Family Dairy Bringing Home the Milk in East Lothian

Yester Farm Dairies is a family-owned dairy that is one of a handful left in Scotland to sell milk that is produced, pasteurised and packaged on site. The business is based at the McCreery family farm near Haddington in East Lothian. The farm was bought by Simon McCreery’s father when he moved to Scotland from Northern Ireland almost twenty years ago, having run a dairy farm there.

Today, Simon, his father and his brother, run the farm in partnership, while Simon and his wife, Jackie, run Yester Farm Dairies. The family currently owns 400 acres and rents a further 150 acres for their 300 Holstein Friesian cattle that produce around 45,000 litres per week. Simon says, “We sell all the milk and cream from our own cows and then we also offer associated dairy products to serve our customers. We deliver, using 7.5 ton refrigerated trucks to independent shops, nursing homes, hotels, restaurants and cafés from Northumberland to West Lothian and everywhere in between and, of course Edinburgh. We also do doorstep deliveries to around 2,500 homes in the local area as well as supplying independent milkmen in the Borders, Lothians and Northumberland.

In recent years, the family has invested in the farm side of the business, including into increasing the size of the milking herd. One of the features that Simon and his family are keen to continue is their support for local Scottish business. They buy in eggs, potatoes, yoghurt, cheese and butter but these are always from local or national Scottish producers.

Simon adds, “We want to raise the profile of the business and to increase our sales even further. So far, over the past three years, we have been increasing our sales by 20% year on year with both our bulk sales and, maybe surprisingly, on the doorstep. If you take supermarket promotions out of consideration, we can compete. Traditionally, doorstep deliveries were made six days a week but this is no longer practical and so we deliver to our rounds on a three times a week basis. In addition, by offering a wide range of Scottish and local produce, we are able to provide a professional, reliable and friendly service to our customers. The fact that this is appreciated can be seen from the fact that, whereas in some areas, doorstep sales are declining, ours are steadily increasing. We believe that some of this is down to the quality of our milk – the cows go out to grass in Spring and stay out until winter weather necessitates that they are brought indoors. The cows therefore have a healthy and more contented life!”

For further information please telephone 01620 810998 or visit www.yesterfarmdairies.co.uk.