The white stuff: How Scotland’s family dairy has mooved with the times
Milk producers reveal the secrets of their success
Seven decades have passed since Dr Robert Graham first perched on the back of his father’s pony trap ready to set off on the morning milk round.
Back in those days, before pasteurising was introduced, the raw milk was passed through a cooling machine before being poured into a 10-gallon churn and loaded on to the pony and trap.
Robert would watch as his father went door to door around Bridge of Allan, the ponies so versed in the route they would stop at the correct houses without prompting. Then the housewives would appear with a jug ready to be filled with fresh milk from the churn sourced from a herd of 12 dairy cows.
By the time Robert was 16 and in charge of his own milk round, the herd had grown to 60. Today, as chairman of Graham’s The Family Dairy, he oversees a nationwide business with annual sales of £109 million, and in which his son, also Robert, managing director, daughter Carol, marketing director, and wife Jean also work. And it’s the family history and values he believes are the secret to the firm’s success, along with its ability to adapt to changing demand – even in those earliest days.
Dr Graham said: “To begin with we’d be out milking from four in the morning before loading the milk on to the cart. Then it changed to electric vans. They would have huge batteries in them that we would have to charge as soon as we got back. Towards the end of our run the van would struggle to get up the hill and you’d be wondering if it was going to make it.
“In the ’70s lifestyles changed, more wives went out to work and they wanted milk delivered before they left. That was the demise of the milk bottle on the doorstep.”
The family’s decision to invest in a pasteurisation plant soon meant orders came flooding in. “The small corner shops are still the backbone of our business. We deliver to at least 6,000 a day in addition to the supermarkets,” Dr Graham added.
Graham’s now supply to customers across the UK drawing supplies from their own herds and from partner farms chosen personally by Dr Graham. He also credits Carol’s suggestion of changing the name of the company just over a decade ago from
Graham’s Dairies Ltd to Graham’s the Family Dairy with helping to build the brand.
He explained: “Sales rocketed; people responded to the name and our family values. We are now proudly Scotland’s No.1 Dairy brand.”
The old-fashioned glass bottles were reintroduced into Graham’s product range last summer initially as a limited edition to mark its 80th anniversary but are now a permanent fixture due to demand.
Dr Graham explained: “There’s both that nostalgic factor but also we’re reducing plastics so we see it as a very positive step.”
After so many years of hard graft, with countless broken nights and silly o’clock rises on the farm, many in his position would have hung up their wellington boots by now – but that’s not on the cards for Dr Graham.
“I’ve no plans to slow down,” he said. “We’re creating new products all the time. We have our organic range and our Gold range, sourced from Jersey cows, which is naturally higher in protein and calcium than regular milk.
“I have Gold Top every day on my cereal. We also produce naturally fat-free Quark, Skyr, Protein 22 cottage cheese, Goodness low-calorie ice cream, and recently launched Goodness Kefir – a lactose-free milk drink full of live cultures that are good for the gut.
“We move with the times and demand. People want environmentally-friendly options and they’re more interested in where their food is sourced from as well as eating natural and local produce, and that’s what we’re about.”