2010 FW Awards: Dairy Farmer of the Year finalist – Angus Wielkopolski
You’d expect to find businesses that have expanded in the final of Dairy Farmer of the Year. St Helen’s Farm is not just the biggest producer of goats’ milk in the UK – twice the size of any competitor – but it has defined the standard for this niche and has an enviable command over its market.
“We know who our consumers are, and they know us,” states Angus Wielkopolski. “The multiple retailers are our route to market.”
With his wife Kathleen, they started the business in 1985 on a 2ha (5-acre) smallholding in Yorkshire and quickly built it up to a herd of 500 milkers. The market opened up for them equally quickly: “Our first significant customer was local supermarket Hillards, which was taken over by Tesco within three months of the start of our contract and suddenly we went national.”
Now, St Helen’s Farm operates mainly from two locations with a total herd size of 4400: Far Marsh Farm in East Yorkshire, with a goat-breeding unit and milking parlour; and Seaton Ross in the Vale of York, which also processes the 12m litres of goats’ milk a year.
There are also 11 other family farms in North Yorkshire and the Midlands supplying goats’ milk to St Helen’s.
But the key to success is the close relationship built up with a database of 40,000 loyal consumers, mainly those intolerant to cows’ milk. A full-time member of staff mans a telephone helpline and can answer 90% of queries straight away. And the milk cartons themselves are a key communication tool.
“It’s like a newsletter; we change the content every month, telling people what’s happening on the farm and also telling their stories – we have customers queuing up to give their testimonials.”
Cream, cheese, yoghurt and butter make up a third of the output, with goats’ milk sent to a sister company, Cricketer Farm in Somerset, where it is made into cheddar-style cheese. All of it is sold under the St Helen’s Farm brand. “We want to be to goats’ milk what Kellogg’s is to cornflakes.” Only Tesco and Sainsbury’s are supplied since other retailers have moved to own label.
Rigorous standards of health and animal welfare underpin the production that supplies this market. With farm manager Mark de Hamel, who started with the business 20 years ago, Mr Wielkopolski has defined the standard for goats’-milk production. “The UK has world-class pedigree hobby goat breeders,” notes Mr de Hamel. “We’ve selected for goats with longer lactations and now have some of the best genetics in the world.”
This has enabled the farm to push up yield from 700 litres a goat a year to 1100 litres annually. The use of artificial lighting in the sheds has shifted lactation from its natural tail-off in the winter months to peak at Christmas to match market demand. And goats are yielding as high in their fourth lactation as in their first.
All the goats are housed indoors throughout the year, fed a hay-based diet complemented with high-fibre mixers. “You have to keep the rumen in top condition – goats like a drier diet than cows, which is closer to their natural environment.”
Keeping them dry is also the essence of a healthy herd. Mastitis is down to just 3%, and the bedding, straw over a paper base, is refreshed daily.
With 40 staff at Seaton Ross, employees are encouraged to grow with the business. Two have stayed with them for 20 years and plenty have been with St Helen’s Farm for more than a decade. And you can see why – there’s a dynamism and flair for innovation that’s encouraged at every level.
WHAT THE JUDGES LIKED
• Close contact with customers
• Dynamism and flair for innovation
• High standard of animal health and welfare
• Impressive rise in output and technical progress
FARM FACTS
• 4400 goats + followers over two units
• 340ha Farm Marsh Farm, E Yorks; 220ha Seaton Ross, Vale of York
• Milk purchased from 11 farms in Yorkhire and Midlands
• Total 12 million litres milk processed and sold under St Helen’s Farm brand
• For more on the 2010 Farmers Weekly Awards
• For more on the the 2010 finalists