Blog

A three year pilot by an organic dairy farm to test a radical new approach to dairy farming has concluded. Rainton Farm in south west Scotland, run by David and Wilma Finlay, has now committed to continuing with their cow with calf dairy farming ...

We gave ourselves three years to prove our cow with calf system can work. That three years is now up, so does it work? To answer that question I’d like to introduce you to a cow called One-Forty-Four, because that is her name. Folk think that by ...

Around this time last year we spent a couple of hours speaking with a researcher from the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission. It was part of their UK bike tour where researchers spent a week at a time travelling through a particular region of ...

To the casual observer, if a dairy cow does have to have a calf every year to continue producing milk (which it does), leaving those calves with their mothers would seem a fairly simple change. Nothing could be further from the truth. This ‘simple’ ...

This is a big update on everything that’s been happening in our world of cheese at The Ethical Dairy over the past few months. Bear with us, this could be a long post! Cheese Stocks Unfortunately we are essentially sold out of cheese until October ...

There’s always something that goes wrong… for us it was a 10pm phone call from the sound and video team the night before the conference to tell us that, “unless it’s an overcast day tomorrow, no one will be able to see the slides.” The reason? We had ...

There’s a lively debate going on in the food world just now about how we address the complex and inter-connected range of challenges facing society. It’s known as ‘Sparing or Sharing’. The Sparing argument goes something like this; if we concentrate ...

Contrary to powerful, vested interests who are demonising all beef and dairy, grass-based beef and dairy can deliver good health and positive environmental outcomes. The conference we’re hosting on our farm next week will explain the science behind ...

While Wilma has been at the trade show in Birmingham, David has had a busy time meeting groups of researchers and explaining our cow with calf system. Last weekend we had three vets from Bologna in Italy visit – all very experienced with dairy cow ...

We are delighted to be adding organic ice cream to The Ethical Dairy range. We've been talking about these ice creams and testing out recipes for months now, and we finally launched this week at the Farm Shop & Deli Show at the NEC in Birmingham – ...

It seems that people are at last coming around to the idea that humans are the main cause of climate change and the we need to change our lifestyles to cut our carbon emissions. And FAST. So it would seem a bit contrary and counter-productive to ...

Thank you to everyone who contributed to the Crowdjustice campaign in support of the five raw milk cheesemakers, including us, who are raising legal action against Food Standards Scotland. The background to this situation is described here. The ...

We all have our hobby horses and one of mine is wondering why farming doesn’t take more account of the societal effect it has? So the Nutrition & Social Impact session at the Ethical Farming Conference is one I am particularly looking forward to ...

If my life had taken a different path and I had never met David then I would now, almost certainly, be vegan. I met David in the early 1990s. At that time I had a sensible, well paid job in Glasgow and was making the most of city life. I would not ...

This is a blog post I hoped never to have need to write, but following this morning's launch of a Crowdjustice campaign by five Scottish cheesemakers, including us, I wanted to explain the background to this situation. There are only seven ...

It is great to know that so many of our customers love the WoolCool packaging that we use to send our cheese to your homes. However this is often quickly followed by disappointment that our cheese is wrapped in plastic. When you buy cheese at a ...

Across the farming industry agro-chemicals have boosted production in recent decades, but at a serious cost to wildlife and society. Organic farming isn’t just about avoiding these chemicals. It’s about understanding the natural processes that drive ...

It’s the middle of January already – yikes! We hope you had a good Christmas and a positive start to 2019. We have been quiet on social media recently, but things have been very busy behind the scenes so this is a quick update to let you know what’s ...

Now that winter has truly arrived and the cows and their calves are inside for the colder months, we thought you might enjoy a look inside their dairy shed. Our farm team built a new dairy shed about ten years ago, and although we weren't cow with ...