DAIRY

required a significant investment of about £50,000, Angharad says the vending machine milk is popular with locals, with about 50 litres sold through it each day.

They are also selling their milk via a local milk round, as well as supplying their mini milkshakes to a cafe in nearby Cardigan.

Angharad and Roger have spent time building the Llaeth Preseli brand and they believe this brand awareness is crucial.

Their marketing is primarily done online, with the use of their social media accounts and website.

Gelato

The success with the vending machine and the excitement of selling a product from the farm encouraged the couple to look at other value-added products and they are now also making gelato, which Angharad says has a much higher milk percentage and a ‘stretchier’ texture than ice cream.

Despite the couple’s concerns that the process would be technical and machinery costs large, they decided to visit R.S.S. Hereford, a company specialising in artisan ice cream equipment, for a trial day.

Angharad and Roger took some of their milk to the site to see the process.

Roger says: “Seeing our milk being turned into gelato was incredible and we knew we had to make a go of it.”

They decided to approach a local food centre to help with the process.

They now take batches of milk to Food Centre Wales in Llandysul, Carmarthenshire, which is used by local food producers.

They hire the on-site dairy production room for a day-and-a-half and there a large batch of the gelato base is made. It is then churned into different flavoured gelato by

Farm facts

■ The farm comprises 162 hectares (400 acres) mostly owned, as well as some local grassland rented to make silage

■ The herd is milked twice a day in a 16/32 swingover parlour, with help from employed staff

■ Beef sires, a mixture of Limousin, British Blue and adding various fruit pastes, nut butters or chocolate blends.

Angharad says: “This is an incredible facility to have in Wales for small start-ups like us and we will be forever grateful to the team at Food Centre Wales for their invaluable support and guidance.”

The gelato is made once a month and can keep for a year in the storage freezers if required. In July 2022, they began selling the prod-

Aberdeen-Angus, are used on about 200 cows; the remainder are put to sexed semen with 60-70 replacements retained each year

■ Calves are fed via an automatic milk machine

■ Beef bred calves are sold as stores at 18 months through Whitland market uct from a portable pod, which lies adjacent to the vending machine.

It attracted more customers than expected to the farm — locals and tourists alike — which the couple says was incredible to see after the further investment.

They also attended some local agricultural events and weddings, as well as hosting parties and themed events on the farm to help attract customers in the colder weather when custom was steadier.

The new business path saw Angharad come home full-time from her career in TV production.

Progression

She is a driving force behind Llaeth Preseli’s business ventures and has attended business development and gelato-making courses in order to ensure continued progression.

She says: “We wanted to establish sales from the farm for the first year as that is what will provide a consistent income.

“But looking ahead, we would like to focus on attending more offfarm events with the portable pod and also hopefully erect a permanent point of sale at the farm allowing us to reach more people.”

Over the next few years, their aim is to be able to make the gelato on-farm, with the expected set-up expense set to be about £60,000.