History of Dairying in Ireland
From the beginning, Ireland was endowed with all of the natural advantages for dairying – good soil, mild climate under the influence of the Gulf Stream, moisture bearing south westerly winds and so on. Solinus, a third century writer could, therefore, remark “Ireland has such excellent pastures that cattle there are brought to the danger of their lives by overfeeding except now and then they are driven out of the field”.
Under the Brehon Laws, one of the earliest codified legal systems, a divorced woman was entitled to one sixth of the produce of the churn after her husband had left her. Dairy products have often been referred to in Irish folklore and one version of the epic “Cattle raid at Cooley” reveals that Queen Maeve of Connaught was mortally wounded by a skim milk cheese flung from the sling of her nephew. Another legend tells of an attempt made to kill Saint Patrick with a poisoned cheese!
Later records, especially the English State papers dealing with Ireland, have much to say about cattle raiding as a method of internal warfare. Not only did a successful cattle raid lower the status of the owner whose cows were taken but it also tended to induce immediate submission! Milk and milk products were staple foods and their removal was seen as an important weapon of war.
SEASONALITY
Back in the 16th Century, the seasonality of milk supply in Ireland had far reaching implications, much as it does today. In his book “Irish Food before the Potato”, A. T. Lucas records how Sir George Carew complained about the strength, in military terms, of the Irish “in the summer season … living upon the milk and butter of their kine”. A report sent to the English authorities in 1596 suggested that the best month to attack the Irish was February because in summertime they would have plenty of milk “which is their chiefest food”, but as winter came to an end they were at their most vulnerable.
Records from the 17th Century provide a glimpse of the state of dairying in Ireland at that time. Butter exports, early in the century, were in the region of 1,500 tons per annum and there are references to the product being exported to France. Sir William Petty conducted a survey at that time and he reckoned there were 600,000 cows in the country by mid-century (1.087 million in 2007) and that the yield of an ‘English’ (!) cow was 1,798 kg per annum (4,822 kg in 2007). Up to the middle of the 17th Century the character of dairy production in Ireland was more subsistence than commercial. It was only later that butter began to emerge as a significant export item and quickly became the country’s main export commodity.
EXPORT GROWTH
Exports of butter really began to take off in the second half of the 17th Century and this trend lasted right up to and beyond the Act of Union. These were years of great growth in the Irish dairy industry and Professor Lyons in his “History of our dairy Industry” (1959) estimates that milk production towards the end of the 17th Century was in the region of 1,961 million kg per annum (5.23 million metric tonnes in 2007).
So important had the trade become by 1685 that a Government proclamation, noting that butter was “transported in very great quantities to parts beyond the sea, from whence, of all others, it makes the greatest return in monies” sought to regulate the trade and to eliminate abuse.
INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
The growth of the English market, following the Industrial Revolution, was the most significant development of the period. From around 1760 onwards, England, with a rapidly growing population, began to import Irish butter in quantity, so much so that by the end of the century it had become the main export market for Irish butter.
FIRKINS
In the 17th and 18th centuries Ireland was the major exporter of butter to northern Europe and the Americas. Ireland dominated the butter market in the same way that Holland dominated the cheese market at that time. Much of the butter shipped from Ireland to the European mainland was reshipped across the Atlantic, all highly salted in order to preserve it for long voyages often through, and to, warmer climates. The product was shipped either in casks, weighing 1cwt (approx. 50 kgs) or more, or in smaller casks known as firkins containing 56lbs (25.2 kgs) of butter.
The great bulk of this butter – approximately two thirds at the end of the 18th century – was shipped from the ports of Cork and Waterford, reflecting the fact that commercial dairy farming had emerged as the main agricultural activity in the Munster counties and in South Kilkenny.
The practice of cheese making, a well-established activity in Ireland down through the years, began to decline amongst the native Irish population over this period. Whatever cheese produced was made by English and Scottish settlers and by the 19th century domestic production of cheese was negligible and a traditional taste had virtually disappeared.
COTTAGE INDUSTRY
Butter making at the time was a cottage industry and quality control was probably unheard of. This led to a number of Acts of Parliament in the 17th and 18th centuries in an effort to improve quality levels but the real breakthrough came in Cork in 1769. A committee of merchants met in that city and, because “the butter trade of the city and country has fallen into great disrepute in consequence of the great frauds that have been practised in its manufacture”, they resolved to “ship no butter which shall not be publicly inspected.”
