Weathering The Storms And Producing Award-winning Cheese In East ...

The old saying ‘Look after the cows and the cows will look after you’ is at the heart of everything at Bó Rua Farm in Fermoy, Co Cork.

From the way in which owners Tom and Norma Dinneen graze their herd of Montbéliard and Friesian cows, to how they handcraft their artisan, farmhouse cheese, the cows are the engine of the mighty machine on their farm.

Making cheese since 2018, the Dinneens have already won the Gold Medal at the Blas na hEireann Irish Food Awards 2019 and secured two starts at the Great Taste Awards 2020 For their Bó Rua Farmhouse Cheddar.

It is handcrafted on the farm by Norma, from the milk of the Montbéliard and Friesian herd and gently aged for nine months on traditional wooden boards to develop a firm yet delicately creamy texture and full, approachable flavour.

“The Montbéliard really inspired us to take the route of cheese production - they originated in France where they are synonymous with cheese production,” said Norma.

“They also inspired the name of our farm which translates to Red Cow.” 

Meanwhile, in 2016 when the Dinneens were winning milk quality awards with their local co-op, they realised that there might be a way to add value to that milk on the farm.

And so they began to produce farmhouse cheese.

Norma was on maternity leave at the time and she enrolled on the Specialty Food Production course in UCC - a part-time diploma course that took place over 12 months.

It provided her with a broad overview of all the elements to be considered when setting up a food business.

On the farm, she and Tom began to seriously think about cheese production.

“We looked at the type of value-add products, literally everything from yoghurt to ice cream to bottled and flavoured milk and all the cheese types that could be made,” Norma continued.

“We realised that we were both passionate about farmhouse cheese; it fitted in very well with our farm because we have a spring-calving herd and a seasonal supply of milk.

“We also met with the artisan food specialist in Teagasc, Moorepark and we were able to trial different cheeses until we got what we wanted.”

But because the Dinneens are producing a hard cheese, it needs to be mature and of course a lot of patience is required with that.

“As a diary farmer, seeing your own milk in the cheese vat and having cheese by the afternoon was very satisfying for us,” said Norma.

“I think that from the first day we started making cheese we were both hooked.

“At the moment we are concentrating on our farmhouse cheddar but we are hoping to introduce a more flavoured version.

“We have a smoked cheese that is very new and it is in the 2021 Blas na hEireann food awards.” It was 2018 when the Dinneens secured LEADER funding and that was the “gamechanger” for their business.

“We couldn’t have moved forward without that; we were able to build a cheese dairy on the farm right next door to the milking parlour,” said Norma, “And really that transformed everything for us.” 

Meanwhile, Bo Rua Farmhouse cheese is available nationwide in retail outlets as well as in cheesemongers, and specialty stores.

“We have been lucky because there is a demand for high-quality local Irish produce; people want to see the face of the person that made the product and know where it came from,” she continued.

“It’s about authenticity and the honesty associated with that product.

“We made our first cheeses towards the end of 2018 and they reached maturity in May 2019 and we won the Gold Medal at the Blas na hEireann awards that year for the best hard cheese in Ireland.” 

In the height of lockdown in 2020, Bo Rua Farmhouse Cheese received two stars at the Great Taste Awards which were held in London.

It is awards such as those that resonate with retailers and customers, added Norma.

“In March of 2020 when we went into lockdown because of the Covid-19 pandemic we had just secured a national distribution deal with a food service company.

“We were ready to start supplying restaurants, hotels, and delis but those outlets shut down.

“We had a website at the time but it didn’t have e-commerce functionality so we got that up and running and set up an online shop in the hope that it would keep us going.

“And we were very fortunate; Bord Bia launched a campaign that encouraged shoppers to buy local produce online and we really benefited from that.

“The retail sector was doing really well and that also boosted our business as well.” 

The Dinneens believe that their business is coming out stronger as the country emerges from the pandemic.

“We are coming out the other end of Covid-19 now and I think that we will all the stronger for it, certainly for us we have a more diverse portfolio of where our produce goes,” Norma added.

The local enterprise office also supported the cheese production endeavour and Tom embarked on a scholarship that focused on building a value add business on the farm.

It enabled him to travel to other countries to see how cheese making was done there and he was able to bring a lot of what he learned back to his own farm in Co Cork.

Norma participated in the ACORNS programme and is now a lead entrepreneur with the initiative. The next phase of the programme begins in October.

“There is always something to learn from somebody else and we have found that people are happy to help.”

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From small trees do great juices flow

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