Lullaby milk flying off the shelves after RTE feature

Fiona Dillon

IRISH people who are having trouble sleeping are turning to a novel way to get 40 winks -- lullaby milk.

The product has been flying off the shelves since it featured on a recent episode of RTE's Ear to the Ground.

The programme told how Mary Burns and her son Gerard, who make the famous Ardrahan Cheese, are milking their cows before daybreak to produce Lullaby Milk, inset right.

The cows are milked in the dark, as the animal sleeps, and this produces naturally higher levels of melatonin, which helps regulate sleep.

Melatonin is a natural substance found in our bodies. The night-time hours enhance the level of natural melatonin in the milk.

Mary, who is a director of Ardrahan Dairy Products Limited, told the Herald: "There is great demand for Lullaby Milk. Since Ear to the Ground, it has really taken off."

PATTERN

They are the only company with a licence to produce Lullaby Milk in the country.

She said that it is totally natural and has proven popular with people across the board, including those who suffer from jet lag.

"Very interestingly, a lot of people come back and they say their sleeping pattern is back," Mary said. The innovative product has been available for the past five years on the Irish market. Both Dunnes and SuperValu stock Lullaby Milk nationwide.

And it is also stocked by a number of retailers in the Cork region.

shelf

Lullaby Milk is produced on the farm at Ardrahan. The cows are milked in the parlour in the morning before daylight. The milk is then piped through a plate cooler bringing the temperature down to four degrees.

It then flows through to the pasteuriser. It is pasteurised for four seconds at 73C. It is then cooled to 4C and bottled. It is kept in a cold room of 4C. As it is a farmhouse-produced milk it reaches the shop shelf much sooner than ordinary milk.

Ardrahan Farmhouse Cheese was founded in 1983 by Mary and Eugene Burns at their family farm in Kanturk, Co Cork.

fdillon@herald.ie