DAIRYING IN BRITAIN

History Cattle were kept as domesticated animals 6,000 years ago. There is evidence that dairying was practised as early as 3,000 BC in Egypt. Cattle have been associated with religious rites in Assyria, Crete and Cyprus, and are still sacred animals in India. British cattle have a mixed ancestry. In Neolithic times, cattle from the Alpine regions of Europe were introduced. The Celts, Romans and Anglo-Saxons also introduced new breeds. Up until 1800 the major emphasis on keeping cattle was first for their meat and as draught animals, with milk as a bonus. But as the 19th century progressed, dairy cattle improved and the development of the railways enabled milk to be transported quickly and cheaply into the large industrial areas and the dairy industry grew. Originally milk was transported and delivered in churns. Bottling developed in the 1920s following the adoption of heat treatment. During the 1850s and 60s, French scientist Louis Pasteur discovered that by heating milk, the bacteria would be destroyed. The process known today as pasteurisation ensured that a safe germ-free product could be sold, and the risk from tuberculosis was eradicated. Dairy Farming The dairy cow is a mammal, and for her to produce milk, she must first give birth to a calf. Generally, before a cow has produced two calves, she is known as a heifer. Heifers are mated naturally or more usually by artificial insemination (AI). Most heifers calve when they are 2 to 2.5 years of age and normally have one calf every year. The calves may be pure-bred for dairy herd replacements or cross-bred using a beef breed for meat production. The pregnancy lasts 280 days and cows produce milk for 10 months after giving birth. The milk yield increases during the first month after calving and gradually decreases throughout the year. This is known as the lactation cycle. The milk produced in the first few days of a cow's lactation is known as colostrum. It is rich in nutrients and is fed to the calf to ensure it grows quickly and is resistant to disease. After a week the calves are removed from their mother. Some of the young females will eventually join the dairy herd, but the majority of the calves will be reared for meat. Cows have a complex digestive system. In fact they have four stomachs which enables them to utilise grass efficiently. The nutrients and minerals absorbed from the food that a cow eats are used to maintain the cow's body in good condition and to produce milk. Milk is produced in the cow's udder, which is divided into four quarters, each quarter has a teat. This is ideal for the calve to suckle. Cows eat fresh grass in the summer and preserved grass in the winter, in the form of hay (dried grass) and, more commonly, silage, (pickled grass). During the winter cows are housed in covered yards, these are (usually) bedded down with straw. As well as the preserved grass, the cow's diet include concentrates made from cereal and protein. Their diet may also include kale, sugar beet pulp, turnips, swedes and fodder beet. A cow must eat at least 3% of her body weight each day - in the region of 70 kg each day. Milking Cows are usually milked twice a day - early in the morning and late afternoon. Virtually all farms today milk cows by machine although a very small number of farms still milk by hand. Cows are milked in a milking parlour. A milking machine consists of four cups that are attached to the cow's teats. Before attaching the teat cups the herdsman/woman must wipe clean the udder with a special disinfectant and screen a small amount of the milk to detect abnormalities. Each cup applies a gentle vacuum to the teat which draws the milk out. The milk leaves the cow at its body temperature and travels to a recording jar which measures the quantity for each cow. The jars are emptied by pipeline to the refrigerated farm vat where it is held at 8°C or below if collected daily or 6°C or below if collected every other day. Milking machines are installed in buildings known as milking parlours. There are a number of different designs, the most common being the herringbone style. An insulated bulk milk tanker calls at the farm each day or every other day to collect the milk and take it to a dairy. Here it is heat treated to destroy any harmful bacteria that may be present in the milk and improve its keeping quality. The Range of Milks Liquid milk can be treated in three ways - 1. Pasteurisation - involves heating the milk to at least 71.7°C for 15 seconds and then cooling rapidly. ·  Pasteurised Whole Milk (Silver Top) This is the traditional milk and is still the most popular, although sales of semi-skimmed and skimmed milks combined, have now overtaken those of whole milk. ·  Pasteurised Semi-Skimmed Milk (Red/Silver Striped Top) and Skimmed Milk (Blue/Silver Check Top) Skimmed milk has nearly all the fat removed (0.1%). Semi-skimmed milk contains about 1.6% fat. ·  Pasteurised Homogenised Milk (Red Top) Homogenised milk has the same nutritional value as whole milk, but the cream does not rise to the surface. Homogenisation breaks up the fat globules to an even size so that they remain distributed throughout the milk. ·  Pasteurised Channel Islands Milk (Gold Top) Only produced by Jersey, Guernsey and South Devon breeds, this milk has a fat content of not less than 4%. 2. Sterilisation Homogenised milk is bottled and heat treated to 115°C - 130°C for 10-30 minutes then cooled. Sterilised milk will keep for several months unopened and has a caramelised flavour. 3. Ultra-Heat Treatment Homogenised milk is heated to 132°C for at least 1 second then packaged into cartons. UHT milk will keep for several months unopened and is often called 'long-life' milk. Untreated Milk (Green Top) - Raw milk must be clearly labelled to indicate that it has not undergone any heat treatment and may therefore contain organisms harmful to health. Milk is available in other forms such as evaporated, condensed and dried milk. Milk is also made into dairy products such as cheese, yoghurt, cream and butter and a growing number of dairy desserts.

In:  http://www.foodandfarming.org/ . Adapted and illustrated to be posted by Leopoldo Costa.