Lynn’s simple philosophy: milk it; make it; and sell it

Ten minutes in Lynn Beard’s company and she is wholeheartedly in full swing about her favourite topic of conversation. “Am I a goat anorak?” she asks, standing on the farm track displaying a pinny and hairnet. “Yes, I certainly am. Once, I start, you’ll have a job to shut me up.” And she isn’t exaggerating.

What first began as an Easter offering 34 years ago after her parents gave her two kid goats as a gift, has gradually evolved into a 400-head milking herd and cheese-making enterprise supplying a variety of home-made products to local and regional outlets.

“I was given the goats in the 1970s, which was quite unusual in those days,” says Lynn, who originally lived and operated the then small business in Kent. “There seemed to be this theory that if you farmed goats you were either something out of The Good Life, or ladies with hairy chins who wore brogues. I was neither, but I was only 16 years old, and I think people assumed I would grow out of them. I didn’t.”

Instead, she turned her hand to cheese-making when her first two goats kidded and came into milk production. Working for the Environmental Health agency by day, she spent all her spare time experimenting with different products, and expanded the range. Demand for her cheese and yoghurt gradually began to grow and, after securing a contract with a wholesaler, she went from part-time to full-time professional.

That was 1991. Since then, market prices and trends - not to mention the power of supermarkets – dictated a fluctuating business and, although her other outlets included a milk round, health shops and specialist stores, Lynn was unsure of where to point the business.

By chance, in June 1999, she saw an advert promoting the very first farmer’s market in Islington, London. Deciding to give the opportunity a go, she sold more than £1,000-worth of produce and also discovered a new business market.

That philosophy still rings true and 90 per cent of business is now delivered through farmers markets, festivals, restaurants and local eateries.

Today - having relocated from Kent to a 20-hectare (50-acre) grassland holding in Llandeilo, Carmarthenshire – Lynn, 50, has been running Cothi Valley Goats with her husband Richard, 52, and children David, 21, and Laura, 22, since 2003.

Handmade cheeses

The dairy enterprise now boasts a portfolio of extensive handmade artisan goat’s cheeses, ranging from soft and spreadable to rind-washed, Feta-style and blue cheese.

It is on the subject of Talley Las (the blue cheese), their current best seller, Lynn is particularly proud. The product is the result of a long-running trial-and-error battle to perfect the right cheese for market.

“There aren’t many blue goat’s cheeses out there, which is why I was so desperate to create one of my own,” she says. “I had been trying for ages and just couldn’t get it right. Then by accident, I found if I didn’t put the curd in the mould on the same day, it developed a rich creaminess and blue veining on its own.”

The bacteria - penicillin roqueforti – is mixed with sterile water and then added at the same time as the culture. Unlike the rest, their blue cheese sits in the vat for 38 hours, salted to a higher concentration and placed into the moulds as fairly dry but acidic curd, ‘so there is room for the blue veins to grow.’

“People’s tastes have changed so much and they are more adventurous in their tastes. If customers ask if we do ‘such and such a cheese’ and we don’t, we are
able to say we can create a batch and bring it with us the following week. We are always open to suggestions.”

The other exception to their range is their Welsh haloumi cheese - handmade by Richard to a secret recipe taught to him by a Cypriot friend. To make the cheese is a lengthy process, as it must be boiled for an hour in smaller vat batches to prevent the cheese from melting when it cooks.

Richard, who can do up to three markets a week in peak season, will often fry it on the stall for customers and serve it sliced with cherry tomatoes and crusty bread as an alternative farmhouse breakfast.

Around 90kg of cheese is produced every day, with a further 68 litres of milk going into yoghurt, and 29 litres unpasteurised milk.

With such a considerable output, you’d almost expect a spacious and modern dairy on site, but in this case, all cheese-making is created from a very modest-sized dairy which sits next to an equally-sized parlour.

The simple system is reflective of their niche market, and indicative of a desire to not forsake their uniqueness in favour of quantity.

“We have been approached by Sainsbury’s for the blue and cider washed cheese, but we didn’t follow it any further. I’m wary of the process and I don’t want to become very big.

“I did look at an industrial unit, but felt we would just lose our point of difference.”

Opposite the two buildings stands a kitchen unit, where product development and all the other surplus baking takes place.

Cothi Valley Goats also produce prime-reared kid meat, which is available throughout the year. The meat is used to make baked meat pies, but it is not something Lynn wants to rear extensively.

“Although there is more of a demand for the product, milk powder is £1,200 a tonne, and the amount it costs in extra labour is financial suicide. If you run a suckler herd, you cut out the labour and milk powder costs, but we just can’t warrant the cost.”

The 220 milkers, 48 goatlings and 80 kids, comprise mainly of Saanen and Saanen cross Nubian, although there are some Alpines and Toggenburgs.

Their predominant choice of cross, however, allows hybrid vigour within their progeny which encourages a good combination of yield and proteins, with high average butter fat content.

Although the goats are bred for solids more than for yield, changes to the breeding and feeding system have been implemented to help increase yields following the effects on the herd from poor weather conditions.

Normally, the goats are naturally kidded bi-annually from January to the end of June, but for the first time last year, the whole herd was kidded.

Wet summers

Two wet summers had led to poor quality haylage, causing milk yields, and subsequently cheese production, to significantly drop.

“The haylage was so poor in nutritional quality, nannies were drying up quicker than usual. So our aim was to dry off the herd and put the whole lot back to kid,” says Lynn.
“We didn’t cut corners and now they are milking brilliantly, so this year we can go back to kidding every other year.”

A move away from summer grazing has also been introduced, and the goats are now kept in spacious, straw-bedded barns, with enough space to roam comfortably outside if they wish.

“The last couple of years they have grazed well, but we cannot stablise them.

“With two wet summers and now into our third, there was no consistency in their diet. One day they would be out, and then spend the next three indoors”.
The goats are milked twice a day and the average annual yield of the herd is around 1,200, at four per cent fat and 3.6 per cent protein.

Kids and are fed a lamb creep pellet and hay once a day, while the remaining herd are fed a dairy nut and ad-lib haylage all year round.

The first kidders are currently giving up to a 1.5 litres a day, and the second milkers are around 4.5 litres, but for Lynn, the longevity of her herd is equally as important as their yield.

“Goats start milking at two years and if you are spending so much time, effort and money getting them to that stage, you don’t want a goat which is just going to pack up its milking life at seven,” she says.

“I know my goats can milk profitably up to around 12 years, so I don’t push them hard as first kidders, because otherwise, they’ll just end up with their udder tissue down to their hocks in later life.

Their system is managed as a closed herd, something which is particularly prevalent following the recent outbreak of bovine TB three miles down the road. The farm tested clear two weeks ago, but now faces annual examination.

Looking to the future, the couple remain ambitious and optimistic.

They have forged a new partnership with a local goat farmer to merge their stock to reach 800-head, in a bid to reduce milking and transport costs and increase yields for market.

With this comes their latest venture - to launch a Welsh goat’s milk and move into pasteurised milk.

“The Welsh are so patriotic and we feel it would be well-supported. There is a tremendous call for a generic Welsh goat’s milk and, at the moment, the product is coming from Cheshire, Yorkshire and Delamere.”

As to the short-term plans, Lynn’s immediate focus continues to be her customers.

“I want a customer who comes back to me time and again.

“Unless you have a good interaction and a customer who likes the person behind the stall, you could be selling the best cheese in the world and you still won’t be able to shift it.

“Our business is customer facing. The ethos of our product is that we milk it, make it and sell it- and that’s how I like it.”

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