5 minute read
DAIRY MATTERS
DAIRYMatters
Rosemary Collingborn farms a closed herd of 100 pedigree Friesian type cows with her husband Joe in Wiltshire. She has served on the Milk Development Council, Veterinary Products Committee, the RSPCA Council and was Women’s Food and Farming Union dairy chair.
II have spent most of my life thinking how wonderful milk is. At eight years old, though not a dairy farmer, I was drinking pints of the stu . However, at the time none of us were so keen on the free school milk waiting for us next to the central heating pipes in the basement.
I nearly fell over backwards and I couldn’t have been more shocked when I heard recently about a discussion on dairy farming in our local secondary school. is was in a class of 14- and 15-year-olds, and dairy farmers were labelled ‘rapists and murderers’ by the youngsters.
A few farm boys stuck up for dairying, but this was the overall view. And this was in a country school.
Why? Does this view come from an uncorrected misapprehension about the fate of calves and using arti cial insemination rather than a bull?
When I was on the RSPCA Council, one of my fellow council members thought every cow should have its own bull and wasn’t to be dissuaded.
Milk is su ering from the rapid rise of alternative
‘milks’. You have only to look in supermarket chillers to see how milk alternatives have expanded in recent years. ese cost more than milk and are a pro table new stream for the food industry. ese alternatives are mainly water and, although they may have added vitamins and calcium (and sugar), they cannot rival milk for its energy-dense nutritional value.
My great concern for these teenagers, who don’t sound as if they are drinking milk, is that these teenage years are when they need the most calcium for their growing bones if they are to avoid osteoporosis in the future.
Among modern foods, dairy, particularly milk and yoghurt, stand out as having the richest, most dense, nutrient pro le for their energy content. ey are typically rich in protein, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium and several of the B vitamins, and are importantly the most easily absorbed source of calcium. Milk is particularly high in iodine and vitamin B12.
Milk has many other bene ts – low fat dairy and reduced salt have been shown to lower blood pressure within two weeks. Research has shown dairy goods may reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease with fewer fractures in the elderly. Eating cheese a er a meal not only prevents tooth decay, it can repair short-term damage to your teeth.
Positive role
Research has shown that skimmed milk has a very positive role in recovery a er exercise even compared to well-known sports drinks – both supplied su cient rehydration, but skimmed milk ensured a positive uid balance at the end of recovery.
Studies have shown that three portions of dairy a day in a calorie-controlled diet helps to lose fat, particularly round the waistline. It is hard to meet nutrient recommendations without eating three daily servings of dairy. I don’t think any of these bene ts come from drinking almond, soya or oat milk, even if they cost more and, unlike dairy foods, they are useless for cooking.
How is the public ge ing such a distorted view of our wonderful industry? In years gone by, we had an excellent Dairy Council, led by Anne Stacy, which fronted advertising campaigns, funded school education, talked to health professionals and fed the latest positive research from all over the world into newspapers and magazines.
Funding for the Dairy Council was patchy and mainly came from the levy on dairy farmers. e trade contributed too but very unevenly. It was this disparity in funding which led to the Dairy Council facing budget costs and then being incorporated into Dairy UK. e funds to defend our industry robustly no longer existed and we are all paying the price.
Dairy, particularly milk and yoghurt, stand out as having the richest, most dense, nutrient profile, says Rosemary Collingborn.
AHDB has failed to take up the role. Another area which is under a ack is the carbon footprint of dairy farming, and here we are also being misrepresented. Reading recently of the great research Kingshay has done into carbon sequestration, I decided to have some of our elds sampled using Kingshay’s Dumas test and I was pleasantly surprised.
Our carbon indices were extremely high, ranging from 79.4-99 tonnes per hectare, where the benchmark was 61t/ha, and 85% of our soil sampled was very good, compared with 50% in the sample.
Dairy farming o en takes place on clay soils and, in most soils, carbon is bound to clay particles, so these soils will tend to have be er soil carbon. Our best sample had an 8.8% soil carbon compared with an average of 2% or less for arable and even lower, about 1% for vegetables. e secret is to avoid soil disturbance and root damage, all of which are much less likely to occur on a dairy farm.
Grazing rotation a ects soil carbon positively, rather than extensive grazing, which may damage the root structure, or ploughing, which releases carbon. e other positive to increase soil carbon is organic manure, supplied by our grazing cows in situ or applied to the pasture when buildings are emptied of dung.
We are also preserving the dung beetle and the many insects which follow the cows. I believe there is an untold story here and we are missing a huge trick.
Woodland
Smaller family farms will have retained their hedges and probably ponds and have corners where woodland has grown up. Historically less intensive than arable and horticulture, they are likely to have good soil carbon and soil in good condition.
We have an incredibly be er environmental pro le than almond milk from California. Who will sing our praises? Who will tell the world?
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