A Brief History of Milk Production ─ From Farm to Market

A Brief History of Milk Production details the history of milk farming from thetearliest days through to the problems facing dairy farmers in the current day. The book covers the massive transformation in one of the most important sectors in the agricultural industry from being based on small units to modern complex processing plants. It includes the set-up of the Milk Marketing Board; the Board's role in improving milk collections, told with humorous anecdotes gleaned from the author's own experience; and the sad demise of an operation that Bert considered to have been the lifeline of the industry for over 60 years. The book also looks at the regulations that were brought in over the years to remove the health hazards from drinking milk and details the arrival of Artificial Insemination, including some of the risqué stories and poems told about the AI men. With illustrations, photographs of milking machines and processing plants and case studies, A Brief History of Milk Production will appeal to farmers, and in particular to dairy farmers, and those with an interest generally in rural/farming history. Having spent a lifetime in the dairy business, Bert Collacott, son of a Devon dairy farmer has a wide knowledge on how the industry has changed in the past century. He was involved in improving milk quality, cattle breeding and the marketing of milk and he was the former dairy columnist of the Farmers Guide. He is now retired and lives in Cambridge.