Today’s modern dairy industry is all about efficiency and Ireland’s grass-based system makes the country one of the leading producers of milk in the world. Milk used to be drunk raw straight from the cow but today it is a complex commodity product. Processed, pasteurized and homogenized, and sold to us in a carton, as either full-fat, skimmed or semi-skimmed. Milk becomes butter, cheese and yogurt, food ingredients, from whey proteins, and lactose fats, to pizza toppings, milk powder and infant formula. Milk is big business and an astonishing 85% of the milk from Irish cows is exported.

Video Language: English