What makes our milk different?

Dairy cows in almost all UK dairy herds produce two different types of protein in their milk, these proteins are a Beta Casein type and are called A1 and A2.

All other mammals, including humans produce milk containing only one type of protein, the A2 type.

About 1 in 5 people are unable to digest the A1 protein and this is usually known as a dairy intolerance. This can cause many different symptoms including bloating, nausea, digestive upsets and diarrhoea. Also, other conditions including Lactose intolerance, eczema and IBS can be linked to the A1 protein.

A small number of people have a true Cow’ s Milk Protein (CMP) intolerance and unfortunately our milk cannot help in this case.

In 2012 we DNA tested all of our cows to find out which cows exclusively had the A2 Gene, all cows that carried the A1 gene were then sold to other dairy farms.

The herd at Bridge Farm is 100% A2 type and we only breed using Bulls that are A2 type, so every calf born here is now of the A2 type.

I believe that we are the only farm with 100% DNA tested cows retailing milk directly from the farm in the UK.

Since 2012 our milk was marketed by an Australian company called The a2 Milk Company but sadly this arrangement came to an end in October 2019.

Happily, we are now marketing the milk ourselves under the β free brand as A1 free milk. Customers who are unable to drink normal milk can enjoy the great taste of our fresh cow’s milk with all the fantastic health benefits that go along with drinking cow’s milk.

For everyone else, you get great fresh cow’s milk, with zero food miles from healthy cows that graze our fields in the summer.