The development of the local dairy industry and its impact on the national economy

Abstract

Milk is the secretion of the mamillary glands produced by the female species of vertebrate mammals, with which they rear their young ones for a period of time which varies from one animal to another. It must have therefore provided the basic nutriment for vertebrate mammals since the species appeared on the spaceship earth; and prehistoric man could not have been an exception. Historians believe that the reindeer was the first animal to be tamed by our early ancestors, and most probably it also provided the first animal milk to be drunk by man. Man, the hunter, was often out on long expeditions in search of game, and when tired and sweating under the direct heat of that scourging sun, it should not have taken him long to discover that the readily available sweet, refreshing and nourishing milk of this animal served as an ideal thirst quencher; indeed man could not have made a better discovery! It is no wonder that animal milk consumption in Malta has its origin buried deep in history. When in the seventeenth century B.C. Phoenician traders plying around the Mediterranean basin introduced the goat in Malta in exchange for woolens, sheep were already reared in these islands primarily for their fleece. Yet the goat fitted better into local conditions. It proved able to survive on the very little grazing that crops up in our semi-arid fields and with the minimum of attention: in addition it provided wholesome milk in greater abundance.