Dairy farmer, Jonathan Owens produces a natural live yogurt by the name of ‘Greenfield Yogurts’ and his product is set to hit the shelves of Lidl nationwide on Thursday, September 19 under the Kickstart Programme.
Owens from Killavullen in Cork milks 70 Holstein Friesian cows and also manufactures some of his milk into a live natural yogurt.
Owens has been producing yogurt on his family farm since 2018, where he first started off with a saucepan of milk in his mother’s kitchen.
Since then, Owens has invested heavily on his family farm and joked that “what started off as a hobby, went a bit out of control”.
Natural live yogurt
After building a purpose-built dairy processing unit in 2020 and further expanding this in 2023, Owens supplies shops mainly in Co. Cork, under his brand called ‘Greenfield Yogurts’.
However, this Thursday, his yogurt will be for sale in all 220 Lidl stores on the island of Ireland.
The yoghurt is completely natural, and it also aids digestion and immunity. It is made from whole milk from Owens’ cows and streptococcus thermophilus live yogurt cultures.
The yogurt is also free from skimmed milk powder, which can be difficult to digest. The yogurt is a great natural alternative to some of the other probiotics that are for sale in capsule form.
The yogurt is tested for live bacteria and contains 550 billion live microorganisms per pot in the form of streptococcus thermophilus, which improves lactose digestion in people who have difficulty digesting lactose.
It is also a good source of protein at 4.33g per 100g.
The farm system
In 2023, Owens switched to robotic milking thanks to the installation of a Lely Astronaut A5, a decision that Owens said has been a game changer for his farm.
“Before the robot, we were milking in a six-unit standard herringbone parlour and it was a lot of manual work. Now, with the robot, we’re not tied to morning and evening milking anymore, and our working day is completely flexible.”
As part of this development, Owens built a new slatted shed with increased cubicles and feeding space for cows and installed a Lely Discovery Collector, Lely Calm Automatic Calf feeder and a Lely Treatment Box.
Owens told Agriland that the recent investment on his farm has “stream lined the farm and there has been huge reduction in labour”.
Owens grazes in the traditional robotic ABC-style grazing. He said that allocating the correct grazing blocks with the correct covers is key to cow movement and the whole system of grazing when using a robot.
The Cork farmer was averaging 2.5 milkings/cow/day throughout the summer, with his best cows being milked three times a day.
Now, in late September, the cows are being buffer fed with zero grazed grass from what would be third cut silage.
“It’s been a tough year on grass with very little meaningful rain throughout the summer months meaning we had a grass deficit,” he added.
Owens increased concentrates from 3-5kg/head on average to combat when grass ran short in supply.
“The robot feeding to yield is great, as I can easily give every cow a different feed rate depending on yield, meaning my good cows get a little bit more to keep energy levels up,” he added.