Steynton Farm has become one of the first in Pembrokeshire to provide fresh milk via a vending machine. Customers can visit the farm shop and as well as buying fresh vegetables and eggs grown or produced on the farm, they can also fill up a recyclable glass bottle with fresh milk from the farm’s cows.
Glass bottles cost £2 each and can be reused each time customers come in to buy their milk. A pint of milk costs £1 per litre and is pasteurised on the farm.
Steynton farm has been in the Davies family for over 100 years and throughout three generations. It is now classed as a mixed farm, with the current owners, Steve and Jo Davies keeping cows, chickens and ducks as well as growing their own fresh fruit and vegetables.
Steve and Jo say they had been planning on installing the milk vending machine for a number of years and finally decided to take the plunge.
“Our new venture came about because about 2 years ago when we started selling eggs at the farm gate. We realised that a lot more people than we thought were really interested in where their food came from. A lot of people had similar principles to ourselves. They were concerned about the welfare of the animals, the impact of food miles and the quality of local produce.
After being an organic farm for 20 years, we also discovered that people were not really concerned about an organic label they were much happier with quality, ethically produced local food.”
The venture was planned to launch in March, when unfortunately, due to covid 19, as with many businesses, things were delayed.
“A project that should have been up and running in March, finally got going in October!! It was an extremely stressful time, the qualifications and equipment required are endless.”
They milk 160 cows twice a day, ensuring that the vending machine is regularly stocked up for the growing chain of local customers.
The day before the scheme launched, Mr Davies said,
“Today I was given a glass milk bottle dating back many years with the name Davies & son on it.
Over 90 years ago my great grandparents started bottling milk at North Studdolph farm, Steynton delivering milk around Milford Haven with a horse and cart before finishing in the pub in Steynton, where the old horse, after dropping my grandfather off for a few pints, would walk on home to Studdolph without him.
Today I sat down to breakfast with one of our new bottles which were delivered yesterday and just thought how fitting it was. It would appear we have done a full circle and now 3 generations later we are now about to start the same process albeit without the horse (although the pub is a great idea)”
Since their launch date on 22nd October, locals have flooded through their doors, sharing their support beyond the immediate community. The owners seem extremely grateful and humbled by the support the new farm project has received,
“The local community have been so supportive and kind, and their comments and appreciation make our huge workload worthwhile. At the moment we work 7 days a week for at least 12 hours a day. Since beginning milk vending, we have sold approximately 1400 bottles to our community and more are going out each day.
Our small farm shop contains only things grown or produced on our farm, so if it’s not here it’s because we don’t have it. Our plans for the future entail producing more varieties of vegetables as requested by our customers and lots more things to come.”
The farm has recently taken delivery of 120 chickens from Roach poultry, noting that they were deep cleaning and preparing ‘cluckingham palace’ for their arrival, and hope to be selling fresh eggs from them soon.
The Steynton Farm Facebook page, which has currently around 2000 followers, posts regular updates from the working farm, with information about available produce, including fresh milk, as well as videos of the animals feeding, milking and regular updates.
