham on his life in dairy
Dr Robert Graham turns 80 later this year but he doesn't show any signs of slowing down, his pride and joy are his family and his 400 strong Jersey milking herd which he admits, "I'm very fond of."
He kept black and white Holsteins, but in 1988 decided to buy his first Jersey cows to be a bit different from everyone else. He said "to be honest it has been a resounding success with our range of Jersey Gold products." The first twenty cows came from the Queen's Windsor herd, so they are not just commercial cattle they have a right Royal pedigree. They are pasture fed and graze outside during the summer and are kept inside on straw beds in the winter, he said "it costs a bit more to keep them that way, but it keeps the cows nice and clean." He tells us, "Jersey milk is a premium product, 25 per cent higher in protein and 30 per cent higher in calcium than normal cows’ milk." He said, "it is especially good for coffee and on your cereal in the morning."
On a trip down memory lane, he said, "my father started out with only 12 cows so we have moved a long way, we'd milk the cows in the morning, bottle it, then deliver to households nearby." Dr Robert Graham comes from a long line of farmers all with the same name Robert, but as an only child, he said, "I had all the work to do." He tells us during lockdown, they had to dramatically adapt the business. He admits, "the first couple of months were really tough, but we got round it. As I say, just keep going, never look back and rectify any mistakes as you go on." The result was that the business returned to the company roots, setting up their glass bottle doorstep deliveries again. He said, "luckily we still had a bottling plant."
Although shops were closed, the milk continued to be produced and had to be processed, so instead they made tonnes of butter. Fortunately the pandemic saw an increase in home baking, he said, "that happened just when we were thinking what the hell are we going to do with this stuff." He recalls his mother churning butter by hand, wrapping it in 1/4 pound blocks with a thistle stamp to sell from the milk van. Now the company has a huge mechanical churn, which holds two tonnes of cream which is turned into one tonne of butter and a machine packs the butter. Initially it was just him and his mother and father, until he married Jean. He describes the pasteurisation of milk as a game changer, he said, "it opened a lot of doors for us. With raw milk you could only sell it directly to customers." With a pasteurising plant we could sell to shops and he said, "we got busier and busier."
He explains, "I worked for 35 years milking at 2.30am seven days a week." Dr Robert Graham said, "I didn't get an awful lot of time off. The milk went out that same day because that's the way we had always done it." He said, "The funny bit was, I thought that was the only way to do it." When Dr Graham's son, Robert, joined the family firm he questioned his father’s thinking. "Why do we need to do this so early in the morning? Is there not another way by using the previous day's milk? Dr Graham thought
that wouldn't work, but he said, "of course it did, and we have never looked back." So now the cows get milked later at 4am and 3pm.
Dr Graham was awarded an honorary doctorate by Heriot-watt University for his outstanding contribution to Scotland’s dairy industry and although he no longer milks the cows himself, he visits the farm at some point every day. He also visits the production plant at Bridge of Allan, he said, "I get on my white coat and I have a walk round and speak to people." He believes that is an important thing to do, "so people can see that there is somebody there who cares." That is also something he has instilled in his children, Robert or Carol, who also run the business. But he never imagined for a second that they would become the Number One, “most chosen brand” in Scotland last year. They have also benefited greatly from diversifying into healthy products, like Skyr or Kefir, Quark.
Initially they were based at Airthrey Kerse, but because the herd had expanded the family bought another farm called Boquhan. He laughs when he tells me that growing up his father would say, "no complaining just get on with it." His mother was a farmer's daughter from Caithness, and he tells us about visiting relatives during the summer holidays. He said, "My mother would put me on the train at Stirling with a label on my neck aged ten years. I would meet my aunt at Inverness, she had a bowl of soup and sandwich for me and would then put me on the next steam train to Wick, it stopped in a little siding and I met my uncle there." He tells us, his mother worked with the Department of Agriculture, as an advisor and she met her future husband when she came to Stirling. Dr Graham said, "My father was always working" and describes him as a workaholic, a trait he has inherited. He said, "I don't like to ask
people to do things I can't do myself, so I can still to this day, use the filling machines and process the milk myself.”
He stuck with family tradition and named his son Robert, his daughter is called Carol. However Robert broke with tradition and named his children, Holly, Douglas and Charlie. Looking to the next generation of the family, currently Holly, 14, and Douglas, 13, both spent their Saturdays working at the farm shop and the Easter holidays working in the dairy. With a new pair of wellies each, courtesy of their grandparents "nae these fancy wellies either," Dr Graham said. He has always advised his own children, "When you are in business just be yourself, don't try to be someone else or you will get found out. The business is big now, but we are all down to earth and we treat everybody the same." He explains that they now have "100 farming partners that we collect milk from across Scotland daily."
He met his wife Jean at The Golden Lion Hotel in Stirling, he said, "that was the place for dancing on a Saturday night." They'd dance to tunes like Craig Douglas – Only Sixteen and Chubby Checker – The Twist. He said, "We were pretty good, we went on holiday one time and won a dancing competition." One Saturday night, he said, "this couple came in, I recognised his photograph from the papers, he was a British champion boxer, Chic Calderwood." He said, "they were amazing, that was just about the end of my dancing days."
Although Jean is not from a farming background, she has a natural retail instinct, because her
father owned the shoe store, Bishop’s of Falkirk. Dr Graham said, "I made a good choice, she is super clever. I couldn't have managed the business without her." The couple have two talented children; Carol who played tennis and hockey at a high level, going to Loughborough University where she made British university teams. She was an English teacher before working for the Sports Council before her brother persuaded her to come back to the family enterprise.
She was responsible for changing the branding, to Graham's The Family Dairy and ever since sales have risen dramatically. Dr Graham said "That is why it is so important for firms to get their branding right." Growing up, Robert played tennis with Judy Murray as his coach. Dr Graham said, "He was pretty good." Initially Dr Graham didn't think his son would join the firm. He said, "Robert is like his mother, he is clever. He studied accountancy, but one night he said I want to come back to the business."
During a recent external company audit Dr Graham was almost moved to tears, when they said, “You and your wife and your family must be so proud of this business, it is immaculate.” Dr Graham said, “Folks don't say that and it was so nice. I hadn't heard that word for years. Everything about the company represents us as a family.”