Amber Online

Jonathan Love preparing cattle for vet. Wolsingham, Weardale. 1994.

The Loves have a long tradition in Weardale, going back some 150 years. Originally, they worked the quarry that once existed on a part of their land overlooking Wolsingham. "Our family was in the quarry business and they used to move all the stone from the quarry with horses and carts, and this house here was the main middle stop if they needed to change the horses, water and feed them. That would be up until the late 30s." Eventually, the family moved into dairy farming, and today it takes up 90% of their business. "Years ago you just signed up with the Milk Marketing Board and you milked the cows and put your milk on the stand and that was it. Now when I was just a young lad they started having it tested, 35 years ago maybe, and it was a hell of a job in them days, cos the new regulations come out you had to keep your milk clean, you had milk sniffers come out to smell the milk to see if it was good enough and then it hasn't been too bad till these last few years when they've come in with all these extra cell counts, butter fats, lactose.... it's a hell of a complex job now it really is".