Yes!  Our cows are milked on a very modern system, which allows them to chose when, and how often they are milked over 24 hours.  Subject to how dry the weather has been, in the spring/summer we open the doors to the cow sheds, which allows them to chose between pasture, the sheds or milking.  The milking cows are buffer-fed all year round to make up for any shortfall in grass quality.  The youngstock and dry cows are more extensively grazed as they don’t mind the cold as much!

All our bull calves are reared on the farm for beef.  Once they reach approx 550kgs (over half a tonne in weight) they go direct to our nearest abattoir at either Telford or Shrewsbury.

No!  All growth hormones have been banned for use on cattle since the 1980’s.  The cows lactate naturally for 10 months.  To produce a consistent milk supply, we calve our cows all year round, so we have a cycle of freshly calved high-yielding cows, mid-yield and low-yielding cows.   

There is a myth that cows milk contains antibiotics.  Farmers are not allowed to routinely give antibiotics to their cattle, and any antibiotics are only dispensed under veterinary supervision when absolutely necessary.  There are long meat and milk withdrawal periods for animals that may have been treated.  A cow who is receiving antibiotic treatment has her milk put on ‘reject’, and her milk is not used until she has had clear test after the withdrawal period.   We can test the individual cows’ milk on the farm, and our national milk-buyer tests each collection before it leaves the farm.  

When Mawley Milk was established in 1982, we sold all of our milk in glass bottles to 4 milkmen.  Over time, the doorstep customers declined and supermarkets and convenience stores grew in popularity, where customers could get all their provisions under one roof.  As our milkmen (and women!) retired, there was no one wanting to take on the milk rounds; antisocial hours for little profit, sadly bought an end to our glass bottle days.  We either had to stop our processing altogether, or keep up with consumer demand.  We invested in a secondhand poly bottle filler, and with growing popularity of farm shops and deli’s there was a market for our milk.  Families like the convenience of large, family size bottles, that are lightweight and easy to store.  Our bottles are HDPE plastic – the widest recycled plastic in the UK.  We always have our eye on new packaging solutions that may be available in the future as an alternative to plastic.

As we are a busy working farm, due to health and safety of visitors we are not open to the public. We do host open days for the public every 2-3 years to give adults and children the opportunity to see the whole process of where Mawley Milk comes from.   Throughout the year we host occasional farm walks for groups (ie Young Farmers Clubs, school visits, Cubs/Beavers/Brownies) by prior arrangement.  

We do take veterinary students and sixth form students for work experience when possible.  We get booked up well in advance, so if you are seeking a work experience do get in touch as soon as possible.