Pemberton Farm Shop and Dairy

The Pemberton family has been farming in the same area in Lancashire, England for over 130 years. They are one of the oldest farming families in their local community of Fylde and are now farm at Birk Farm in Lytham. According to this article it started with Thomas Pemberton who had no idea that he was at the start of a successful farming business that now spans six generations. His son John took on the business and in those days the milk was delivered by horse and cart twice a day. It was supplied in large churns and ladled out to customers into their own containers.

Today Andrew, his wife Ailsa and the children, especially Thomas are very passionate about supplying the local community with quality produce. Tom said that he loves "being in the parlour and around the farm first thing in the morning, when no one else is around". He is very proud of being able continue the tradition of selling unprocessed milk.

Award for milk quality

Tom won a third place award last year for the lowest somatic cell count in the whole of Lancashire. Cell counts reflect the quality of the milk produced, it's taste and how well it can be made into other dairy products such as yoghurt or cheese. It shows that hard work really do pay off and is valuable when you convert to producing raw milk for human consumption.

YouTube channel

Tom also has a YouTube channel that has just hit over 3,000 subscribers (2,000 in just two weeks since we've published this article). It has a series of educational videos explaining life on the farm now that they are a licensed raw milk dairy. He recently put out a request asking what sort of videos subscribers would like to see. This information may be very valuable for farmers who would like to diversify with raw milk. See two of the videos below:

Video: Tom Pemberton explains why they are producing and selling raw milk. Subscribe to his YouTube channel to more videos from the farm!

Video: This is a quick guide on how to use the new DF Italia raw milk vending machine.

Image:  an old-fashioned addition to the farm shop. — **Image:** an old-fashioned addition to the farm shop.

Pembertons Farm Shop

In May 2017 the new Pembertons Farm Shop was openend by Andrew's brother in law Duncan Waller. It sells the meat and dairy from the farm as well as other produce from local farms. On the farm there is also a shack that houses the DF Italia raw milk vending machine. It is a self serve machine where customers can come and collect their own raw milk.

The brown cows with the long horns and the long, wavy coats in the images are a Scottish breed called Highland cattle and are primarily produced for meat.

Click on the images to enlarge.

Image:  Pembertons Farm Shop in July 2017. — **Image:** Pembertons Farm Shop in July 2017.

Annual Tuberculosis test

In September 2017 Tom made a video journal featuring Andy the vet coming to the the farm for the required Tuberculosis tests. Every cow over 6 weeks old were tested. There are just over 250 of them. They normally test for TB every four years but now that they are a raw milk dairy, they are required to test annually. Four days later Andy came back to check each cow individually for signs of swelling and signs of TB, see the video. Fortunately all the results came back clear and the farm can now continue as before.

See the following websites for more information on UK raw milk legislation: