Weir's Organic Raw Milk wins Balmoral Show award

Video:  Organic Raw Milk from Grass Fed Cows in Co. Armagh, Northern Ireland.

The Weir family have farmed this land in Tandragee since the 1920's and it gained organic status in 2008.  Now Deane Weir and wife Kerrie produce raw milk for human consumption from their herd of happy, healthy cows who get a lot of extra care and attention. See the video above. The cows are fed solely on grass/clover sward during the summer and silage during the winter. The only processing the milk goes through is that it's filtered, chilled and bottled.

Food award & praise

In May 2017 Weir's Organic Raw Milk was named Best Food and Drink product at the Balmoral show, Northern Ireland's biggest food and farming event. The show attracted over 100,000 people from all over the UK.

 

Kerrie said that they were absolutely delighted and quite emotional to receive this recognition from such a celebrated team of judges. According to Sam Butler's article at the bottom, the winners were chosen by a panel of top UK food writers led by Charles Campion, the Masterchef judge and expert food writer for the Evening Standard newspaper in London and columnist for Specialty Food magazine in Britain. He said: "we chose Weir's Farm because of the outstanding taste of the milk the couple produces on their small farm. It was so creamy and rich. The milk was the standout product for us at the show."  Campion also said: "all the judges agreed that the raw milk was a suburb product." The other expert judges were Xanthe Clay, Lucas Hollweg and Jeremy Lee, see the newspaper article below for more info.

Regulated Raw Milk for Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland now have a regulated raw milk industry thanks to Raw Milk Ireland's four year campaign against a proposed ban on the sale of raw milk. They welcomed a 2015 decision from the government to engage with producers and regulate its production and sale instead. A list of Irish raw milk producers can be found here.

Photo:  A sign at a farmers market.

Image:  Weir's Organic Raw Milk was voted Best Food and Drink Product by food writers at the Balmoral show, May 2017 with Deane and Kerrie.

 

Image:  with the food judges awarding Weir's Organic Raw Milk with the Overall Best Food and Drink Product in the NI Food Pavillion. With Charles Campion, Jeremy Lee, Lucas Hollweg and Xanthe Clay.

 

Image:  Raw milk from Weir's Farm won a food award in May 2017, via Sam Butler, click to enlarge 

 
 

Images: these are recent bacterial counts from the farm showing the high quality of the milk, click to enlarge images. Raw Drinking Milk must meet the following standards: Plate count at 30'C (cfu per ml) < 20,000 and Coliforms (cfu per ml) , 100. The Coliforms are undetectable. These are the kind of results micro dairies can achieve who give a lot of care and attention. 

Posted on September 15, 2017 by ARMM Admin and filed under Raw Milk, Raw Milk production, raw dairy farms examples and tagged Weir's raw milk ireland deane and kerrie weir Charles Campion Masterchef judge northern ireland regulated raw milk Balmoral show 2017 raw milk dairy examples.