A Glass and a Half

If you have ever stayed at Tanylan Farm, there is no doubt that wherever you laid your head, or whatever path you followed, would once have been connected to dairy farming. Be it the caravan and camping park, which was once silage fields, the grass cut in the Summer months to provide cattle feed in the Winter, or the Old Cow Shed, which was once home to up to 48 dairy cows, Tanylan Farm was once a hive of agricultural activity.   

The farm has been in the family for generations and we are the only family to have farmed here since it was originally built in 1864. At our peak we were milking 200 Friesian dairy cows, producing over 1m litres of milk a year, which was sold into large scale food production, such as Cadbury’s in Bournville. That volume of milk was not an enormous amount to an operation like Cadbury’s, but it still gave us a huge sense of pride imagining that, maybe, the ‘glass and a half’ in that bar of Dairy Milk came from our farm.

We were lucky that even at our peak, we were a relatively small producer, and I was therefore able to sense when there was an issue with the herd. Being able to react to any early warning signs ensured the excellent health of the herd was maintained at all times and this was reflected in the quality of our milk.

With pressure from supermarkets to product milk cheaper, dairy production had little choice but to move upscale and we quickly realised that this meant fundamentally changing the way we produced our milk. We took the decision to wind down milking in 2003 and turned our attention to the tourism industry. 

Sadly, milk has had a lot of bad publicity over the last 10 years but still forms an important part of a balanced diet, here in the UK and across the world. 

Milk provides a range of really important nutrients, including high-quality protein, calcium, iodine and a range of vitamins including B12. It’s also highly nutrient-dense, so you don’t need to consume a lot to achieve the benefits. 

Dairy products are a rich source of saturated fats, but research has shown that high consumers of milk compared with low consumers have no increased risk of heart disease, and some studies suggest a reduced risk of stroke and diabetes. There’s also increasing evidence that fermented products such as cheese and yoghurt might lower the risk of type 2 diabetes.

Christmas Day on a dairy farm is like any other day, a very early start, in the dark and cold, with the added bonus of a visit from Santa. He travels West-East so would stop by for a glass of fresh milk and a chat after visiting all the boys and girls in Ferryside and before heading East to Kidwelly and beyond. The advantage of an early start is the early finish, and I would always be home in time to see my own children open their presents. 

This Christmas I would like to take advantage of the Oxfam ‘give a cow’ initiative which helps people in need through agriculture. I have seen first-hand that a cow isn’t just a cow, to families in need, it’s rich supply of nutritious products and a much-needed source of economic support and stability. 

During my farming years, I was blessed to be able to milk cows and it feels right that, in this time of vast uncertainty, that we give a little back in the way we know how. 

Have a very merry Christmas and a wonderful new year.

John