Rethinking Dairy Farming: A Fascinating Visit to The Ethical Dairy
There are some visits that stay with you long after you leave. Our recent trip to The Ethical Dairy in Dumfries and Galloway was certainly one of them.
We have stocked their wonderful Barlocco Blue and Rainton Tomme for some time, and had long admired the philosophy behind the business. But standing in the middle of their fields, surrounded by cows calmly grazing alongside their calves in the warm May sunshine, brought the whole story to life in a way no article or conversation ever could.
We were warmly welcomed by Kevin and the cheesemaking team, who showed us around their immaculate dairy and maturation rooms. As a true farmhouse cheesemaker, The Ethical Dairy produces a range of firm and blue cheeses using milk from their own herd. There was a quiet sense of care and purpose throughout the dairy.
Afterwards, we wandered through the grazing fields where playful calves bounded through the grass before their mothers slowly appeared behind them. It was there we met David, the owner and visionary behind the project, who began sharing the remarkable story of how The Ethical Dairy came to be.
“For years,” David explained, “we struggled with the realities of modern dairy farming, particularly the separation of calves from their mothers shortly after birth. We wanted to find another way... one where we didn’t have to choose between doing what felt ethically right and running a viable farm.”
Already organic for more than twenty years, the farm had some of the highest welfare standards in the country. Yet David believed they could go further. In 2012, they built a specially designed dairy system where calves could remain with their mothers while the cows were still milked once daily.
The first attempt, however, was financially disastrous.
“We nearly gave up,” David admitted. “But the change in the cows was extraordinary. They were calmer, healthier and more confident. You could see the difference immediately.”
Instead of abandoning the idea, the team spent years refining the system. By 2016, they launched a redesigned cow-with-calf model across the entire herd, giving themselves three years to prove it could work.
Eventually, it did.
Today, calves remain with their mothers for five to six months, thriving naturally while the farm continues once-daily milking. Watching young calves chasing one another through the fields, David smiled: “They become like teenagers. They spend their days playing with their pals.”
What makes the story even more remarkable is that this ethical approach has also delivered significant environmental benefits. Compared to a typical dairy farm, The Ethical Dairy has cut greenhouse gas emissions and energy use by more than half, reduced antibiotic and agrochemical use by 90%, doubled the productive life of their cows and increased biodiversity across the farm five-fold. Their carbon-negative status has even been independently verified following 25 years of soil carbon data collection.
Meanwhile, our daughter — amusingly not much of a cheese enthusiast herself — became firm friends with Skye, the farm sheepdog, happily playing fetch while we listened to David’s fascinating stories.
It was a deeply memorable visit. Not simply because of the exceptional cheeses being made, but because of the thoughtfulness, courage and persistence behind them. The Ethical Dairy is quietly challenging assumptions about what modern dairy farming can look like, and after seeing it for ourselves, every piece of Barlocco Blue and Rainton Tomme feels even more meaningful.
The Cheese Lady x