Drew and Jonathan Haslam
Owned by Drew and Jonathan Haslam, Mossfield was set up to produce added value to milk and other products from the family’s organic farm. The farm is owned by their father Ralph Haslam.

The Haslam brothers approached First Step in October 2005 for a loan for their business. Funding was required for marketing cheese and working capital. This application was strongly supported by the Bank of Ireland in Tullamore who matched the First Step loan.

Cheese is the main product and manufacturing has now been out sourced to a third party. The cheese was originally matured on the premises where it is made, however with the increase in demand the cheese is now matured in another premises that can handle the increase in production.

Currently five varieties of award winning organic gouda have been developed: Young Cheese, Mature Cheese, Garlic & Basil, Tomato & Herb and Cumin Seed. Other varieties of cheese are currently in development.

Awards to date include:

• Silver World Cheese Award 2005 for Garlic & Basil.
• Gold World Cheese Award 2005 for Plain Gouda.
• Silver IFEX international Cheese Awards for Cumin Seed.
• Gold Great Taste Award 2006 for Mature Gouda.
• Silver Great Taste Award 2006 for Smoked Gouda.
• Silver Listowel Cheese Awards for Plain Gouda.
• Gold World Cheese Award for Mature Plain.
• Supreme Champion at the Bord Bia International Food Forum 2006.

Sales are in shops and farmers markets nationwide including Evergreen Foods in Galway and On The Pigs Back in the English Market in Cork. Jonathan operates an extremely successful organic shop locally.

2007 saw the start of export of their cheeses into the UK market through Dalesford Farm in Gloucestershire and its six outlets in London.

The new unit to house the production of all dairy related produces e.g. ice cream, butter and yoghurt making is presently being built on the farm to cater for additional capacity. All the equipment has been sourced from Holland and they expect the new unit to be up and running by early next year.

The long term strategy is to produce high quality organic products at much the same price as non organic products. This can be achieved by the close link from farm to the consumer.

Ralph attributes much of his cheeses success to the unique characteristics of their farms location. “Our farm is based on rich limestone ground which produces lush grass all year round, and because of the fact that we’re organic, we have a certain amount of herbs and clover which grow naturally through the grass along with the clovers that we sow to aid the soils fertility. This means that our cows have an extremely healthy and nutritious diet which produces better milk and as a result great cheese.”

Mossfield Organic Farm,
Clareen,
Birr,
Co. Offaly
Tel: +353 86 892 8375