The Moo Man is the story of Steve, an organic dairy farmer, Ida, the Kates and the 53 other cows he works with on the Pevensey Levels of Sussex. It’s about the difficulties of running a farm in a way we’d all love to see yet which seems so difficult in a world where the supermarkets and big dairies call the shots and the pressure is always for bigger, faster and cheaper.
Life’s not easy for the small farmer. Squeezed by supermarkets and dairies, for many just surviving is the name of the game. Increasing the herd to several hundred cows and pushing the animals hard seems the only way many farms can hope to stay competitive and remain in business.
Alternatively you could keep just 56 cows but know them all individually. Why not make it harder and farm organic? You could go further and sell your milk unprocessed and raw. That means straight from the cow so winding up the authorities but winning the hearts and minds of local people fed up with their food being meddled with. Thing is your milk yield may half but you’ll have happier less stressed cows that live twice as long. You’ll have to deliver the milk personally door to door because selling raw milk is illegal in shops and banned across most of Europe and the States. A difficult path but the one chosen by The Moo Man as he attempt to find a way to survive on his traditional family farm.
Life’s not easy for the small farmer. Squeezed by supermarkets and dairies, for many just surviving is the name of the game. Increasing the herd to several hundred cows and pushing the animals hard seems the only way many farms can hope to stay competitive and remain in business.
Alternatively you could keep just 56 cows but know them all individually. Why not make it harder and farm organic? You could go further and sell your milk unprocessed and raw. That means straight from the cow so winding up the authorities but winning the hearts and minds of local people fed up with their food being meddled with. Thing is your milk yield may half but you’ll have happier less stressed cows that live twice as long. You’ll have to deliver the milk personally door to door because selling raw milk is illegal in shops and banned across most of Europe and the States. A difficult path but the one chosen by The Moo Man as he attempt to find a way to survive on his traditional family farm.
