Page 35 - Our Wexford

KILLOWEN FARM

Traceability is a key word these grew to include Dunnes Stores, easy option and add preservatives
days in food production and at Tesco, SuperValu, not to mention and have a shelf life of six months,
Killowen Farm at Courtnacuddy independent retailers such as but we won’t do that.”
in County Wexford, it’s a word Donnybrook Fair and hotels across Another reason to remain in
which can be emphasised again Wexford and Ireland. Wexford is that it’s convenient
and again.
According to the sales and for distribution to both Dublin
The yogurts made at Killowen by marketing director Pauline Dunne, and Cork, has a good climate for
the Dunne family and their team “the people of County Wexford have growing grass and, thus, producing
are 100pc from milk produced by given great support to Killowen and milk, and has easy access to excellent
the dairy cows on the farm, with got it up and running.” locally-grown fruits. “Our cows are
fruit sourced locally as much as out in the fields 10 months of the
possible and without adding artificial year. They’re only in for the real,
preservatives, flavours or colours. THE YOGURTS MADE real harsh weather in the winter and

The family have been farming at AT KILLOWEN ARE 100 because the land is very good, we get
optimal use. The cows flourish being
Courtnacuddy for generations and outside and that adds to the flavour.”
got into the yogurt business over 10 PERCENT FROM MILK
years ago, when Nicholas Dunne PRODUCED BY THE So that all makes for a recipe for
sought ways to add value to the high- success, along with a lot of hard
quality milk produced by his cows. DAIRY COWS ON THE work. “It didn’t happen overnight,”
The Killowen yogurt name already FARM, WITH FRUIT Pauline points out. “It’s taken all this
time over the last number of years.
existed in Wexford and when the SOURCED LOCALLY AS We were able to grow the brand and
opportunity arose to take it over, go into the stores and promote it.”
Nicholas duly did so and moved MUCH AS POSSIBLE
production from Crossbeg to But all the promotion and market-
Courtnacuddy. ing in the world is no good without
a quality product range. Killowen
A number of outbuildings were To allow for the expansion in sales
converted into production facilities countrywide, Killowen invested have that high-quality product with ABOVE:
and today, as it was 10 years ago, in new machinery as well as new its emphasis on nutrition. There’s no The team at
Killowen Farm
the yogurt is made right beside the storage and chill facilities, but the sugar added to the natural yogurt,
farm’s milking parlour. farm at Cournacuddy remains home. while the fruit flavours such as
“The most important thing to us strawberry, rhubarb, lemon curd,
160 cows are milked twice daily and blueberry, forest fruit, and blackcur-
the milk is then turned into yogurt, is that it’s the milk we produce on rant have minimal levels of sugar.
packed, chilled and sent off to an the farm that’s used to make the “That’s not an accident. We made a
ever-growing range of retailers and yogurt,” as Pauline puts it. “We decision that we wanted our yogurt
hotels. make the yogurt on Monday, pack
it on Tuesday and it leaves us on to be different from everything else
Initially they recieved support Wednesday. We only make to order out there.”
from the Wexford-based Pettitt’s because we have a 28-day shelf life And it is.
supermarkets and the list of outlets for the products. We could take the

OUR CRAFTOUR FOOD 35