The sixth-generation Kerry dairy farm has been operational for 110 years and is owned, managed and loved by the Tommerup family, led by Kay and Dave.
In late May they launched the Tommerup’s Micro-Creamery ahead of the region’s Eat Local Week.
Kay Tommerup said it was as much about adding business viability to the farm as it was about celebrating the heritage of the families involved.
“As a little girl, I would make butter with my Mum and my older brothers,” she said.
“We had a jersey house cow and Mum would scoop the cream from the top of the milk and when we had enough, she’d put it in the blow butter churn and we’d turn the handle until our arms got tired, then pass it on to the next person until we made butter.
“That beautiful old butter churn now sits proudly in my kitchen as a reminder, and the memory of making butter is what inspired me to launch the micro-creamery.”
Ms Tommerup said in the early days on the farm, cream was separated from the milk and sent into the Logan and Albert Co-Op in Beaudesert. The skim milk was fed to the farm pigs.
It was only 50 years ago that the family started selling whole milk and not just cream.
In 1969 bulk milk sales became available and a refrigerated bulk milk vat was purchased.
Prior to that a cream can fridge was used in the dairy – cream was separated on-farm and was taken by horse and coach to the factory in cream cans.
In 2019, cream cans will once again be used to transport the separated cream from the dairy and into the micro-creamery.
They will also use an original Alfa Laval separator to separate the cream in the dairy as the cows are milked.
The paddle design for the butter churning will be modelled on the original glass butter churn used by Ms Tommerup’s family.
“After a lot of soul searching when things became tough with low milk prices and then the drought conditions, we had to work through whether we had the determination and the passion to continue to dairy,” Ms Tommerup said.
“Apparently, we do, and this is the way that we believe we can make our dairy business viable into the future, while also producing a really beautiful product that people will love and remember.
“Making butter suits our farm scale, our production system and our family background as well as our Jersey herd with their rich and creamy milk.”