High Demand for Stilton Cheese Inspires Dairy Farm Expansion

摘要

Harry Barnes (21) has his dairying future all mapped out on a five-acre site of levelled Leicestershire ironstone, at Somerby south of Melton Mowbray. The buildings complex on the site is surrounded by 400 acres, farmed by the Barnes family since 1941. Harry is the fourth generation to work on the farm, which is managed on the grass paddock, spring-calving New Zealand system. "We aim for low operating costs," said Jane Barnes, Harry's mother. "That, alongside our cheese contract, is essential for the future of the farm." The cheese contract is from the Long Clawson Dairy co-operative, based in the countryside north of Melton Mowbray. Long Clawson, founded in 1911, is the principal producer of Stilton cheese in the world and has recently completed a £7 million expansion project so that exports can be increased. The Barnes family are among the 45 members of the Long Clawson co-operative, which takes milk from Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire only, because Stilton cheese has to be made from milk originating in these three counties.