DAIRYING

branch of agriculture that encompasses the breeding, raising, and utilization of dairy animals, primarily cows, for the production of milk and the various dairy products processed from it. The most common commodities rendered from milk are butter, cream, cheese, ice cream, dried milk, skim milk, and buttermilk. The earliest historical records note the keeping of cattle, goats, and sheep for the production of milk, butter, and cheese. From southwest Asia, the area of the first domestication of herd animals, the custom of using milk and milk products as food for humans spread to other countries. Dairy cattle thrive best in areas where pasturage and other green forage are grown in abundance. Modern dairy farming is recent in origin. At first, dairy cows were kept to furnish milk for the farm family. The marketing of milk began when customers called at the farm or when farmers distributed their milk directly to users. Within the past 100 years advances along five different lines have caused milk and milk products to become important articles of commerce: (1) The factory system of processing milk was inaugurated about the middle of the 19th century, resulting in greater uniformity of product than was possible under farm processing. (2) About the same time, a method was developed for concentrating milk and sealing it in containers in sterile condition. Approximately 25 years later the distribution of milk in glass bottles was begun. Many other technological advances followed. (3) The first milk sold in towns and cities came from nearby farms. The coming of refrigeration not only aided in keeping milk fresh for a longer time than formerly but also made possible the shipping of dairy products to all parts of the world. (4) An early method of transporting milk to large cities was to ship it on railways. Motor vehicles and paved roads made possible the supplying of fresh milk to markets hundreds or even thousands of miles distant from the farms where the milk is produced. A development of the second half of the 20th century was the greatly expanded use of bulk-cooling tanks on farms from which tank trucks made pickups. (5) The wide adoption of pasteurization and the enforcement of laws requiring proper food value in dairy products greatly benefited the entire dairy industry. Through the techniques of selective breeding, so-called herd-improvement programs begun in the 18th century have greatly increased the productivity of dairy cattle. Outstanding dairy breeds that have become numerous outside their homelands are the Ayrshire from Scotland, Brown Swiss from Switzerland, Holstein-Friesian, or Holstein, from Holland and Friesland, and Guernsey and Jersey from the Channel Islands. Dairying involving species other than cattle (e.g., buffaloes, goats, and sheep) is relatively small in volume of production, and such milk is largely consumed in or near the community in which it is produced. Some goat and sheep milk enters trade channels, mostly in the form of cheese. See the Table of Selected Breeds of Dairy Cattle for further information. For information on the nature and production of particular dairy products, see butter; cheese; cream; ice cream; milk. branch of agriculture that encompasses the breeding, raising, and utilization of dairy animals, primarily cows, for the production of milk and the various dairy products processed from it. Milk for human consumption is produced primarily by the cow and the water buffalo. The goat also is an important milk producer in China, India, and other Asian countries and in Egypt. Goat's milk is also produced in Europe and North America but, compared to cow's milk, goat's milk is relatively unimportant. Buffalo's milk is produced in commercial quantities in some countries, particularly India. Where it is produced, buffalo's milk is used in the same way as is cow's milk, and in some areas the community milk supply consists of a mixture of both. This article treats the principles and practices of dairy farming. For a discussion of dairy products see the article dairy product. Additional reading Dairy production and marketing are treated in William M. Etgen, Robert E. James, and Paul M. Reaves, Dairy Cattle Feeding and Management, 7th ed. (1987); G.H. Schmidt, L.D. Van Vleck, and M.F. Hutjens, Principles of Dairy Science, 2nd ed. (1988); and Donald L. Bath et al., Dairy Cattle: Principles, Practices, Problems, Profits, 3rd ed. (1985). Byron H. Webb The Editors of the Encyclopdia Britannica