CORK BUTTER MARKET
The butter merchants of Cork formed a voluntary organisation to oversee the public inspection, branding and marking of butter for export. For over a century every firkin of butter passing through the doors of the Cork Market was rigidly examined and graded. Cork at that time was the centre of the Irish butter trade especially for distant markets. In its heyday ships from Sweden, Denmark, Holland, France, Portugal and Spain, called there regularly to take butter off to their respective colonies. Cork butter in particular attained a high reputation for quality and for many years the price of graded butter on the Cork Butter Market was a recognised world price. In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century the Cork Butter Market was one of the most famous butter markets in the world.
The sharp rise in the export of butter probably meant a decline in consumption among the native population, but Arthur Young could still observe after his famous tour in 1776/77, that “the milk and potatoes on which the Irish peasant thrives are a more nourishing diet than the bread, cheese, beer, tea and gin of the English landowner”.
Following the passing of the Act of Union between Britain and Ireland on January 1st, 1801, Ireland's economy began to stagnate. The landlord system – dominated by a small number of absentees – encouraged over-farming and over-division. One of the consequences of this system was the cataclysmic famine of 1845 – 1847.
In the years following the famine, a number of Acts were passed at Westminster in order to move control of the land from landlords to tenants. In spite of the appalling poverty which existed, exports of butter were high in the 19th century because the product was made to pay for rent rather than for personal consumption.
SMALL PRODUCERS
Many of the dairy producers were small groups of men who hired cows from wealthier farmers. But in time farmer-owned herds came to dominate production. In 1841 the average dairy herd consisted of 5 cows (50 in 2007) but herds varied greatly in size from farmer to farmer, much as they do today.
Although the Act of Union had a negative effect on the Irish economy, the Irish dairy industry still maintained its position as the most important exporter to overseas markets in the early decades of the 19th century. For a long period Ireland held on to its market in Brazil and towards the middle of the century it captured an important new market in Australia.
However, the Irish butter industry was not so well geared to face market change or new competition, especially in markets such as Great Britain where the population had become more urbanised and demanded a lighter salted butter product. Irish butter, as already noted, was heavily salted to preserve it for the long voyages to export markets in distant lands. As demand in these overseas markets dwindled, and consumer preferences closer to home changed, Irish dairy farmers and traders were slow to adjust to the new conditions. France, Holland and eventually Denmark all emerged as successful exporters to the British market. Their merchants purchased butter in lumps from their farmers a few times a week, mixed it carefully into a consistent and standardised quality and dispatched it within a matter of a few days in attractive packaging to London. This put Irish butter at a considerable disadvantage at that time but interesting developments took place during the 20th century which saw a modern dairy industry emerge in Ireland. Check out : www.idb.ie/section/54.
SEASONALITY
Back in the 16th Century, the seasonality of milk supply in Ireland had far reaching implications, much as it does today. In his book “Irish Food before the Potato”, A. T. Lucas records how Sir George Carew complained about the strength, in military terms, of the Irish “in the summer season … living upon the milk and butter of their kine”. A report sent to the English authorities in 1596 suggested that the best month to attack the Irish was February because in summertime they would have plenty of milk “which is their chiefest food”, but as winter came to an end they were at their most vulnerable.
Records from the 17th Century provide a glimpse of the state of dairying in Ireland at that time. Butter exports, early in the century, were in the region of 1,500 tons per annum and there are references to the product being exported to France. Sir William Petty conducted a survey at that time and he reckoned there were 600,000 cows in the country by mid-century (1.087 million in 2007) and that the yield of an ‘English’ (!) cow was 1,798 kg per annum (4,822 kg in 2007). Up to the middle of the 17th Century the character of dairy production in Ireland was more subsistence than commercial. It was only later that butter began to emerge as a significant export item and quickly became the country’s main export commodity.
EXPORT GROWTH
Exports of butter really began to take off in the second half of the 17th Century and this trend lasted right up to and beyond the Act of Union. These were years of great growth in the Irish dairy industry and Professor Lyons in his “History of our dairy Industry” (1959) estimates that milk production towards the end of the 17th Century was in the region of 1,961 million kg per annum (5.23 million metric tonnes in 2007).
So important had the trade become by 1685 that a Government proclamation, noting that butter was “transported in very great quantities to parts beyond the sea, from whence, of all others, it makes the greatest return in monies” sought to regulate the trade and to eliminate abuse.
INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
The growth of the English market, following the Industrial Revolution, was the most significant development of the period. From around 1760 onwards, England, with a rapidly growing population, began to import Irish butter in quantity, so much so that by the end of the century it had become the main export market for Irish butter.
FIRKINS
In the 17th and 18th centuries Ireland was the major exporter of butter to northern Europe and the Americas. Ireland dominated the butter market in the same way that Holland dominated the cheese market at that time. Much of the butter shipped from Ireland to the European mainland was reshipped across the Atlantic, all highly salted in order to preserve it for long voyages often through, and to, warmer climates. The product was shipped either in casks, weighing 1cwt (approx. 50 kgs) or more, or in smaller casks known as firkins containing 56lbs (25.2 kgs) of butter.
The great bulk of this butter – approximately two thirds at the end of the 18th century – was shipped from the ports of Cork and Waterford, reflecting the fact that commercial dairy farming had emerged as the main agricultural activity in the Munster counties and in South Kilkenny.
The practice of cheese making, a well-established activity in Ireland down through the years, began to decline amongst the native Irish population over this period. Whatever cheese produced was made by English and Scottish settlers and by the 19th century domestic production of cheese was negligible and a traditional taste had virtually disappeared.
COTTAGE INDUSTRY
Butter making at the time was a cottage industry and quality control was probably unheard of. This led to a number of Acts of Parliament in the 17th and 18th centuries in an effort to improve quality levels but the real breakthrough came in Cork in 1769. A committee of merchants met in that city and, because “the butter trade of the city and country has fallen into great disrepute in consequence of the great frauds that have been practised in its manufacture”, they resolved to “ship no butter which shall not be publicly inspected.”
CORK BUTTER MARKET
The butter merchants of Cork formed a voluntary organisation to oversee the public inspection, branding and marking of butter for export. For over a century every firkin of butter passing through the doors of the Cork Market was rigidly examined and graded. Cork at that time was the centre of the Irish butter trade especially for distant markets. In its heyday ships from Sweden, Denmark, Holland, France, Portugal and Spain, called there regularly to take butter off to their respective colonies. Cork butter in particular attained a high reputation for quality and for many years the price of graded butter on the Cork Butter Market was a recognised world price. In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century the Cork Butter Market was one of the most famous butter markets in the world.
The sharp rise in the export of butter probably meant a decline in consumption among the native population, but Arthur Young could still observe after his famous tour in 1776/77, that “the milk and potatoes on which the Irish peasant thrives are a more nourishing diet than the bread, cheese, beer, tea and gin of the English landowner”.
Following the passing of the Act of Union between Britain and Ireland on January 1st, 1801, Ireland's economy began to stagnate. The landlord system – dominated by a small number of absentees – encouraged over-farming and over-division. One of the consequences of this system was the cataclysmic famine of 1845 – 1847.
In the years following the famine, a number of Acts were passed at Westminster in order to move control of the land from landlords to tenants. In spite of the appalling poverty which existed, exports of butter were high in the 19th century because the product was made to pay for rent rather than for personal consumption.
SMALL PRODUCERS
Many of the dairy producers were small groups of men who hired cows from wealthier farmers. But in time farmer-owned herds came to dominate production. In 1841 the average dairy herd consisted of 5 cows (50 in 2007) but herds varied greatly in size from farmer to farmer, much as they do today.
Although the Act of Union had a negative effect on the Irish economy, the Irish dairy industry still maintained its position as the most important exporter to overseas markets in the early decades of the 19th century. For a long period Ireland held on to its market in Brazil and towards the middle of the century it captured an important new market in Australia.
However, the Irish butter industry was not so well geared to face market change or new competition, especially in markets such as Great Britain where the population had become more urbanised and demanded a lighter salted butter product. Irish butter, as already noted, was heavily salted to preserve it for the long voyages to export markets in distant lands. As demand in these overseas markets dwindled, and consumer preferences closer to home changed, Irish dairy farmers and traders were slow to adjust to the new conditions. France, Holland and eventually Denmark all emerged as successful exporters to the British market. Their merchants purchased butter in lumps from their farmers a few times a week, mixed it carefully into a consistent and standardised quality and dispatched it within a matter of a few days in attractive packaging to London. This put Irish butter at a considerable disadvantage at that time but interesting developments took place during the 20th century which saw a modern dairy industry emerge in Ireland. Check out : www.idb.ie/section/54.
