The Lynchs have been milking water buffalo in Macroom now for 17 years.
They went from milking 40 Friesian cows to now having over 750 buffalo in total, with two milking platforms and two blocks for younger stock, all based near Macroom.
They are now stocking a range of mozzarella, ricotta, buratta, bocconcini, Greek-style cheese and a grilling style cheese in most major retailers in Ireland – all coming from their buffalo milk.
A new range of Macroom Buffalo yogurt has also been recently launched in select retailers, available in natural, vanilla and strawberry flavours.
The youngest son in the family, Kieran, and his parents Johnny and Geraldine all work full-time between the farm, cheese and meat sales. His brothers, Peter and Jack, are also involved.
The Lynchs were the first to ever milk buffalo on the island of Ireland.
In 2009, milk prices were poor and Johnny was looking to diversify the family dairy farm so he decided to collaborate with a local cheesemaker to provide him with buffalo milk to make mozzarella.
“When Johnny talked about bringing in buffalo first it was still kind of a joke and he actually took us on a family holiday over to Wales to a buffalo farm, then it became real that he was serious about it,” Geraldine explained.
Not long after the Johnny went on a journey of trying to source milking buffalo, first looking to the UK.
He eventually sourced them from a region in the north of Italy that was free from bluetongue.
The Lynchs decided to build a cheese plant in 2015 to process their own milk and set up Macroom Buffalo cheese.
Originally investors and experienced cheese makers came in and they also had employees in accounting and marketing.
However, the Lynch family are now taking over the running of the business, with 24 employees between the farm, factory and the office.
Challenges
Along with all of the success that the Lynchs have achieved over the years, there has been challenges.
Gestation length in buffalo is 10 months and a week, which is five weeks longer than typical cows.
“Every calving interval you’re losing a month, so that makes it more challenging to get your calvings right for milk supply and supermarket demand,” Kieran explained.
They have to be over a year ahead in terms of planning for supply, therefore they must know how many to put in calf as they can’t go and buy more buffalo in the mart to increase supply.
Succession
At the age of 25, Kieran is now taking over the running of the family farm and the Macroom Buffalo cheese business.
After school, Kieran studied agriculture in MTU and during this time he did a spell of work experience on a Dutch robotic buffalo farm.
“It was very interesting to see and it was a brilliant set up but it’s not something we’ll be getting into here in the short term,” Kieran said.
He also packed his suitcase and headed to work in Australia for a period of time before returning to the farm. He highlighted that it was good to get some travelling done early, to get it out of his system.
Kieran has been working at home full time now for the last two and a half years, so he has gotten comfortable with the running of it.
“Dad has enough going on with selling the meat and helping to run the cheese plant, he’s fairly happy to step back and let me do as much as I can,” he explained.
With Johnny focusing more on the cheese and meat, Kieran will look after the running of the farm side of the business.
Kieran expressed that it is a challenge to step up to manage the people working on the out farms which he will have to adjust to.
One thing that complicates succession for a lot of families is when more than one son or daughter is interested in taking over the farm.
However, this was not an issue for the Lynchs as Kieran’s two older brother were not interested in taking it over.
“It’s great to have someone that’s interested in taking it over, because there are plenty more farms that simply haven’t anyone interested,” Johnny stated.
Kieran now has his own herd number and is renting some land separate to Macroom Buffalo in an aim to get things going on the succession front.
“The sooner the better, because we really want to make this happen,” Johnny outlined.
The Lynchs have been speaking with accountants over the last number of months to look at their options for succession, which they feel is a three or four-year journey.
One accountant strongly suggested that they go for a partnership while the other advised against it, stating that it would be more simple for Kieran to go out on his own.
CAP changes
They explained that it can be difficult to commit to one route until they see what the Government’s plans are for the next few years, especially with CAP, because once a path is taken, you can’t really go back on it.
“We would appreciate clear guidelines going forward from the government about succession, you’d be afraid to make a move sometimes in case that some new thing would come out,” Geraldine commented.
She explained that they would like guidelines on what’s coming up in the new CAP in relation to succession, when it’s coming, what’s going to be there for young farmers and how it’s going to work.
With Ireland now holding the presidency of the Council of the EU, Johnny highlighted that it is a great opportunity for Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon to advocate for generational renewal and succession.
“Minister Heydon was here with us recently on the farm and he would give you a lot of hope and confidence but there is a lot of work to be done.”
It is important to get succession talks going early so that the young person does not lose appetite for it, Johnny pointed out as he took over the farm himself at a young age of around 27. Johnny and Geraldine both believe that it is key for a young person to go away and get a good education, do some travel and get some working experience under their belt before returning to take over the farm full time.
“He’s increasingly taking over the farm, he didn’t just walk in and take over the whole place straight away.
“He’s got good experience and we’re very lucky on our out farms that we have very experienced farmers that are willing to mentor him as well,” Geraldine said.
It’s essential not to be afraid to make mistakes because that’s how you learn, Johnny also stated.
Kieran highlighted that both sides including the one handing over the farm and the successor, must being very open and honest of what they’re expecting in the succession process and beyond with communication being key.
Aldi
The Lynch family said that Macroom Buffalo mozzarella would not have come off the ground only for Aldi.
In the early days, the iconic ad which featured Johnny on the back of a Buffalo saying “bonjourno,” set them on a good footing as it was widely known wherever they went.
The ad also helped with their meat sales as their buffalo burgers have become more popular in butchers, restaurants and chippers in west Cork and beyond.
When they were first in talks with Aldi in 2014, the mozzarella factory had not even been built yet, however Aldi was patient with them.
“They have put a lot of faith in us and that gives us confidence to reinvest going forward and keep the show going,” Kieran said.
The Lynch family also acknowledged the great teams they have on farm and in the factory and the support they have received over the years from Aldi to Údarás na Gaeltachta to Dorothy O’Tuama who carries out tours for the public on the farm.
SHARING OPTIONS