Black top Enjoy Milk to launch in spring

The Enjoy Milk campaign aims to provide consumers with the opportunity to choose fresh milk from 100% British farms that is also grazing-based and offers farmers a fair deal.

According to ex-dairy farmer Nick Hiscox, founder of the Enjoy Milk campaign, milk produced by Enjoy Milk farmers will have a black top, rather than the traditional blue, green and red caps, so consumers know the milk has been approved as free range and fair dealing.

Black top milk hits the shelves in early spring 2017. 

Application process

There is a perception among British consumers that ‘free range’ is how they would prefer cows to live their lives, with 86% of those surveyed in a 2015 YouGov survey agreeing “UK dairy cows should be able to graze on pasture and should not be permanently housed indoors.”

The Free Range Milk Marketing Board, the body behind the Enjoy Milk campaign, has developed an application process and compliance procedure to ensure 100% integrity of the milk from Enjoy Milk dairy farms.

Enjoy Milk dairy farms have to commit to cows spending as many days as possible grazing outside. Whilst no dairy farm is the same, it is possible to objectively and determine whether an individual farm is committed to grazing or not.

Routine housing of the dairy stock at times of the year when it is reasonable to expect cows to be grazing in fields is not permitted. Exceptions will be made for adverse events requiring temporary housing, such as flooding or biosecurity issues.

Evidence needed

All applicants must provide evidence in support of the application to supply free ranging milk. In order to be robust but without causing an additional red tape burden on already hard pressed farmers, this evidence will rely on existing farm data.

This includes a total farm plan showing the defined areas of grazing and areas set aside for conserving winter forage such as silage; the number of livestock units held on the farm; and evidence to show adequate housing for all stock that require housing outside of the grazing season.

All Enjoy Milk producers will be asked to submit annual management plans showing clear evidence of the grazing period achieved.

The Enjoy Milk team are also investigating an interactive package of software to make the process of compliance and monitoring easier and real time related.

Buying in confidence

In the absence of a legal definition of free ranging for dairy cows, the purpose of these requirements is that there is complete clarity as to what the free range Enjoy Milk promise means, so every dairy farmer and the consumer can buy in confidence.

As well as supporting milk from pasture grazed cows, 87% consumers, in the same YouGov survey, wanted “farmers to receive a good price for their milk.”

There are a few examples where British dairy farmers are supplying direct to retailers, like Tesco, under a cost of production contract. However, these dairy farmers are only a fraction of the total dairy sector. It is estimated that 82% of dairy farmers are not on a retailer direct supply contract - around 7,800 farms in the UK.