Delamere is now supporting a fully sustainable cycle from food to leather

Delamere Dairy Invests in ‘Pioneering’ Billy Tannery

Delamere is now supporting a fully sustainable cycle from food to leather.

Delamere Dairy, the UK supplier of speciality, award-winning fresh and long-life goats’ products (milk, butter, cheeses and yogurts) has acquired a share in Billy Tannery, which produces a range of leather goods from goat hides in its pioneering microtannery.

Billy Tannery was founded by Jack Millington who set up the company, based in the Midlands, after discovering that not one goat hide left over from the food industry was being tanned in the UK.

The tannery was set up by Jack after helping his dad, a dairy farmer, to try and find a market for his goat meat. Tapping into local leather knowledge it built a pioneering microtannery - the first tannery to be built in the UK in over 50 years.

After enlisting the help of experts at the University of Northampton, they developed a bespoke tanning recipe to produce a sustainable, bark-tanned goat leather which celebrates the natural markings in the hide. The business then uses purposeful design to produce accessories including bags, sneakers and aprons in small workshops in the UK.

Cheshire-based Delamere Dairy, which is responsible for a third of the UK’s goats’ milk, now has shares in both Billy Tannery and also goat meat supplier Cabrito. Cabrito Goat Meat was founded in 2012 by British chef James Whetlor and sources its farm assured goat’ meat from Delamere Dairy farms across the UK, to supply restaurants, butchers and catering companies, as well as delivering directly to families across the UK.

The interest and appetite for goats’ meat is growing in the UK. Previously billy goats were a bi-product to the 30,000 female nanny goats producing milk for the UK market. Supplying goat meat to restaurants and caterers and sending hides to the tannery, completes the sustainable cycle from milk to meat to leather in this small but dynamic sector of the UK dairy industry.

Ed Salt, MD at Delamere comments: “We have developed a unique model for how dairy businesses should look in the future - honest, transparent, ethical and continually pushing for sustainability. I genuinely feel we can create a model partnership with each aspect of these three businesses enhancing the other and reducing unnecessary wastage.”

Jack Millington at Billy Tannery comments, "Our new partnership with Delamere cements the natural links with Billy Tannery and also Cabrito. The increased transparency between the three businesses is exactly what consumers are looking for these days and this is only going to increase in the future. I'm really looking forward to working more closely with the wider Delamere team."

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For more information about Cabrito Goat Meat please contact Hannah Blake on hannah@thediningroompr.co.uk or 07730 039361

For more information about Billy Tannery please contact Jack Millington on jack@billytannery.co.uk or 07958 001987

Notes to editor:

Delamere Dairy

Delamere Dairy was founded in 1985 in Cheshire’s beautiful Delamere Forest, when Liz & Roger Sutton bought their first three goats. They began by selling the fresh goats’ milk and soft cheese they made in their kitchen to local health food stores. Such was the interest in their products, that only a couple of years later they were supplying milk to major UK retailers.

Today, Delamere Dairy sells an award-winning range of fresh and long life goats’ products (cheeses, yogurts, butters, milks and powder), plain and flavoured cows’ milks, a range of sheep cheese and yogurt, and a growing portfolio of milks for the pet industry.

More recent developments build on the company’s experience of supplying dairy alternative ‘milks’ as own label brands. In 2018 the company launched its branded range of Planted drinks, a planted based range of oat, almond and coconut drinks.

Celebrating more than 35 years in business, the company has an annual turnover in excess of £29M, with products sold throughout the UK and in over 20 markets around the world.

Delamere Dairy has collected several accolades over the years including Farm Business of the Year at the Farm Business Food & Farming Industry, the Sunday Times SME Export Track 100, as the UK’s fastest growing food & drink exporter, and UK’s most prestigious business award – The Queen’s Award for Enterprise, for its International Trade achievements.

Cabrito Goat Meat was founded by James Whetlor in 2012. Cabrito won an Observer Food Monthly Award (2014) for Best Ethical Producer, Good Housekeeping’s Champion Meat Producer (2016) and the Young British Foodies Meat Award (2016) and is a finalist in the Radio 4 Food Programme Food and Farming Awards 2017. www.cabrito.co.uk

Billy Tannery was founded by childhood friends Jack Millington and Rory Harker, both from the Midlands. Billy Tannery is a goat leather micro tannery that has tapped into local leather knowledge and built a pioneering micro-tannery with its sustainable, bark-tanned goat leather using the hides left over from the UK food industry to produce a range of premium leather goods and accessories. www.billytannery.co.uk