3 minute read
Helping Woodbridge Farm and Dorset Blue Vinny build a future proof business
Old Mill clients and owners of Dorset Blue Vinny, the Davies family, discuss the key points in future proofing their dairy farm.
Who are they?
Dorset Blue Vinny is a family owned cheese making business based near Sturminster Newton in Dorset; they produce a traditional semi-hard blue cheese made from pasteurised, handskimmed cow’s milk.
The business was established by Mike and Christine Davies in the early 1980s and the Davies family have been dairy farmers for over 50 years. Like many farmers across the South West, they saw the opportunity to diversify into the food and drink industry, starting with the resurrection of the 300-yearold recipe for Dorset Blue Vinny.
The business is located at Woodbridge Farm and now is run on a day-to-day basis by their son Richard and their daughter, Emily. Emily is also heavily involved in managing their second business, The Dorset Blue Soup Co. to produce popular handmade chutneys and soups. Most impressively throughout their evolution, Woodbridge Farm has continued to be a working farm and home to over 270 Holstein Friesian cows, which continuously produce milk for their popular cheese. The farm has been steered to success by two generations.
What makes them successful?
By investing in their product, listening to their customers and making the shift over to Cloud-based accounting, they are in a strong position to remain competitive. They have embraced diversification and have been smart about it; utilising their resources, tapping into a niche market and building strong relationships with suppliers and wholesalers.
Overcoming challenges: the need to diversify
As well as being cheese makers, they manage a working farm and, consequently, there are different cost centres that need to be carefully monitored. Having diversified the farm business, the need soon became apparent to bring together both the farm and the cheese making businesses, ensuring they both run side by side in a more streamlined way.
‘Working closely with the team at Old Mill, we identified that Xero’s Cloudbased solution was the way forward,’ said Emily.
‘The move to Xero was a massive transition for us as there’s a lot of paperwork generated because of the cheese sales, so we needed to set up all the cost centres and systems. We can now pull the right information on a monthly basis to provide us with much better insights to be able to run the business.’
traditional farming business can diversify to secure the business for generations to come.”
The future
As the business expands, one of the biggest challenges they face is around the transition to capture meaningful, usable data that can be used to manage the farm’s performance on a day-to-day basis. And, while the Dorset Blue Vinny brand has a strong heritage, the family recognise the need to continue to innovate wherever possible. This includes thinking about ways in which they can expand their product range or broaden distribution.
Richard said: ‘As a family business you tend to find yourself wearing a lot of hats, so it’s essential to have an adviser like Old Mill who knows our industry and is a good sounding board. We also need to continue to be progressive in our outlook, and this means being open to things like the shift to Cloud-based accounting in order to remain competitive.’
How has Old Mill helped?
‘What attracted us to Old Mill was their rural and food credentials,’ added Richard. ‘They are known in the agricultural space across the West Country, and they have genuine food and drink specialists who understand the entire supply chain. We can readily plug into that expertise.’
The Davies’ story shows how a traditional farming family can diversify to secure the business for the next generation. They have utilised the skills and interests of all family members, they constantly review the business for efficiency and financial security, and they embrace opportunity.
If you would like to know more about how we can help you to diversify your farm, or have any questions relating to this case study, please get in touch with one of our financial experts.
Andrew Vickery
www.dorsetblue.com
