Rainton Farm, home of The Ethical Dairy, is the first farm in Europe to successfully implement cow with calf dairy farming at a commercially viable scale.
The Ethical Dairy brand, and the ethical claim, is based on four core values:
- Fair work for people
- High welfare for livestock
- Environmentally regenerative closed-loop production
- Resilient circular approaches
| 1860s |
The Finlay family begins dairy farming in Galloway. |
| 1930s |
The Finlay family begins farming at Rainton Farm. |
| 1987 |
David Finlay takes over the management of the farm. |
| 1994 |
Cream o’ Galloway ice cream launched at Royal Highland Show. |
| 1999 |
The farm begins a two year transition to organic. |
| 2000 |
Introduction of new facilities to create Cream o’ Galloway Visitor Centre. |
| 2001 |
Local foot and mouth disease outbreak badly affects the farm and Cream o’ Galloway. |
| 2005 |
Wilma Finlay awarded MBE for services to the tourist industry in Scotland. |
| 2006 |
Win BBC Radio 4 Farmer of the Year award in recognition of work on organic farming, education and diversification. |
| 2007 |
Read ‘The Long Emergency’, began to question conventional farming systems and began to investigate the viability of a cow with calf approach. |
| 2008 |
Economic crash devastates fair trade and organic ice cream market. |
| 2009-2012 |
Plans for a new self-built dairy shed progress, incorporating cow with calf facilities. |
| 2012 |
First pilot of a cow with calf system across half the herd. |
| 2013 |
Halt failed pilot and recover. |
| 2014 |
Install anaerobic digester. |
| 2015 |
Research by a Glasgow Vet School student researcher concluded an adapted cow with calf system might be viable. |
| 2016 |
Launch of a 3 year ‘experiment’ of cow with calf farming across the full herd. |
| 2018 |
Launch of The Ethical Dairy cheese brand after second year of pilot proved cautiously optimistic. Successful crowdfunding campaign supported creation of dedicated cheese making facilities. |
| 2019 |
David Finlay wins Farmer of the Year at the CEVA Animal Welfare Awards. The Ethical Dairy organises and hosts an Ethical Farming Conference. Announcement of viability of the Rainton cow with calf system after conclusion of the 3 year experiment. Commitment to cow with calf system permanently. |
| 2020 |
Scottish Government funds independent research into the Rainton cow with calf system, led by SRUC. Surge in customer demand leads to temporary cheese sell outs. |
| 2021 |
Publication of 25 years of soil organic matter data demonstrates the farm is carbon negative. The Ethical Dairy wins an Outstanding Achievement Award at VIBES, Scotland’s environmental business awards, and wins Innovation in Farming award at the Scottish Land & Estates Helping it Happen awards. |
