A SUCCESSFUL farm ice-cream business won the international seal of approval this week.

Brymor Ice-Cream was visited by a 20-strong delegation from the Guernsey Cattle Society, who saw the farm's two new robotic milkers in action.

Members from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Guern-sey itself and from across the UK, visited High Jervaulx Farm, three miles from Masham.

The farm has a herd of 140 Guernsey cows, whose milk is used to produce the popular ice-cream and cheese.

Digby Gribble, Guernsey society field officer, said the Brymor herd was ranked second in milk production terms nationally.

"We decided to visit the Moores' farm because it is such a good example, particularly for overseas delegates," said Mr Gribble. "Diversification has been a great success after they were forced down that road in 1983."

The Brymor cows make up the only Guernsey herd in Yorkshire; most are in the South of England.

It is more than 20 years since Brian Moore took Government advice and branched out from traditional farming by making ice-cream. That happened when milk quotas meant he would have to halve milk production from his pedigree Guernsey cows.

Today the family-run enterprise is still diversifying, with expansion still the name of the game. Now the Moores also produce a semi-hard Cheddar-style Guernsey cheese and clotted cream, and rear bull calves for veal.

Meanwhile, the ice-cream venture continues to expand.

They began producing ice-cream when they ran a farm at Weeton, between Harrogate and Leeds in Lower Wharfedale, but their soaring success meant they had to find a bigger farm after traffic clogged country lanes as people queued for their home-made ices.

Two decades on, ice-cream production, which has increased from two flavours to 30, is still expanding its sales, even though the Moores do not employ any sales staff.

Mr Moore's son Robert is now managing director of the firm and the farm side is run mainly by his wife, Diane.

Mr Moore snr, now chairman, said they had kept the core business as a dairy farm and still used all the milk they produced for ice-cream and clotted cream.

They plan to add a further three types of cheese to the range in the next 12 months and have established a web site selling clotted cream, cheese and veal.

"It's not too bad for an old die hard who thought it would not happen," he said.

Bull calves are reared for veal in environmentally-friendly conditions and, to underscore their commitment to the dairy farm, they have just installed the latest in robotic milkers, aiming to benefit the cattle in health and production.

The 86 milkers used to be milked twice daily, with each session taking 2 hours. The two robotic milkers were introduced on March 23 and most of the cows are now used to the new system.

"It's meant a big difference for us because we do not have to milk them ourselves and the cows have settled down well," said Mr Robert Moore.

The cows have free access to the milkers 24 hours a day. Each wears a transponder so the robot can identify them. If they go in too early, it opens the gate and sends them out. If the cow is due to be milked, it gives it some feed, an arm washes the udder and milking starts. Once complete, the cow is released.

The cows are producing about 23 litres of milk a day, the same as before the parlour became robotic.

An ice-cream parlour and tea room created in the farmyard continues to grow in popularity, with an army of visitors in addition to a core of regulars, several of them from neighbouring counties.

The farm covers 200 acres, with 43 given over to maize for silage, the rest being grass.

Demand for veal has risen and the firm has had to buy extra bull calves to meet the demand for two carcases a week in an enterprise created from scratch