In the quiet countryside near Gorey, in Ireland’s southeast, Catherine Kinsella has built something that feels both nostalgic and forward-thinking. At Salt Rock Dairy, Catherine and her family produce milk, yoghurt and butter — all on their small coastal farm. But what truly distinguishes her work is not only the range of products, it’s the circular system behind them.
“We produce and sell directly to the customer via a self-vending machine”, she explains. The vending machine on the farm allows customers to fill and refill their own bottles. “People buy their bottles, fill their milk, and reuse those bottles constantly. It’s a whole self-service system”.
This simple but innovative setup embodies a deep respect for both tradition and sustainability. Once they had the milk operation running, Catherine began making yoghurt with leftover milk from the day. “Whatever milk is left over, we convert that into yoghurt before putting in the fresh tank the next day”, she says.
From there, she and her husband decided to experiment further, producing butter, but not just any butter. “There’s no local butter being made, and very little cultured butter really being made in Ireland”, Catherine notes. “So that’s what we’re doing now”. Their cultured, salted butter is made from cream separated on-site, to which they add gut-healthy bacteria, then ferment it before churning. The process also produces buttermilk, a by-product that customers eagerly buy for baking breads, scones, and pancakes. Even the skimmed milk finds new life as kefir, ensuring nothing goes to waste.
Salt Rock Dairy’s story began with a revelation. The family converted from dry stock to dairy farming in 2013, and for the first time, Catherine was drinking milk fresh from her own cows. “We were drinking our own milk and realised: this is not like the milk we’ve been drinking in the supermarket for the last 20 years”, she recalls. That discovery led to years of research into how they could bring that authentic flavour to others.
During the pandemic, with extra time at home, Catherine began researching self-vending systems she’d seen in the UK. By October 2021, Salt Rock Dairy opened its doors with its first vending machine — offering pasteurised, but non-homogenised milk straight from the farm. “We’re pasteurising because that’s required,” she explains, “but we’re not homogenising the milk. So when you buy milk from us, the cream rises to the top, like it used to in the 1970s”.
That decision, she says, makes all the difference. “It’s a richer product. It tastes richer. And it’s the same milk every dairy farm in Ireland produces; we’re just letting it be itself”.
There’s also a unique coastal character to Salt Rock Dairy’s milk. “We’re on the coast, with fabulous grassland,” Catherine says. “As Paul, my husband, would say: he doesn’t really farm cows, he farms grass, and the cows deal with the grass. Once he looks after the grass, we get good milk”. She suspects that the salty sea air contributes to the distinctive flavour and quality of their milk.
Despite its success, Catherine acknowledges the challenges of building a business in a rural area. “Accessing the market is the biggest challenge”, she says. “I live in a very rural area, which means there’s a very small population base, and a lot of our population in Ireland is focused in the bigger cities”.
Even so, Catherine’s drive and creativity have turned a family farm into a self-sufficient dairy hub that reflects her values. Salt Rock Dairy is not just a local enterprise, it’s a model of how small farms can combine old-fashioned craftsmanship with sustainable innovation. “We’re part of the circular economy”, she says simply. “And that means producing food that’s good for people, for the land, and for the future”.