There was only ever one contender. When it came to finding a sporting high- achiever with a natural connection to Centenary Thurles’ Tipperary Fresh milk, we looked no further than one of our own. Rachael Blackmore, the first female winner of The Aintree Grand National, top jockey at the Cheltenham Festival and Killenaule farmer’s daughter, was it. Her recent successes, continuing ambition and pride in her county, embodies much of what Tipperary Fresh milk is all about. And the bonus? Rachael admits “I’m unusual in that I actually prefer a glass of milk to coffee or tea!”
From racehorses to dairy herds, in Centenary Thurles Co-op, John Martin, Dairy Operations Manager is excited about this new path. Tipperary Fresh is the first milk in Ireland that’s produced on conventional dairy farms, at commercial scale, from cows fed exclusively on a non-GM diet. All supplementary feed, after grass and grass silage, is formulated without any GM ingredients.
John explains; “Currently, Irish dairy farmers use imported GM ingredients like soya bean and maize as important energy and protein sources in animal feed. By removing soya (intensively grown in vulnerable areas such as the Amazon rainforest) from our herds’ feed for the Tipperary Fresh milk product, not only are we making the sustainable choice, but we’re purchasing barley, oats, rapeseed and beans from local growers, then adding non-GM protein mostly from Europe.”
He continues; “For smaller co-ops like Centenary Thurles, we’re proud to bring our innovations to the wider industry table. And with Tipperary Fresh milk we’re producing a premium, clean, green product that we’re confident will appeal to Irish consumers’ increasing appetite for sustainable produce.” Subsequent to this partnership, Rachael was announced as BBC World Sports Star of the Year; RTE Sportsperson of the Year and Irish Times/Sport Ireland Sportswoman of the Year. We hope her association with Tipperary Fresh will be lucrative for our business.
The launch of Tipperary Fresh milk also meant re-purposing the Co-op’s busy bottling plant in Thurles to accommodate the product’s infinitely recyclable bottles with its colourful, stand-out design. As John says; “it’s the kind of milk bottle you’d be happy to leave on the table!”.