“HOW many 14-year-olds would get out of bed to go to work at 4.30am nowadays?”

For 50 years, Ron Burt’s working day meant an early start to help produce something the rest of us take for granted with our morning cereal.

More than once he fell asleep with his head resting against a cow’s body as he sought to get warm in the coldest of weather.

Mr Burt, of Portesham, is one of the longest-serving members of the Dorset Herdsmen’s Society, which gathered for a farewell event to mark the disbanding of the group.

The society is officially disbanding after more than 50 years of friendship and is thought to be one of the last in the country to do so.

More than 30 past and present members came together to remember a lost era of Dorset’s history.

The county’s agricultural identity meant hundreds worked as herdsmen and shepherds – before mechanical milking machinery it would typically take up to five full-time workers to milk a herd of 100 cows.

The society aimed to bring people together and social events such as dinner dances were as important to the members as talks and practical demonstrations.

With 133 members at its peak, the group would meet regularly at the Antelope Inn in Dorchester.

Speaking at the farewell event at the Highlands End Holiday Park at Eype, Jim Wilson, a former lecturer in dairying at what is now Kingston Maurward Agricultural College, recalled the unusual topics he had been requested by members to give talks on.

He said: “They wanted to see liver fluke in cows to see how it works and how it can be dealt with, which meant a trip to the slaughterhouse and a request which raised a few eyebrows. The next week it was round worms and tape worms, which were also interesting to get hold of.”

Mr Wilson added: “I started in the dairy industry in 1949. It’s all very different now.”

The society committee made the decision to disband after being unable to attract new members in recent years, which is thought to be related to how the industry has changed.

Tony Stewart-Smith said: “Everything changed when cows became numbers instead of names. Herds are so big now.”

He farmed a herd of 100 with three or four other herdsmen at Martinstown.

“That was considered quite a big herd then. There was always an early start, about 5am to get the first milking done. Breakfast was my favourite meal of the day – you were always ready for it by the time 9am came around.”

Dorset Echo:

Dorset Herdsmen’s Society presentation of cups. From left, Ron Burt, Geoff Haines, Dave Marks, the late John Marsh and Ray Sanson

The rest of the day would be spent cleaning out the dairy and labelling up milk which was taken to Weymouth to be sold, before another milking session in the afternoon. Outgoing chairman Geoffrey Haine said: “It is a sad occasion now that the society has officially disbanded but I think we will all be keeping in touch. We have got to know each other so well over the years.”

Former chairman Peter Marchant added: “It has been a great club really.”

For some of the herdsmen, farming was the only career option. Doug Chainey said: “I was brought up on a farm. In fact everyone always joked that I was born under a cow as my mother was a milker and worked right through her pregnancy.”

But despite the hardships, the former herdsmen looked back on a life they enjoyed.

Mr Burt recalled how he was given his first cow to milk as a schoolboy.

“We had to pass the farm and one day I was handed a bucket and a stool and told to go and milk a red and white shorthorn.

“Eventually I graduated up to milking two or more on my way home from school. When I left at 14 I went into doing it full time.”

He added: “We knew all the cows by their markings and they all had names. They would often come up to you for a scratch on the ear or a pet on the nose. They were there every day and I worked six and a half days a week from when I was aged 14 to 65 and only ever had three Christmas Days off in all that time.

“But it was the outdoor life and I loved it. I wouldn’t change a minute.”

Fun and games for group

LIKE Young Farmers’ Clubs, contests and trips were an important part of the Herdsmen’s Societies.

Dorset was the only club to include women on a team which went on to win a general knowledge quiz in the early days of the society and the county’s tug-of-war team was also highly regarded.

A former prisoner of war who settled in Dorset as a herdsmen organised a trip to his former homeland in 1967 when Germany was split.

Members travelled to Leipzig in East Germany and visited a farm to learn about various agricultural techniques.

Tom Stewart-Smith said: “I got mumps while I was there and I didn’t want to go to the doctor because I really didn’t want to end up in a hospital in East Germany. So I got the vet who was travelling with us to treat me.”

Dorset Echo:

The society visits Leipzig, East Germany in 1967

Herdsmen’s Societies offered them shelter

THE Herdsmen’s Societies grew out of an idea to provide lodging for agricultural workers at farming shows, many of whom ended up bedding down alongside their animals during the event.

Fred Thorne is credited for starting the Dorset group in 1964, but similar groups sprung up around the UK and members would share trips and take part in contests.

When the national branch closed down in 2003, many of the few surviving local branches did the same.

Mr Burt said he believed Dorset to be one of the oldest, if not the oldest, surviving branch.

“I know the Isle of Wight group said they would keep going for as long as possible, but sadly I have lost touch so I don’t know if they have disbanded,” he said.