Digitising dairy: How Ireland’s first sheep cheese producer kept up with the modern world
Sean Fitzgerald, Cratloe Hills Cheese at his farm in Co Clare. Picture : Eamon Ward
From handwritten dockets to tablet-based orders, one of Ireland’s pioneer sheep cheese producers is embracing digitisation to keep his business competitive.
Sean Fitzgerald, founder of Cratloe Hills Sheep’s Cheese, saw an opportunity in this change to expand his skill set and business to cater to an ever-digitising world.
Originally a dairy farmer, Mr Fitzgerald’s main ambition when taking over the family farm was to build his milking herd up to 100 cows on the family’s 200 acres nestled in the lush landscape of Cratloe, Co Clare.
After completing a small business management course at the University of Limerick, those ambitions pivoted after Mr Fitzgerald completed a project investigating the feasibility of sheep dairying enterprises in Ireland.
Inspired, he bought and imported 45 Friesland ewes and three rams from England in 1987 and began his journey as the first Irish sheep cheese producer.
At their peak, the Fitzgeralds milked a flock of 240 ewes, which comprised Friesland, Lacaune-Friesland, Texel-Friesland, and Belclare-Friesland crosses.
Now, since he has taken a step back from the farm, he still works on creating his iconic cheese; “it keeps me young,” he told the .
When he stepped back from the farm, he sold his sheep but still sources milk from sheep farmer Michael Cross for cheese production. The farm is now managed and run by Mr Fitzgerald’s son Diarmuid, who has continued in dairy but has converted back to the bovine kind, milking around 150 Jersey crosses.
Currently, Mr Fitzgerald produces and sells sheep and cow milk Gouda but is also waiting on a licence to sell his new line of goat cheese made from milk from Diarmuid O’Donoghue's farm situated in Ennistymon, Co Clare.
Once the milk is delivered to the farm, Mr Fitzgerald adds vegetarian rennet, which helps form the curds that make the cheese. These are shaped and pressed overnight before spending 12 hours in a brine bath.
“Everything done here is local,” Mr Fitzgerald told the proudly.
Once finished in its brine bath, the sheep cheese gets a coating of yellow wax, the cow cheese in black wax and the goat cheese in white wax before it is then kept in cool storage. At full capacity, Mr Fitzgerald’s fridge can hold 1,300 wheels of cheese.
The cheese matures for a minimum of two months, which produces the milder range of cheeses. Ideally, Mr Fitzgerald likes to mature his cheese for six months, which is then marketed as ‘mature’.
At the beginning, Mr Fitzgerald made his cheese in the Food Centre in Raheen. In 1992, he was awarded a 50% grant from the LEADER programme and was able to build the cheese plant on the farm where it has been made ever since.
On a drive to improve and further adapt the business, Mr Fitzgerald turned to computers. During the quieter period between September and December last year, Mr Fitzgerald began digitising the business, moving away from balance books and paper dockets.
“If there was a job to be done, it was done… The need to digitise became very clear,” Mr Fitzgerald explained to the .
Not wanting to rely on distributors and losing the personal connections he's cultivated with his buyers but realising his need for professional help and insight, he worked with John O’Shanahan, a senior digital and lean consultant at LeanBPI.
LeanBPI, a business improvement consultancy, works with Local Enterprise Offices to help small and micro-businesses access grants and improve processes.
To date, it has supported around 750 businesses, including Cratloe Hill Cheese, in boosting revenues through digitisation and lean practices.
“John understood where I was coming from, where I was at and the journey I had to travel and their support along that journey,” explained Mr Fitzgerald.
With LEADER funding, Mr Fitzgerald was able to set up and digitise his business with the help of Mr O’Shanahan and LeanBPI.
As with any new skill that needed to be learnt, Mr Fitzgerald said turning away from pen and paper and setting up a digital system for his enterprise was “not easy.”
“It took a huge effort on my part and huge patience from John to help me set up and learn how to use the system,” he said.
Now Mr Fitzgerald has a fully digitised system where orders can be placed and logged from a tablet and then printed out on a docket. Mr O’Shanahan trained Mr Fitzgerald on the system and also recorded each step so if he was ever stuck on his own he would have resources to reference.
“The videos were a great help; I needed them when I was doing it on my own at the beginning,” Mr Fitzgerald admitted.
The biggest challenge was balancing the new system while also organising production and deliveries. Mr Fitzgerald encountered a few teething problems with getting together statements and figuring out how to use QuickBooks and getting balances right.
He credits his buyers, who were patient and accommodated Mr Fitzgerald through the change and development of his business due, in part, to the personal relationships he has built with them, some of which have lasted over 30 years of supplying, such as Fitzpatrick’s Supervalu in Ennistymon and On the Pigs Back in the English Market in Cork.
Mr Fitzgerald prides himself on his strong personal relationships with all his buyers; these relationships are tightly woven within his business model and have allowed him to persevere during challenging times.
At one point, a lack of sheep's milk had paused production at Cratloe, but Mr Fitzgerald adapted and began creating cow cheese from the family herd in 2025 and was able to sell it to his clientele, who were willing to continue to support and promote his brand during the rocky time to allow Mr Fitzgerald to get back on track.
“Every business, big or small, has hit a stonewall at some point, but my business model has allowed me to adapt… The relationships I have with my buyers have allowed me the space to do that.”
Now looking towards the future, continuing his sheep and cow cheese lines as well as hopefully supplying goat cheese, Mr Fitzgerald shows no signs of slowing down.
“After 38 years, the challenges aren’t getting any easier… You just have to deal with the cards you are dealt.”
Mr Fitzgerald told the he aims to stick to his business model, with the help of his new digital set-up ensuring the business continues to produce quality products while remaining honest and transparent with customers.
