Typhoid, milk, and the military: India’s first dairying revolution, 1880–1925

Government alarm over the extent of enteric fever (typhoid) among British troops in India in the late nineteenth century focused concern on adulterated milk as a likely medium for the transmission of disease and incentivized the creation of cantonment dairies, of which there were more than 30 by 1914. Aided by the introduction of modern milking techniques and butter-making equipment, military farms and government-sponsored dairies helped create a new market for dairy products in India, fostered the growth of privately run dairies, and encouraged the idea of milk consumption as an aid to health. The new dairies, with their intensive cattle-breeding programmes, were further seen as model institutions and centres for the dissemination of scientific dairying across India. The cantonment dairies drew in part on India’s own cattle culture and anticipated the ‘white revolution’ of the 1970s; but the uniqueness of the cantonment environment, the high costs of intensive dairying, and the reliance on specialized breeding inhibited the wider application of the military dairy model while intensifying Hindu opposition to cantonments as cow-killing sites.