Ruairí and Cormac Cunningham, the men behind the Strathroy dairy processor, are back looking for dairy farmers in the Republic of Ireland – either established or new entrants.

Strathroy has been a stone in the shoe of the National Dairy Council (NDC) for heading on 30 years now, with founder Eamon Cunningham (father of Ruairí and Cormac) branding the NDC and Irish dairy co-ops “a cartel”, and resolutely doing things his own way. They shook the nest a couple of years back when they enticed a large chunk of Wexford Creamery’s suppliers, disaffected over the sale of their processor to Glanbia, to send their milk across the border to Omagh, Co Tyrone, for processing.

Other farmers unhappy with their processor, or with what some saw as the straitjacket of milk supply agreements, also joined up. About 150 farmers are sending their milk north of the border.

Those milk supply agreements, or MSAs, are now three years old, and farmers are being invited to consider Strathroy as an option.

At the time, the Cunninghams were treated as pariahs at the gates by the dairy industry. A pair of rogues who were intent on ripping apart the very fabric of the co-op movement.

The only question that remains to be answered now is that if more suppliers from the Republic jump ship, where will the milk be processed? Will it head back across the border to Omagh or are the Cunninghams contemplating putting up some steel south of the border?

Of course, the model they follow – that of pasteurising milk and either selling it in cartons as a fresh product or back into further processing – could not work for everyone, but it certainly is working for them.

Brexit and the potential of a hard border may be on the horizon, but the savvy Strathroy siblings seem to treat every challenge as their opportunity.