Herd of 36 dairy goats behind new handcrafted local cheese

A TALLAGHT farm and its herd of 36 dairy goats are behind a unique hand-crafted soft creamy cheese that is creating a viable family business and local employment.

Overlooking the city from the foothills of the Dublin mountains, Oldcourt Hill Farm is run by Tim and Brigid McGlynn.

The couple are well known locally for their free-roaming hen eggs, which they deliver to more than 500 customers weekly, many of whom live in the surrounding communities.

They’ve also developed 60 recreational allotment spaces on their 46-acre farm, which are worked by people living right across South Dublin County.

More recently, Tim and Brigid set their sights on another venture and started off with a few free-roaming, grass-fed goats to try and produce a quality, local cheese.

After a lot of hard work and a year on SuperValu’s Food Academy Programme, Dublin Hill Goats Cheese was last month officially launched.

Tallaght man Tim McGlynn

Alongside championing local produce and the traditional and sustainable farming methods alive in Tallaght, Dublin Hill Goats Cheese is also using locally produced honey in one of its two cheese blends.

There’s an original mild and creamy cheese being produced, and a soft cheese drizzled with Dublin honey, more specifically Olly’s Honey.

Living on a farm in nearby Glenasmole, Olly Nolan, who himself is a past participant of SuperValu’s Food Academy, has a number of beehives located on Tim’s farm, with the honey produced from these hives called Ballycullen Blossom.

This locally produced honey drizzles Dublin Hill Goats Cheese, a sweet partnership that highlights the quality of local produce and its many possibilities.

“Olly has been a great help along the way and it’s great to see two farms working together like this and both benefiting,” Tim told The Echo.

“We wanted to keep it simple and produce a very, simple cheese.

“It’s great that the milk for the cheese is produced on the farm, the honey is produced on the farm, all we get in is salt and culture.”

Feidhlin Glynn, Tim McGlynn and Yun Lian Zhou

According to Tim, who moved from Donegal to Walkinstown with his family at the age of seven, it takes between four to five days to go from fresh milk to cheese.

Between the production of the cheese and caring for a herd of energetic dairy goats, animals which Tim said can be quite temperamental especially in wet weather, there’s a lot to be done.

However, thanks to support from the South Dublin Local Enterprise Office (LEO) Tim has been able to employ two people.

“If we can get [the business] going this year, there is capacity to grow to 150 goats [which would generate more employment opportunities],” Tim said.

To date Dublin Hill Goats Cheese is stocked in SuperValu Firhouse, Knocklyon, Ballyroan, Lucan and Orwell, with veg shop Get Fresh in Ballyroan also stocking the artisan cheese.

Tim is also connecting with local restaurants and pubs, with The Merry Ploughboy in Rathfarnham including the cheese on its menu.

Alongside SuperValu, LEO South Dublin and Olly’s Honey, Tim said there has been great support locally for the product and has extended thanks.

Anyone who would like to learn more can visit the Dublin Hill Goats Cheese Facebook page or Tim can deliver the cheese direct to customers with their eggs.