A report on the UK Dairy Industry

The Size and Type of Dairy Industry in Britain

There are currently just over two million dairy cows living on the UK’s 21,000 dairy farms, with Somerset and Cheshire the main areas of dairy production (1, 2). As cows must give birth to a calf each year in order to produce milk, there are also around two million dairy calves in the UK at any one time. Over 58% of the UK’s dairy cows are now kept in herds larger than 100 – compared to average herds of just 30 in the 1970s (1, 3).

Ninety-five per cent of dairy cows in the UK are black and white Holstein/Friesians, with Ayrshire, Guernsey and Jersey cows making up the remaining 5% (4). Holsteins and Friesians are two slightly different breeds, with the North American Holstein being larger and having a higher milk output than the British Friesian (4). This high milk yield has lead to Holsteins replacing Friesians on most UK dairy farms and an increase in annual milk yield per cow from 3,750 litres in the 1970s to 8000 litres today, with some high genetic Holsteins reaching 10,000-12,000 litres a year (3, 5). This equates to a daily milk production of 30-50 litres, ten times more than a cow would naturally produce to feed her calf (6).  

The unnatural physical demands placed on modern dairy cows results in a quarter of the national dairy herd being culled every year due to lameness, mastitis (udder infection) and infertility (5). In many high-production herds, cows are worn out and sent for slaughter before their third lactation – at only four to five years old – when they can naturally live to be at least 20 (7) (there are cases of dairy cows on sanctuaries living into their 30s).

Milk production in the European Union is limited by milk quotas, with the annual UK production quota set at 14.2 billion litres (8). Although the UK is 90% self sufficient in milk, it imports a significant amount of dairy products. In 2003, for example, the UK imported 314,000 tonnes of cheese (compared to UK production of 366,000 tonnes), mostly from Ireland, France and Germany; and 119,000 tonnes of butter (compared to UK production of 145,000 tonnes), mostly from Denmark, Ireland and New Zealand (8).

Fig. 1. A typical Holstein cow, her high milk yield causing a hugely distended udder and leaving her emaciated (Photo: Viva!)
Click here for a video clip of malnourished cows

In 2004 Dairy Crest, the UK’s largest dairy processor, received £19.8 million in EU funding under the Common Agricultural Policy – despite having a profit of £85 million that year – while UK dairy processors received a total of over £50 million in CAP payments (14). EU dairy processors also receive export subsidies to ‘enable them to compete in international markets’ (13). In 2004 this totalled€2.3 billion (13).

Promotion

The UK dairy industry is supported and promoted by the Milk Development Council (MDC), the Dairy Council and Dairy UK.

The MDC is a public body established in 1994 (replacing the Milk Marketing Board) with the aim of

‘improving the profitability and competitiveness of Great Britain's dairy farmer’ (15). It is situated within the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and its council members are appointed by DEFRA Ministers (15). Their annual income of £7 million comes from a statutory levy paid by dairy farmers on their milk sales (15). They also receive regular funding from the EU, including £3 million in 2004 for their ‘Naturally Beautiful’ advertising campaign which encourages teenage girls to consume more dairy products for their claim of better looking hair and skin (15). In 2005 they plan to spend £4.7 million marketing dairy products in the UK.

The Dairy Council is a limited company funded jointly by the MDC and dairy processors.  Their mission statement is:

“To promote the positive image of milk, its products and the industry as a whole in the eyes of consumers and key influencers, thus helping to increase the consumption of dairy products.” (16)

They work to achieve this goal by distributing ‘health education, consumer and teaching literature about dairy products’ (16). In 2004 they received £305,527 in EU funding under the Common Agricultural Policy (16).

Dairy UK is a limited company which brings together ‘dairy processors, farming representatives, co-ops and bottle milk buyers to form an organisation that embraces and gives full priority to the views and opinions of all those involved the industry’ (17). Dairy UK staff operate throughout the UK to

‘ensure the interests of the dairy sector are properly considered in the policy formulation process by the UK government, devolved administrations and the EU’ (17).

Targeting Children

Fig. 2. The dairy industry bombard schools with propaganda thinly masked as ‘educational material’, such as this booklet produced by Dairy Council which is distributed to primary schools

Realising the importance of getting people hooked on milk while they are young, the dairy industry bombard British schools with propaganda thinly veiled as ‘educational’ materials. To ‘increase the appeal of milk to primary school children’, the MDC distribute a free interactive CD Rom, The Story of Milk, featuring Charlotte the cartoon cow, to schools across Britain (15). The Dairy Council produce a cartoon booklet along the same vein called It’s a Cow’s Life which ‘informs young children about the life of a dairy cow and what happens on a dairy farm’ (4). The information in the booklet is so far from reality that it borders on make-believe, featuring a cartoon cow cradling her calf in her arms when in real life dairy calves are torn from their mothers within 72 hours of birth (4, 7).

They MDC also target primary school teachers with a Healthy Choices pack, aimed to ‘put information about the health and nutritional benefits of dairy products, balanced diets, the composition of milk and dairy products, and the range of dairy products available to UK consumers at the centre of the school curriculum’ (15). They also jointly funded Dairy UK’s campaign promoting milk consumption in primary schools which involved sending copies of the innocently named ‘Teacher’s Guide to Health and Fitness’ to over 10,000 schools (17). According to Dairy UK’s Edmund Proffitt, this education pack, which received £50,000 in EU funding, aims to ‘develop healthy young milk customers in primary schools’ (17).

The EU also recognizes the importance of targeting children and operates a school milk subsidy scheme that aims to

‘expand the market for milk and milk products by encouraging children (from the ages of 5 to 11) to consume milk and milk products, and develop a lasting habit of doing so’ (18).

Under this scheme, which is actively promoted by the MDC, the Dairy Council and Dairy UK, milk and yoghurt are supplied to schoolchildren at reduced prices (4, 15, 17, 18). In 2002 this aid totalledover £9 million (18).

More Subsidies

In 2004 EU dairy farmers received a total of €970 million in direct aid from the EU, with UK farmers receiving €119 million (13). According to the Milk Development Council these figures are expected to rise dramatically in the next few years, with a projected total of €4.2 billion paid to EU dairy farmers in 2007 (13).

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