He entered some of his cows in the Bathurst Agricultural, horticultural and Pastoral Association's annual show.

Usually one cow was nominated for the milk test which was milking the cow and measuring the amount of milk which could be around 10½ quarts of milk or more.

Another cow was milked to ascertain how much butter fat was in the milk with 4.40 or more of butter fat.

Cows were a prized possession around Bathurst in the 1830s and 1840s though generally only the better off landowners could afford to have one.

Cattle and other farm animals were important for the Government to know about so they were included in the census. Cows were scarce and basically any cow was milked.

By 1852 Mr. Lawrence Byrnes had created his dairy in Piper Street.

With limited building materials for such things his dairy would have consisted probably of a slab hut with a shingle or bark roof and one side open to the elements.

He would have split some gum timber to make the dividers between the bails.

He would not have had any real drainage and he probably cleaned away the manure when necessary.

In conditions like these there would have been contamination of his milk. Mr. Byrnes was also a carrier to supplement his income.

All milking was done by hand and even children were expected to fill their quota from a young age.

Usually milking was done in the morning and afternoon with school being attended during the daytime.

Often the children could round up the cows to bring them into the bails or milking stalls.

If larger numbers of cows were involved they often brought themselves in for milking.

If certain cows played up on a regular basis they would have a leg-rope put to save the milk pail being kicked over.

The udder would then be given a wash and a rub before the process of milking started in the hope that one would have a steady flow of milk.

They were on the lookout for good milking cows and later the Jersey was a prefered milking cow by the 1880s giving a good milker with a high butterfat content.

After milking was finished some milk would go to be separated.

In the early days milk was often left in shallow pans in a cool place and the cream would rise to the top and later skimmed off with a tin skimmer.

By the 1880s separators were being marketed. Cream was used separately or churned into butter and some would make cheese.

Diary-men sold milk door to door with milk-cans on a horse drawn cart. They would establish an area and set up a milk run.

Customers would bring out a billy can and the untreated milk was labelled directly into the customer’s container.

The occupation of being a dairyman was a tedious job with long hours, getting up early, hand feeding if necessary, cleaning of the various milk containers and the family were restricted in being away from the diary farm.

Usually the dairymen would have a mixed farm and not just rely on the sale of milk.

They would also grow crops to feed their milking cows and other livestock during the winter months and years when droughts reduced the crops.

Not only were the menfolk involved with milking cut they had hay to cut and chaff to cut and store in sheds.