Horse milk farmer’s mission to change British tastes

A farmer who diversified into producing mare’s milk says it has been hard competing against the cow’s milk industry.

Frank Shellard breeds horses in Combe Hay near Bath, and together with his daughter Alison Smith, has been milking them for the last four years.

He says it has been an interesting journey trying to convince customers to use what he describes as a healthy alternative.

“The British are very hard to change. People treat a horse similar to a domesticated pet so it’s hard for people to accept,” he said.

“Working with him has been great but he’s a very eccentric father,” Mrs Smith said.

“But the family’s love for the farm and supporting him means a lot to me, plus being so connected to the horses is therapeutic.”

Consuming horse milk is not a new practice – it is consumed around the world and more commonly used by nomadic cultures in the Central Asian Steppes who make a ferment with it called Kumis.

Mr Shellard says he was inspired to start his business after a friend learned about mare’s milk while travelling in Belgium 21 years ago.

“He found out they were milking horses over there and making cosmetics with it,” he said.

Since then, the Somerset farmer has become reportedly the only licensed horse milker in the UK.

Mr Shellard said a normal day at the farm sees his team milk the mares three or four times a day, “then the foals have the milk for the rest of the day”.

“It has been hard because there’s been billions plowed into cow’s milk and obviously it’s only me that’s doing the horse milking thing and even people when they find out how good it is for them they still don’t follow it up like they do cows milk.

“I really believe in what I’m doing – that what’s keeping me going,” he added.