Glenview Farm wins dairy award six months after launch
Jenny and Neilus Flaherty run the business from their farm in Moyvanne, near Listowel, with their two children. They milk 140 cows under a split-calving system: spring accounts for 60% of calvings and autumn for 40%. They are working towards an equal division between the two seasons. Some of the farm’s milk is retained for bottling, while the balance is supplied to North Cork Creameries, their co-operative.
The idea developed from Jenny’s experience working in retail around Ireland. She identified an opening for pasteurised milk that had not been homogenised, finding no suppliers selling it between counties Kerry and Limerick. Although milk vending machines were becoming more popular, she considered their customers a different group from those she intended to serve. Glenview Farm began supplying shops and cafés across both counties.
Milking starts at 6am. Milk flows through a plate cooler to a bulk tank, with the portion intended for the bottling business subsequently transferred to a separate holding tank. Each batch is checked for substances including antibiotics before entering a pasteuriser capable of processing 500 litres an hour. Another test, for phosphatases, takes place in the pasteuriser. After pasteurisation, the milk is transferred to an elevated tank that feeds the bottling equipment.
The current filling process combines gravity-fed equipment with manual work. Four bottles are filled together, after which the Flahertys fit the caps and apply the dates by hand. A new machine expected to arrive shortly will automate filling, capping and dating. During its first six months, the business sold milk exclusively in two-litre bottles; the planned additions to the range follow increasing demand.
Jenny makes deliveries on six days each week. The Kerry delivery area includes Tralee, Killarney, Killorgin and Dingle. In Limerick, the route follows the coastal road, serves the city and returns through Adare, Newcastle West and Abbeyfeale. Shops and cafés receive the bottled milk directly through these delivery rounds.
A year earlier, the family was completing departmental paperwork and constructing the facilities needed to establish the operation, sometimes working after dark while wearing headlamps. They erected a separate shed and fitted it out to meet food-safety requirements. Its features include white rock cladding that can be cleaned hygienically, a cold-storage room and a swing-over bench designed to prevent uncovered footwear from entering and contaminating the processing area. The pasteuriser and other processing equipment are housed there.
Jenny described receiving recognition so soon after the April launch as particularly welcome for a small family enterprise. She also received the One to Watch Award 2026 at the Connect Kerry Women in Business awards during the summer.
