In 2015, Tomás upgraded the farm’s traditional herringbone milking parlour by installing a new Dairymaster 16-unit parlour where he now milks his 180 cows, with the help of his brothers Aaron and Cian.

Tomás also sold out the farm’s beef stock in order to focus on the dairy aspect of the farm, as he saw this as being the most productive avenue.

“We run a herd of British Friesians and a few cross-bred Jersey cows on 200 acres of land,” he says. “We milk twice daily, at 6am and 3.30pm. It’s generally a one-person job but there’s always a couple of us around at milking time.”

Tomás says he always liked the idea of selling his own produce and when the pandemic hit, he decided not to waste any more time.

“I had this idea that I wanted to brand our milk and sell it from the farm. We had quotas to fulfil with Glanbia and I decided to continue supplying them with milk while also taking on this new project,” he says.

“I loved the idea of selling incredibly fresh and wholesome milk, straight from grass to glass, so I got the ball rolling.”

Tomás decided to build his own production unit and retail his milk in a unique way, via a vending machine, in a ‘Milk Shack’ on the farm. Given the current climate, he opted for this contactless system, whereby customers could self-serve and be at ease.

“I did my research and found that I could source the equipment from DF Italia, who are now stocked by Unison Engineering in Limerick, and I got the milk vending machine from an English-based company, The Milk Station,” he says.

Being a joiner by trade, he was able to carry out all the work himself, with the help of his brothers.

“We built a new, purpose-built shed and pasteurising room. The shed has a clean room which features white walls and special flooring,” he says.

“I had to buy a pasteuriser, a chiller and a holding tank for the milk. The pasteuriser can cater for 500 litres of milk per hour.

“We built the Milk Shack, where the vending machine is held, in one day. We were fortunate that we were in a position to carry out the work ourselves as it cut down on labour costs.”

The vending machine automatically self-steam cleans after every bottle, ensuring every drop of milk is sold in its purest form.

The cows on Smyth’s Farm do rotational grazing, every three weeks, and are milked just 25 yards from where the milk is then sold.

“It takes just under two hours for the fresh milk to be taken from the parlour, fully pasteurised and in the vending machine, ready for the customers,” says Tomás.

“The cows graze the land surrounding the Milk Shack, so visitors really get to experience the whole essence of the farm when they arrive.”

The latest ‘Wholey Cow’ product has garnered even more attention for Smyth’s Farm: a range of milkshakes.

“We add a specific syrup to the milk to make our milkshakes, which are also distributed through the vending machine,” Tomás says.

“We now have eight or nine different flavours and they’ve all gone down a treat with the public. We can’t believe how the whole venture has just taken off.”

He says that on average, he and his family welcome around 200 customers every day and sell between 200 and 400 litres of Wholey Cow produce daily.

Sustainability is at the forefront of the farm’s ethos, with both the milk and milkshakes only available in glass bottles.

“We opted for one-litre glass bottles for our products, mainly because we wanted to ensure our business is as sustainable and eco-friendly as possible,” says Tomás.

“I remember having milk from the glass bottle when we were children and it tasted much better and kept longer.

“I wanted to bring back the traditional, fresh milk that people were used to years ago.”

The one-litre bottles of milk are €3.50 to buy, and customers can then bring back their bottles and have them re-filled for €1.50.

The name ‘Wholey Cow’ was born at the Smyth’s kitchen table, where the brothers first started thrashing out ideas. “Our milk is fresh and whole, so the name seemed perfect,” says Tomás.

It really is a grass-to-glass operation for the Smyths as their cows are all grass-fed and spend most of the year outdoors.

“We make our own feedstuffs for our stock and keep them out as much as we can. They’re only housed for short periods, during the very wet and cold months,” says Tomás.

It’s five weeks into breeding season on Smyth’s Farm where the brothers are in the process of having all the cows inseminated in preparation for their next calving season.

“We use artificial insemination for all cows, to schedule calving concisely,” says Tomás.

“We do split calving. We calve about 140 cows in the spring and then calve the remainder in autumn. This allows us to milk all year round and will ensure we can retail our products through every season.”

Tomás says split calving is nothing new for the family as they’ve always had a contract for winter milk down through the years, but that this year is certainly set to be different, as they divide their time and milk between two different aspects.

Q&A: ‘Some people thought I was mad when I came up with the idea’

What level of start-up costs did you incur in setting up the business?
It cost between €50,000 and €60,000 to buy all the pasteurising equipment and the vending machine.

How long did it take to get your farm business off the ground?
It took around 16 months to get everything done and be ready to retail. We were in the middle of the pandemic however, which slowed us down a bit.

Was financing readily available from the banks for this type of business?
There are lots of business start-up loans available from the banks for new farm businesses but it’s not something we went for.

Was insurance required?
Yes, but we already had our insurance in place.

Do you need to meet any specific licencing requirements?
We had already done our Food Safety course and HACCP training. We had to register with the Health Service Executive.

How did you come up with your branding?
Oliver Callan designed our logo for us. He came up with a few prototypes and then we just picked the one we liked best. It’s simple and effective on the clear bottle, leaving plenty of room to see the product inside.

If you could go back in time, is there anything that you would do differently?
I would say don’t dwell on the negatives. Some people thought I was mad when I came up with the idea, but I knew it was something I wanted to do so I pursued it and I’m so glad I did.