Taste the Nation: How one man and his 250 goats produce two award-winning cheeses
Michael and Jenny Finegan with their daughters on their farm in Slane, Co Meath.
Third-generation farmer Michael Finegan started milking goats on his farm in Co Meath in 2008 and, despite a recession soon following, has since found himself supplying milk to major brands as well as producing his own award-winning varieties of cheese after identifying a gap in the market.
“I'm milking 250 goats here outside Slane. Shortly after I started, of course, the recession hit,” he says. “The milk price got a little bit volatile. I thought it would be a good idea if I put my milk into my own product. We thought about the different things to do with milk, like bottling it myself and selling it in the shops or do an ice cream or yogurt, but we settled on cheese. At the time, I saw a gap in the market: there was no blue goats cheese. So, I started off making that.”
