Jersey milk proving a hit in North Galway
A2 protein is ‘easier to digest’
In an unusual career move, Colm Kelly changed from construction to farming. In two years he has secured organic certification and is delighting local customers with his fresh and creamy Jersey cow milk
THE milk produced on Colm Kelly’s farm in Castlegar is pasteurised metres away from where his Jersey cows are milked.
Colm Kelly’s ‘Village Creamery’ milk is handled solely by him. The milk is processed on a Monday and a Thursday in a pasteurisation room on Colm’s 50acre leased holding in the townland of Kiltullagh, a few miles from Galway city.
Colm delivers the milk door-to-door to customers in different parts of County Galway on a Tuesday and a Friday.
His herd of 20 purebred Jerseys were bought from a farmer in County Cavan. The herd has been genetically tested to confirm that their milk only contains the A2 beta-casein protein. Milk from most cows has both A1 and A2 proteins.
“A1 protein in milk is harder to digest. Milk with the A2 protein only is easier to digest. Breast milk has only A2 protein, so does goats' milk. It’s big in New Zealand and in the US, and in parts of England, but not as much here,” offered Colm from inside the pasteurisation room.
“I deliver to a number of families that were drinking different types of milk, who have switched to our milk now.
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