Sitting on the edge of Sherborne, Castle Farm has been home to the Dimond family for almost 90 years.

On this farmland, which stretches through the valley in front of Sherborne Old Castle towards Crackmore Woods, Ian, his wife Dawn and daughter Georgie farm a herd of 140 pedigree Holstein cows in this idyllic setting.
In 2011 Ian and Dawn were given the prestigious award of Master Breeder Herd, a rare accolade for high level stockmanship resulting in top quality pedigree cows.

Dawn said: “We have recently installed 2 Lely A5 Astronaut ‘robots’ to automatically milk the cows. This amazing technology allows the cows to choose when and how often they want to be milked, thereby giving the cows much more freedom of choice and a relaxed lifestyle.
During the spring and summer months the cows graze the fields around our farm as long as the weather is good! In the winter when it is too wet and cold to be out, they are housed in a large spacious building with comfy cubicle beds and an all-day breakfast buffet!”

Dawn added: “All of the cows are cared for on an individual basis. We truly do know our cows, many have their own unique characteristics and personalities. The Health and Welfare of our cows comes before anything else.”

The milk is pasteurised on the farm, in the new purpose built pasteurising room through a flow pasteuriser.

Although the milk is pasteurised it has not been through the industrial processes of homogenisation and standardisation, meaning it retains all of its wholesome natural flavour and quality and once it has settled, cream will rise to the top.

Dawn said: “If you are not keen on this, just give the bottle a shake to mix it back in. We then place it into our milk vending machine ready to sell directly to you. The milk can be in your fridge within 24 hours of the cows being milked.”

The milk vending machine is open Wednesday to Sunday, 8am-6pm.

Email: castlefarmdairy@hotmail.com

Facebook: castlefarmdairy

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