A Co. Kerry family farm is supplying more than just their co-op, as their new milk vending machine is also giving locals access to their fresh milk.

Darragh Behan went into partnership with his father Aiden back in 2021 after completing a stint in Pallaskenry Agricultural College and some time in New Zealand.

The duo are milking 180 Holstein Friesians registered as pedigrees under the Irish Holstein Friesian Association (IHFA).

Based just outside of Listowel, the farm has being supplying Kerry Dairy Ireland for years, and plans to continue to do so.

However, they have now made their milk even more accessible, with Darragh's brother Aodán setting up a milk vending machine business.

The herd is split into a 95-5 ration of spring calving and autumn calving, with roughly 10 cows freshly calving down for the winter milk supply.

However, they also carry late calvers through the winter, with a total of approximately 70 cows being milked over the Christmas period.

During winter housing, the cows are grouped depending on their stage of lactation, pregnancy, or body condition score.

Their diets - which consist of high quality grass silage, beet, and concentrates - is then altered to suit each group.

The winter diet plays a crucial role in achieving the 8,500L/cow target, especially with cows being housed in October due to the farm's land type.

The Behans also follow a strict criteria to keep bacteria and somatic cell counts (SCC) low.

Darragh said they are giving teat sealer only to cows with an SCC of lower than 50, but said the main way of keeping levels low is with good parlour hygiene.

He praised the cluster flush system in his Dairymaster parlour for a lot of that, but said milk recording and clean cows are also crucial.

Infrastructure

The milking platform itself can come under some pressure, but the Behans have leased adjacent land to manage the situation.

The herd is being milked in a 20 unit swing-over Dairymaster parlour, which Darragh referred to as having "all the bells and whistles".

The parlour was installed in 2022 to cope with the farm's expansion. It is fitted with cluster flush, automatic cluster removers, Swiftflo Commanders, air gates, and more.

When installing the parlour, the Behans also opted to install a new Dairymaster bulk tank to handle additional milk volume, as well as a Dairymaster drafting unit to reduce labour and improve animal health.

Darragh has it in his five-year-plan to expand his cubicle housing and calf care facilities.

Despite currently having adequate slurry storage capacity, Darragh said looking forward, they may have to invest in another tank or tower - especially if new slurry storage regulations come into play.

Bainne Blasta

In October, Aodán decided to set up Behan's Bainne Blasta, a fresh milk vending machine business.

He struck an agreement with Darragh and Aiden where he would buy milk off them and sell it from the machines.

The milk is pumped directly from the bulk tank to an on-farm pasteuriser.

From there, the milk is put into cold tanks before being delivered to the vending machines.

The machines are at two locations, one at Kelly's Six Crosses on the Listowel-Tralee road, and another in Ardfert.

Customers can buy reusable glass bottes to fill with the fresh, pasteurised whole milk.

The milk is non-homogenised, which gives it a true fresh creamy taste and texture.

The machines also dispense a variety of syrups if desired, which create 'flavoured milkshakes'.

Aodán said the business has been a great success to far.

He is kept busy topping up the milk in the machines, as he said there are queues out the door at all hours of the day and night.

They said they even had Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon visit them recently.