Say Cheese

I lived on my grandparents dairy farm until my late teens. My grandfather, recently recovered from his injuries on the Somme, first registered a herd of pedigree British Friesians exactly 100 years ago. At the time, it was a radical thing to do, when the received wisdom was that these foreign migrants were not well suited to our island nation. The dairy shorthorn - a dual-purpose breed that furnished a moderate yield of milk and a decent beef carcass - was the traditional British breed. "What are you going to do with those b****y hat-racks, Sid?" was the jibe thrown at him

Well my grandfather has the last laugh. The Friesian rapidly replaced the Shorthorn as the predominant dairy breed in England, and his position as one of the early adopters allowed him to generate some decent profits selling breeding stock in prestigious sale-rings

The distinctive smell of a dairy farm catapults me back 60 years to winter barns, and steam rising from the backs of tethered cows, tearing at the flakes of hay that have been hand-delivered to them, like the finest gentry. The warmth of the shed contrasting with frosty days outside.

It happened today when we called in on the Isle of Mull Cheese business. They milk Friesians - though a red and white variant, perhaps as a nod to the red and white Ayrshires that held their own against the black and white invasion in Scotland. Starting with 10 in 1980, they now have 120, and turn all the milk into cheese, having found more profit in selling that to tourists like us than hawking liquid milk around the islands. Like many before us, we were happy to pay premium prices to procure the satisfaction of doing our bit to support the local economy we are enjoying so much

The picture shows the truckles they produce (happily they cut them onto smaller pieces for sale). The bells in the foreground I have my doubts about. They have been adapted as cafe lamps, and I think they would look more at home on hills in the Alps or the Mediterranean than around the necks of Scottish cows

An 'invasion of foreign migrants'? People should be careful about their language