It’s milk that generations will remember.

Now a Huddersfield farm is hoping to recruit a new army of admirers for raw, unpasteurised milk with the cream on top.

Dairy farmer Jeremy Holmes has installed a raw milk vending machine, which allows customers to fill a bottle straight from the farm, as quickly as four hours after the cows have been milked.

It’s one of the ways he plans to fight back after the fierce battle between milk producers and retailers over pricing.

And even though many health experts warn against drinking raw milk, Mr Holmes believes it will be popular.

Delph House Farm offering raw milk via a vending machine

Collected daily from 110 Friesians at the farm near Denby Dale, the milk - selling at £1 per litre - is already proving popular.

It is triple-filtered but unpasteurised with a stringent testing and inspection regime.

Mr Holmes’ Delph House Farm is one of only a handful of farms in the country where a vending machine has been installed to store the morning fresh milk perfectly.

He said: “We’ve had unprecedented interest in the vending machine, with people from all walks of life coming to visit us.

“There are older people who say it tastes just like the milk of their youth, fitness fans with specialist diets, and others who have told us it has helped deal with allergies and food intolerances.”

In light of the current crisis in dairy farming and its falling milk prices, Mr Holmes and wife Louise say the vending machine has helped them innovate in a difficult market. Only a small fraction of the farm’s milk is currently served through the vending machine – with the lion’s share pasteurised and sold into the food processing industry and the farm’s more famous sister company, the award-winning Yummy Yorkshire.

The raw milk vending machine installed by Jeremy Holmes

“We needed to figure out how we could make more from our milk and get a fair price. We’re passionate about giving consumers more choice.”

Under government rules, raw, untreated milk can only be bought direct from farmers, and Mr Holmes believes his is one of only two farms in the country where a vending machine has been installed to store the morning fresh milk perfectly.

The milk can last three days in the machine, but it is emptied, cleaned and refilled his every day. Customers can keep the milk in a fridge for three days.

The milk is described as ‘raw’ because it’s fresh and triple-filtered but untouched by the usual process of pasteurisation used to kill off harmful bacteria - which raw milk fans say also kills off good bacteria.

There are Food Standards Agency guidelines advising pregnant women, babies and those with lowered immunity to infection not to drink it.

Mr Holmes said: “I know there are pros and cons, and I don’t say I’m an evangelist for raw milk, but I do want to offer the consumer a choice.”