As a result of the recent drop in revenue from milk, the farm manager at Home Farm, Brackenhurst, changed the herd from Holstein/Friesians to Jersey cattle, whose milk fetches a quality premium payment.

Converting some of the milk to a premium quality Dairy Ice Cream was then proposed as a means of providing additional revenue. A fully costed business plan was drawn up and showed that this could make a significant difference to the farm income.

Initially trials were carried out on existing equipment to develop a high quality product and to establish suppliers of ingredients of the desired quality and consistency of supply. Many flavours of product were sampled by (willing) volunteers and, when results were analysed, the preferred flavours were determined.

The decision was made to establish a quality image for the product and an initial investment was made by employing a local design house to prepare drafts for the packaging. A local supplier was used to convert the agreed artwork to a finished waxed paper carton. Similarly a local printer was commissioned to print the labels for the carton tops.

Liaison with the Trading Standards office established that the labelling was acceptable. A detailed HACCP scheme was drawn up for the production process and for the hygiene of the premises. Work with and advice from the Environmental Health Officer eventually resulted in approval being given for the registration of the premises and to start production.

Further investment was made in the form of the purchase of a new ice cream mix pasteurising unit (electronically controlled) and an ice cream freezer unit.

Because of limited storage space and the relatively high cost of packaging, there is only a small range of flavours currently available. However, the farm is now able to produce this premium quality product and sell it from an on-site farm shop.