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“ Our other farm enterprise is farm eggs from our 200 hens . Chickens are traditional for us . My grandmother had them . We feed our wheat to the hens .
Moyra says their new milk vending enterprise The Milk Well has proved an education for the public into how milk is produced , but that it has also proved an education for themselves .
“ We did a lot of research . It took us about 18 months before we got started . We sell a lot of milkshakes . It is those that sell the regular milk and we get a lot of families here . We have a calf viewing window . Our customers are only 20 yards into the farm when they get to the Milk Well , but they might see a tractor and that ’ s like they ’ ve been on a farm .
“ We don ’ t let them on to the farm fully because we also do things like school visits and if you ’ ve been invited on to a farm in that way then you ’ ve still got that magic of being where nobody else has been .
“ We ’ re open as The Milk Well every day and it is definitely helping with people understanding more about where milk comes from . Generations have missed out on that , so you ’ re not only educating children , you ’ re also talking to the parents .
Moyra believes The Milk Well may have been thought of more
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as about bringing an income to the farm , but what it is also doing is something really positive .
“ We are getting comments like aren ’ t they lovely , aren ’ t they comfortable , aren ’ t they clean and we now have people who have tried our milk and have come back and back . It ’ s marvellous . Everybody who comes to see them for whatever reason remarks on how quiet and friendly they are .
“ Another wonderful thing that has happened has been that we get a lot of handicapped and special needs people from local schools . It is lovely seeing how we are really helping them .
“ We wanted to give people milk almost straight from the cow and what it tastes like coming straight from the farm without being standardised and homogenised . I try to explain that a cow ’ s milk composition changes by the seasons and what they eat . Everybody is so
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interested in it . You don ’ t get that in standardised milk .
“ Our milk hasn ’ t been anywhere except from the cow to the pasteuriser next door . It ’ s funny the comments we get during a school visit , but it shows people just don ’ t know . One of parents recently said , ‘ Don ’ t you hurt them when you put the units on ?’ and I just said that if you want to go underneath that cow and try to hurt it , good luck to you .
When lockdown was on the Collinsons put up a video of their cows going out for the first
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time in the spring . It received so many hits .
“ Dairy cow turnout is the best day of the year ,” says Moyra . “ The cows just love being back out again and we put up a video of what happens . Everyone loved it on the local community group and we had people commenting ‘ that ’ ll be us running to the pub when we ’ re allowed out ’.
David says he ’ s enjoying meeting their new customers , that there is still much to learn and elements that still surprise .
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“ We didn ’ t think we would sell the amount of glass bottles as we have . We thought that might decline by now . We are still on our learning curve . I think we will have to be in it about 18 months to 2 years before we can actually find out where it ’ s going to level off .
One of David ’ s favourite ways of relieving any pressure he feels is getting into his vegetable plot .
“ If one side gets to me , I go to that side . I don ’ t have to go far but growing carrots , cabbages and cauliflowers is therapeutic . I enjoy growing vegetables .
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