Our commitments

Straight from farm to factory

Great tasting products made from great tasting milk

SILL Entreprises has maintained a close and loyal working relationship with some of our farms for nearly 60 years and with our sheep’s milk producers since 2014. We know that great tasting milk is fundamental in the making of great tasting dairy products, so every day we collect our milk straight from our trusted producers.

COLLECTING FROM LOCAL FARMERS

We work with 427 dairy farmers and 114 sheep farmers who use both organic and conventional farming methods. We collect our cow’s milk from local farms located very close to our dairies in the counties of Finistère, the Côte d’Armor and Ille-et-Vilaine. In fact, our Malo dairy sources its own milk locally to make Malo yoghurts, just like our main SILL plant in Plouvien. As for our Le Petit Basque dairy, it also collects sheep’s milk exclusively from farms in the South West of France, from the Dordogne, the Lot and the Tarn-et-Garonne, and especially from the area around Aveyron which is particularly favourable for sheep farming. Milk is collected every 2 to 3 days.

 

WELL ESTABLISHED WORKING RELATIONSHIPS

Both our cow and sheep’s milk comes from small farms which are often family-run businesses spanning several generations. Half of our sheep farms have existed for over fifty years and six of them for over a century. We are involved in setting up 10 conventional and organic dairy farming businesses per year and we help two to three young sheep farmers to get started every year.

A SIGN OF TRUE QUALITY...

On all of our farms, cows and sheep have access to adequate grazing pasture. The mild climate in Brittany means that cows can spend plenty of time outside but sometimes, if the weather is too wet or too cold, it’s better for them to stay inside. Sheep can also mostly be put out to pasture to graze but are taken in to shelter in times of drought or in a heatwave. Their feed is guaranteed free from GMOs, whether reared on organic or conventional farms.

The quality of our milk is assessed on a daily basis through analyses carried out by independent multidisciplinary laboratories and each collection is tested for the presence of antibiotics.

…AND OF THE WELL BEING OF OUR ANIMALS

95% of our farmers respect the measures laid out in the Charter for Good Farming Practices. This charter concerns the maintaining of a clean environment, the quality of milk, the standard of the animals’ living area and their overall well-being. We also carry out audits to ensure that the fundamental requirements concerning animal welfare are respected: they must not suffer from hunger, thirst, discomfort, pain, illness nor any stress and must have contact with other animals.

By taking good care of their animals and providing us with good quality milk, our farmers play an important role in the high quality of our finished products. They are the essential link in the chain that guarantees the success of our key brands such as Le Gall butter, Malo or Le Petit Basque yoghurts and of our whole range of dairy products.

FOCUS ON FIGURES

450 farms producing cow’s milk, 80 of which are organic

110 farms producing sheep’s milk , 43 of which are organic

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