fresh milk - right from the cow's udders

in the 50s and 60s, you could get fresh milk right from the udders of the cows on the streets. along cambridge road in the 50s, where there was this big patch of grass near the wet market, i used to see some indian men leading their cows to graze on the grass. i think, right up to the 80s, the milk man was still doing his trade in certain outlying parts of singapore, like somapah in changi.

there was also a dairy farm around the base of the bukit timah nature reserve. i think it was called the vishnu farm. today, this farm can be found at lane 8 lim chu kang road. however, things are mechanised and you do not get to see the farmer using his hands to work the teats.

in those days, you could also have the fresh milk delivered to your doorstep by the indian man who would come around on his bicycle with a canister of milk secured to rack at the back of his bicycle. he would also have clear bottles filled with milk, carried in a canvas bag with pockets on both sides, to be sold to ready buyers. later on, he progressed to using a motorcycle to make his daily rounds.

you could buy milk, fresh from the udders of the cow, right at your doorstep. the dairy farmer led the cows to wherever he could find buyers of his milk. then he would use his bare hands to squeeze the teats so the milk went right into a pail before transferring in into a bottle. if i recall correctly, he would sit on a stool and using his two hands worked on the teats until the milk flowed.

today, we may find this practice unhygienic but in those days it was the better-off people who would buy the fresh milk from the itinerant cow-men. people like us had not heard about the benefits of fresh milk then, so we settled for the blue cross brand of condensed milk instead.

we had to be extra careful where we trod or stepped as we could end up landing on a mass of dung deposited by the wandering cows.