The Glastonbury festival runs from 27th (today) to 29th June, at Worthy Farm, Pilton, near Glastonbury, in Somerset. It is a working dairy farm of 400 acres, with 360 milking cows and also 200 calves. Milking takes place seven days a week, and the 360 cows yield 10,200 litres of milk a day. The cows live in winter sheds over the winter, during the festival and also, after a muddy festival, until the fields have recovered, which can take months.
Michael Eavis is the dairy farmer and also the festival maestro. His main income comes from the dairy farm, and in an interview with the BBC in February 2008 he said '... the basis of life here at Worthy Farm is really the cows and the milk production... ' and '... they certainly milk very well anyway ...' He went on to say that '.. . milk is fetching more money than it has done for the past 10 years ...', and it is estimated that his annual income from milk is £1 million.
If you go to the Glastonbury festival, remember the cows.
To read the BBC article in full, go to
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7217158.stm
There is also a new on-line petition on the Downing Street web-site, for a ban on milk; to sign the pettion, go to
http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/banmilk/