There is nothing that quite connects man and beast like hand milking. The rhythm of mornings and evenings, crouched beside the flank of a cow, the skilful opening and closing of fingers around a fleshy teat, the smell of warm, fresh milk, and the tinny sound of the stream hitting the side of the pail. There was a time when these sensations were widespread amongst people. Now, it's only in the developing world where hand milking is still widely practised. I consider myself lucky - in my...

Mention "cow vet" and most people immediately jump to a mental image of someone with their arm up a cow's backside. Actually, that's a pretty accurate depiction. For the first 20 years or so of my career, rectalling cows is exactly what I did, day in day out. With another decade of hindsight behind me, I can see that this is, by anybody's standards, a weird way to earn a living. The absurdity came to light earlier this week when I went to my GP because the back of my right hand had been...

As a dairy vet, I meet a lot of dairy farmers. There are two topics of conversation which punctuate my days: the weather (of course!) and the price of milk. Well, that's not quite true - when the price is good, as it has been for nearly all of 2025, and for a good chunk of 2024 beforehand, strangely enough the subject is never mentioned! But as soon as there's a dip, it unleashes a barrage of misery and despair. "We are price takers, not price makers" and "Bloody supermarkets are ruining the...