IRELAND – Lakeland Dairies has become the new milk contractor for Diageo’s Baileys spirit drink, taking over from Glanbia.

The Baileys brand is expanding – it is now sold in more than 130 countries – and Lakeland has been awarded the contract in part because of its ability to cope with the large amount of production.

The spirit makes up half of Irish spirit exports, and requires 50 million gallons of milk annually for production.

Lakeland is the second largest co-op and fourth largest dairy processor in Ireland, producing 757 million litres of milk a year.