JC A photo recently circulated on social media of a jar in a milking parlour containing what purported to be blood-stained milk – given that most consumers haven’t seen a cow being milked and have an inherent mistrust of the unknown it’s not entirely surprising it was believed to be true by some.
The truth is cow’s must still be milked if they have mastitis or a teat issue, then their milk is diverted to a separate tank and poured down the drain.
Some myths relating to dairy production are difficult to refute because they contain a grain of truth, others because they are so ridiculous it’s difficult to take them seriously.
These types of myths are difficult to dispel with science – we don’t usually build up resources to dispel myths that would seem to us in the dairy industry to be utterly inane.
Some myths relating to dairy production are difficult to refute because they contain a grain of truth, others because they are so ridiculous it’s difficult to take them seriously
Jude Capper, livestock sustainability consultant
However, this is an excellent opportunity to bust myths by inviting consumers to take part in farm visits or events such as Open Farm Sunday, or simply posting photos and video clips on social media.
If we build up enough freely available information and resources so the consumer’s knowledge level turns from: “That could be true, I don’t know what raw milk looks like” to “Don’t be silly, everybody knows milk is white when it comes out of the udder”, future scaremongering tactics will have a far lesser impact.