Dairy farm installs a milk vending machine as part of diversification plans - but also to get a better price for its product

Within just a couple of hours of milking the 100 strong herd, their milk has been pasteurised and is ready for sale from the vending machine at New Grange Farm in the the village of Shiptonthorpe near Market Weighton.

To start with the customer buys a one litre bottle for £2.20 or a 500ml for £2.00. Then they buy their milk at a litre priced at £1.20 or half a litre for 60p. If they re-use their bottles then it is still £1.20 per litre or 60p per 500ml.

There are also a variety of syrups you can add to make a milkshake.

While some people think it is more expensive to buy milk this way, the couple argue that soaring supermarket prices are on a par and this is as fresh as you will get.

Richard said: “People think it is going to be massively more expensive but it is now more than £1.20 in the supermarket and here you are getting a really fresh product. It has travel led nowhere. You don’t know what has happened to supermarket milk, how old it is or how long it has been on the shelf.”

The Milk Shed is open 7am to 7pm and while the couple are usually around, people can help themselves making the venture convenient. It also allows people to catch a glimpse of the herd and know exactly where the milk has come from.

The venture has been well received by the village with regular customers each week including the village hall social groups which use the machine to get milk for their teas and coffees.

He added: “People can see exactly where the milk has come from - there are no food miles. I think people are on board with giving farmers a better deal.”

A better deal is another reason why the Waring’s have started selling their own milk. In addition to it being another business for the farm, which has been in the family for three generations, it means they can guarantee the price they will get paid for the milk.

Mr Waring said: “There is a lot in trying to get a fairer price for the milk that we produce and we have a good community living in the village and we wanted to show them the quality.”

Whatever is not sold from the machine they use themselves at home or to feed calves. Other milk from the cows that is not used in the vending machine is still collected by Paynes Dairies.

The vending machine also stocks locally made and produced eggs, bacon, pork pies and home-made baking by Sarah.

There is scope for more milk to be sold through the Milk Shed and they hope to focus more on diversification rather than investing in livestock given the uncertainties around farming.

Ideally in future they will have a farm shop and cafe on site.

The couple has also taken on a five year tenancy on a four acre Pick Your Own fruit site in Shiptonthorpe with strawberries, raspberries, gooseberries, redcurrants, apples, pears, plums and rhubarb. They will be harvesting the fruit and selling it to customers visiting the milk shed in the vending machine.

Mr Waring added: “We hope to get bigger and diversify and milk and vend but it is hard to know what to do at the minute with prices and one thing and another. At the moment I am not seeing the future in wanting to invest in cows and stock so we will see how it goes.”