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Cooleeney Farm

Cooleeney Farm

The Maher family are the fourth generation of Maher’s to work the land at Cooleeney, outside Thurles in Co. Tipperary. All the milk in production comes from the family’s own pedigree Friesians, with goat’s milk supplied locally from two Tipperary farmers. Faced with an excess of milk due to cutbacks in guaranteed milk prices, Breda and Jim were forced to find a means of adding value to their milk production. Breda’s background in hotel management meant she had always been interested in food and she was excited by the idea of cheese making. In 1984, Breda decided to take a cheese making course in University College Cork and in 1986 Cooleeney was born. Breda chose to produce a soft, camembert-style cheese because the market was full of hard cheeses at the time. Cooleeney now produces up to 12 different varieties of cheeses both cows and goats, soft and semi hard.