Teen creates dairy business from just one cow
BBCA 13-year-old boy has set up a dairy business using a single cow to produce milk and cream.
Charlie from St Agnes is selling the products from what he has called Sid's Dairy direct to customers.
Descending from a family of tin miners and farmers, he has grown up around animals, owning several of his own along the way.
"Sid's Dairy is a one-cow dairy but if it's selling out every day then I would consider buying another cow to help keep up the milk produce," Charlie said.
Charlie said he remembers the moment his passion for farming began.
He was two years old and sitting in the passenger seat of a New Holland tractor with his dad whistling as they ploughed.
"I just fell in love with farming there," he said.
Today he milks a Jersey cow called Clare who he bought when she was a calf with money he had saved for two years.
The teenager's dad Ollie said: "He had several calves before Clare but he always had a male calf and he used to get a bit emotional when they went to market.
"So we persuaded him to go for a heifer and then that's when he had the idea of milking."
Charlie uses a portable milking machine to milk Clare every day after school as she is the only animal which needs milking on the farm.
He said: "If I didn't have the milking machine then it would take around five hours every day."
The teenager said he pays for Clare's food as well as a share of her veterinary expenses.
His granddad said Charlie had a really strong bond with all the livestock on the farm.
John, 80, said: "He'll come down through this long shed behind us and when the cows are in, in the winter, he'll touch every cow if she's got her head through the barrier feeding, he'll go and stroke every one.
"Some of them toss their head and nearly knock him over, but he greets everyone right down through the whole shed, which is amazing."
Charlie's dad Ollie added: "We've had a tough couple of years and it's so nice to see somebody young doing something so constructive and positive."
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