Milk is a white liquid secreted by the mammary glands of female mammals. In the food system, the term almost always refers to cow’s milk, though milk from goats, sheep, buffalo, and camels is also consumed in various regions. It is one of humanity’s oldest farmed foods, with evidence of dairying stretching back over 8,000 years.
Milk is both consumed as a drink and used as the base ingredient for a vast range of dairy products — cheese, yoghurt, butter, cream, and ice cream among them. Its composition of water, fat, protein (primarily casein), and lactose (milk sugar) makes it unusually versatile in cooking and food manufacturing.
In Australia, the dairy industry is concentrated in the southern states, particularly Victoria and Tasmania, where rainfall and pasture conditions favour year-round grazing. Australia produces around 8–9 billion litres of milk annually, with roughly a third exported as processed dairy products.
How it's produced
Dairy cows are milked two or three times daily using automated milking machines in sheds or rotary dairies. Modern dairy farming ranges from intensive systems where cows are housed and fed formulated rations, to pasture-based systems where cows graze outdoors for most of the year. Australian dairy farming leans heavily toward pasture-based production.
After collection, raw milk is transported in refrigerated tankers to processing plants where it is pasteurised (heat-treated to kill pathogens), homogenised (to prevent cream separation), and standardised to specific fat levels before packaging. Some milk is further processed into UHT (long-life) milk, powdered milk, or separated into cream and skim components for use in other dairy products.
What it costs the planet (per kilo)
≈ Estimated from its category — typical for dairy, not measured for this item yet. Sources & methods →
Keeping it
Keep it: in the fridge, not the door.
Advice from Cubud’s own keeping notes — how to keep it, not a measured number.
What comes from this
Your household's take
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