nn y

Joh
Loves
Milk
Wee Johnny Loves Milk
Johnny is having a glass of milk with Mum.
He loves milk. It is his favourite drink.
He has cold milk in his cereal and hot milk to warm him up
before bed.

He wonders
where milk comes
from.

He knows that
cows make milk but Mum
buys it at the supermarket
Johnny asks,
“where does milk
come from?
Are there cows at the supermarket?”
Mum laughs and says,
“No, Johnny it’s much more
complicated. Let me tell you all about it.”
2
“Most milk comes from cows but we can also drink goat’s
milk. Cows live on farms in the countryside where there is
plenty of grass to eat.”
“Yuck,” says Johnny, “eating grass sounds disgusting.”
“Not for cows,” says Mum, “grass is their favourite food.
Johnny knows that grass only grows in good weather. Dad
only cuts the grass in their garden when it is warm and dry
“What do cows eat in winter?” he asks.
3
“When the weather is nice and the grass is growing the
farmers cut some and store it for later.”
Johnny thinks this is a great idea. He likes to save his Easter
eggs and eat them a little at a time.
“The cut grass is wrapped in plastic to keep the air out. Then,
a special process called fermentation takes place. The grass
changes into silage so it can be stored through the winter.”
“Granny stores food for the winter too. Does she do
fermentation?” asks Johnny.
Mum explains that there are lots of ways to store food.
Fermentation is a little like Granny pickling onions, beetroot
and gherkins in jars.
“During the colder months farmers give their hungry cows the
special, fermented grass along with extra food which is made
in a factory called a feed mill. This is how cows survive the
winter when they don’t have grass to eat.”

4
Johnny wants to know more about where the
cows’ food comes from.
Mum reminds him about a big building they pass on the way
into town and Johnny remembers the lorries going in and out
of this building.
“That’s Thompson’s feed mill,” says Mum,
“It’s where the cows’ food comes from.”
“The feed mill mixes together lots of ingredients to make
special food for cows. It’s called MEAL. They make different
kinds of MEAL for different kinds of cows.”
Johnny thinks this sounds like breakfast at Granda and
Granny’s house. Granda has plain cereal with no sugar
because sugar makes him poorly. Granny has fruit and
honey in hers because she has a sweet tooth.
It looks like the cows get different ingredients in their
MEAL too. He feels much better now he knows that cows
have good food to eat all year round.

5
Johnny wants to know where the feed mill gets
the ingredients for their MEAL. He wonders if they
use supermarkets too.
Mum tells him that the MEAL ingredients arrive at Belfast
docks, in ships, from all over the world. Because the
ingredients come from so many different places they are
ready to harvest and use at
different times of the year.
This depends on how hot
a country is and whether it
is summer or winter there.
Johnny understands this.
Sometimes he wants to eat
strawberries in winter but,
because it’s cold outside,
there are no strawberries
in their garden. In hot
countries like Spain, fruit
can grow all year round.

6
“When the ingredients from all over the world arrive at the
feed mill, they are mixed into MEAL. The MEAL is put into
lorries and driven across the country to all the farms. This
takes a lot of lorries as nearly every cow in Northern Ireland
gets its winter food from Thompson’s feed mill. The farmers
have special containers for storing their MEAL and keeping
it fresh through the winter. They are called meal bins.”

“How do the cows get their food out of

the meal bins?”
asks Johnny.
Mum tells him that the cows are given their MEAL while
they’re in the milking parlour or at something called the
feedbunk.

7
Johnny has never heard of a milking parlour.
He has lots of questions.

“Why do cows make milk?"

“How do cows make milk?"

“How does the farmer get milk out of a

cow and into a bottle in our fridge?"
Mum reminds Johnny that all mums make milk when they
have a baby and all cows make milk when they have a
calf. Milk is what all babies need to grow big and strong,
even baby cows.

8
Johnny is worried.

If he’s drinking milk, does it mean that a

little calf isn’t getting enough milk to drink?
He doesn’t want to make any calves go hungry
“Don’t worry,” says Mum. “The milk we drink is only taken
from the cow when the calf is older. The cow will keep making
milk as long as she is being milked and then she has a little rest
until she has another calf.
Johnny still doesn’t understand how milk comes out of a cow.

9
Mum explains. “All cows have udders,” she says. This is
where the milk is made. The udders hang down between
the cow’s back legs. They get much bigger when the cow
is full of milk. When the cow is ready to be milked the
farmer takes them into a milking parlour where special,
little vacuums are attached to the udders. They suck the
milk out of the cows.”
Johnny thinks this sounds painful
but Mum says it’s just like a calf
sucking the milk out of their
mum. Afterwards the cow is
glad not to feel so full of milk.

10
“After the cows have been milked, all the milk is collected and
poured into a big container called a milk tank. Each day a lorry
comes to the farm and transports all the cows’ milk to another
factory. At the factory the milk is tested to make sure it’s pure
and good and ready for drinking or pouring on to cereal.”

“What sort of tests?” asks Johnny.

“The most important thing that happens at the milk factory
is when the milk is pasteurized,” says Mum.

11
Johnny had no idea what this means but Mum is really
good at explaining difficult things.
“The milk is heated to a certain temperature. Then it is
allowed to cool. This makes sure that any nasty bugs or
germs in the milk are killed. It’s just like making sure meat
and fish are cooked properly before you eat it.”
“After it’s been pasteurized the milk goes through pipes to
a big machine where it is pumped into bottles or cartons,
sealed, and stamped with a date to show how long it will
stay fresh.”
Mum lifts a bottle of milk from the fridge and shows Johnny
the date. “We need to drink this milk before then,” she
explains.
The bottled milk is stored in a big fridge the size of a room
until it is ready to be taken to the supermarket. Then we
can go to the supermarket and buy milk for ourselves.

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In the 1870’s John Thompson’s grocers shop embarked on a journey that
now sees Thompsons as the largest multi-species feed mill in Europe.
With an approach to business that has ensured the company survived
everything from a bombing in the ‘blitz’ in 1940 to various acquisitions
and a turbulent marketplace, it is no surprise that Thompsons became
known as the ‘Pioneers of better feeding stuffs’.

With over 100 years’ experience feeding the animals of Ireland, Thompsons
know what they are doing. From the early days in Donegall Quay to the
present location on the York Road Belfast, there have been many ups and
downs, but one thing still remains the same, Thompsons’ ability to adapt.

With more than a lifetime’s investment in Northern Ireland’s agri-food

industry Thompsons realise that longevity and sustainability mean
working closely with customers, processors and retailers.

Thompsons provide complete traceability from docks to dinner. The

company participates in all assurance schemes which have been developed
to help prevent major feed and food safety scares.

In addition to all of the nutritional expertise and the sophisticated

manufacturing facilities Thompsons have kept an awareness of the
environment and energy usage. The company has won an environmental
Johnny Loves Milk

Illustrations by Orlagh McKeown

Story by Zoe McKane
Edited by Jan Carson