Diversification at the heart of Tipperary beef farm

John and Ann Commins continue the tradition of four generations of John’s family, by farming sustainably at Blackcastle, in the heart of Tipperary.

Their speciality beef sausage - which is part of the Grow with Aldi programme - is available at the supermarket chain throughout the week of September 13.

John (55) has Piedmontese cattle that naturally produce a very healthy beef - low in fat and high in protein - and he first became involved with the breed back in 2005.

“At the time we had a suckler farm - Limousin and Belgian Blue cows; we were doing everything as best we could and working closely with Teagasc, and while all of that was fine we felt there were a lot of variables outside of our control,” he said.

“We heard about a breed of cattle in Italy called Piedmontese; there is a Piedmontese society in Ireland and I contacted them. They were actually organising a trip to Italy for later that month and so myself, Ann and her parents went on that trip.

“We were very taken by the cattle and the whole story around them and decided to buy some breading stock and bring them back to Ireland and build up a herd here.

“We soon discovered that we didn’t really have enough of them for the Italians to take it seriously - while they were interested in our cattle they had no interest in buying 20 or 30, they wanted 300 or 400 at a time. The numbers just weren’t here for that.” In 2011, John established a food business focused on selling his special beef.

With the help of an innovation voucher from the Department of Agriculture, John worked with Dr Kerry of UCC’s School of Food and Nutritional Sciences on nutritional testing of products.

It was discovered that most of the meat cuts produced by the Piedmontese cattle were less than 2% fat, and were very high in protein.

“At the time we knew nothing about butchering - in fact I couldn’t tell you one cut of meat from the other; Michael Fennelly - another Piedmontese breeder - and myself decided to set up that; we got a butcher in our area to do the meat for us and we did the marketing,” said John.

“We basically gave away the first animal to family and friends to get some feedback and we actually got enough positive feedback to determine that we had something here and it was worth pursuing.” Slowly but surely the Commins’ built up the enterprise; they attended agricultural shows around the country and secured deals with restaurants and retail outlets including Super Valu.

They also set up their own online shop from where they sold the beef directly to the customer.

“This whole journey was never for the faint hearted to be honest with you because it’s tough out there for any small food business,” added John.

“Anyway, about two years ago beef prices in general collapsed and that affected us because the factories started dumping meat on the supermarkets and the restaurants.

“And, while our beef is considered superior, restaurants - which were also finding the going tough - found themselves in a situation where they were getting cheaper meat from the factories and we just couldn’t compete with that, we didn’t have the scale to compete.

“So, we decided then to go for value-added products and we developed our beef sausage which has been very successful and became part of the Grow with Aldi programme which was established by the retail outlet to help the very best small to medium sized Irish suppliers in building their brand.

“We are also doing a cure beef sausage now and a spice beef sausage all of which is very encouraging.” John says the Grow with Aldi programme served as “a huge boost for us”.

“220 producers applied for that and it was whittled down to 50 of which we were one and those 50 went on the shelves the last week in May.

“The top five then secured a 12-month contract and while we didn’t make the top five we were very, very close; it gave us huge national exposure and our online sales have gone through the roof.

“Aldi wants to do business with us as well; they are going to put our sausages on the shelf during the week of September 13, and are going to take it from there.” John also studied and completed a Level 9 Postgraduate Diploma in Innovation and Enterprise, run by Trinity College Dublin.

He believes the course prepared him to embrace the Grow with Aldi programme and realise his vision for the business.

Meanwhile, John and Ann’s children, Sarah (15), Joanne (12), and Evinned (9), all help on the farm.

The Commins also received support along the way from other entities.

“We have got great support from the Tipperary Local Enterprise Office, the Tipperary County Council, and North Tipperary Leader Development,” added Ann.

“We are members of Tipperary Food Producers, and get lots of support from our fellow food producers.

“We are committed to creating local employment and bringing a healthy, locally produced sustainable food product, our Blackcastle beef, to our customers.” It was much of this support, in fact, that allowed the family to build their own processing unit on the farm.

“We had some old traditional sheds and they were at a stage where we either had to knock them or do something with them to preserve them,” Ann continued.

“We decided at that point to convert the sheds into a food unit.

‘We are also in the process of setting up workshops focused on the whole area of sustainable development and skills; and food skills.

“We have a panel of 20 really good people who are prepared to do those workshops for us; one of the panelist is on the international fishing committee and the idea is that people who participate in this workshop for example would spend the morning fishing in the nearby river and then come back to the farm and cook the fish in the outdoor ovens.

“We are trying to create a real experience for people; we also want to do farm visits and host weddings as well.”