In the old days Ljubljana had as many cows as people in Ljubljana needed them for milk. Because the city was built around a castle it drew in more and more people, so the number of cows kept increasing and they soon had to bring milk in from the surrounding areas. Later people from elsewhere were offering milk and in the first cooperatives the idea about a dairy in Ljubljana gained ground.

The first dairy was registered in cooperative register under the name Erste Krainische Milchgenossenschaft in Laidback RGMBH in 1887. The dairy soon ran into trouble and had to close down. But this failure did not prevent further attempts to open a dairy in Ljubljana. Several trials were finally awarded with a success 38 years later.

A fairly well organised dairy was established in 1925 in the former brewery in Majstrova ulica 10. At first, the dairy was named Zadružne mlekarne (Cooperative Dairies), and later Osrednje mlekarne (Central Dairies). The founders of this company were also other dairies from the region of Gorenjska. The first dairy for drinking milk was on a very high level, considering the times; the milk was filtered, pasteurised, cooled and automatically filled in aseptic bottles. It was sold under the name of bio milk.

In 1932 daily supply of milk for Ljubljana was 20,000 litres; of which 17,000 litres were contributed by the producers from surrounding areas, and 3000 litres by dairy cooperatives. Some of the dairy cooperatives already had pasteurisation and cooling systems. The milk ladies brought the milk to Ljubljana in pushcarts, or on carts. They collected milk in the morning and evenings in the houses, poured it into common cans and brought it to Ljubljana in the morning.

In 1940 when Ljubljana had 87,000 inhabitants, one consumed an average of 300 ml of milk per day. The majority of milk was delivered by milk ladies on their pushcarts, later with bicycles and tricycles. Cooperatives had the best organised delivery, which brought the milk in Ljubljana by trucks or railway.

The development of dairy industry was interrupted by the World War II. The dairy in Majstrova ulica was taken over by Gospodarska zveza (Economic Union) and they introduced milk pitchers and measures for milk collection. Supplying milk to Ljubljana depended on borders set up by the occupying forces. During the war the dairy industry did not make any progress. Compulsory milk collection was enforced, milk was skimmed and the milk fat content was standardised at 1.8 %.

In the explosion in the main railway station after the end of the war in 1945 the dairy was destroyed and rebuilt in 6 months.

After the war in the shortage of milk, which was even more severe than during the war, the compulsory milk collection directive remained in effect, and was expended to other towns in Slovenia. The organisation of dairy industry across Slovenia was taken over by the central company Mlekopromet with the aim to organise collecting of milk, eggs and poultry. The post-war period, besides bringing the compulsory milk collection, also demanded rational use of milk. They distributed it in limited amounts to health care institutions, to children, the sick and elderly. The amounts processed into cheese and raw butter were insignificant. In 1948 Mlekopromet reorganised and individual larger dairies around Slovenia were founded; the founding rights were taken over by local people’s committees. In Ljubljana a new company Mleko, besides the dairy in Majstrova ulica, controlled the milk shops in Ljubljana.

Strict collection policy for all agricultural goods did not have a beneficial influence on agricultural production, especially not on the production of milk. The quality of milk dropped, the supply got worse, to which joined the trouble with old and worn out equipment in the dairy in Majstrova ulica. The collection points did not have the appropriate cooling facilities, the milk was often sour, it was also often the source of disease in babies. Therefore, the establishment of a modern dairy was necessary and Ljubljana received a significant amount of help from UNICEF. The acquisition of the basic equipment for pasteurisation, cooling and filling the bottles meant great help in relieving the deficiencies of Ljubljana’s dairy industry.

After the removal of compulsory collection directive in 1950 the conditions did not improve significantly. To provide enough milk for Ljubljana they had to bring it in from the most remote places of Slovenia and the high cost of transport put the company Mleko in a difficult economic position, and in 1952 they had to close it down. Glavna zadružna zveza took over the production factory and established its own dairy company named Zadružna mlekarna. The city people’s committee established a trading company Mleko to supply the milk to Ljubljana.

A new dairy on Vodovodna cesta was being built by the city people’s committee and Glavna zadružna zveza took out loans to build it. However, in spite of this they were unable to finish it, for there still was not enough money. An important beginning of modern dairy industry is the year 1954. A special chapter in the history of Ljubljana dairy industry began on 2 August 1956, when the company moved from the former brewery in Majstrova Ulica to new premises in Tolstojeva ulica 63.

From a small factory to a modern dairy focused on Europe

The company Ljubljanske Mlekarne was founded in 1956. The new company united two companies, Zadružna mlekarna and a trade company Mleko. The production capabilities of the new factory were estimated at around 60,000 litres of milk per day; they collected around 30,000 and the number was steadily rising. The new company had financial trouble because of a (too)small a difference between raw milk price and sales price of drinking milk, which hindered the finalisation of factory construction. They expected that the newly built ice-cream factory unit (in 1958) would solve the financial problems, which did not happen. Only after 1959 the large capabilities of the dairy on Tolstojeva justified the investment, and the growth began when Ljubljanske mlekarne acquired several independent factories and a unified dairy organisation began to form. Merging was gradual: in 1959 they joined with factories in Brežice, Stična and Nova vas. The company began building a new cheese factory in Velike Lašče.

In reality, the company had to struggle with financial and organisational problems until 1965. It was technically poorly equipped; the majority of machines and equipment were used up. Inadequate equipment required more workers, the technological procedures were costlier, there was no possibility of introducing new profitable products. The market circumstances did not help the company, for the prices were controlled by the government, which were lower in Ljubljana than elsewhere.

With economic reform the possibilities for a fundamental reorganisation of the company improved. It got a capable management team which knew how to implement quick and effective measures. They improved employee structure, internal organisation and made a promising development plan. They renovated the central factory and cheese factory shops. They introduced state-of-the-art technology and set up a new drinking milk production line, increased cooling capacities threefold, started producing the Alpine milk and other sterile products, equipped the ice cream shop with the most advanced machines and built a large cooling storage for ice cream and cheese.
The basic role was to supply the consumers with good and healthy dairy products. They introduced continuous and systematic milk control for collected milk, and measured not only by the amount of fat, but also by the amount of microorganisms it contained. They introduced collection points on the cooperative and on the community owned farms.

Thus Ljubljanske mlekarne developed from a drinking milk dairy, which supplied Ljubljana with milk, to an industrial dairy which also supplied a wider market of the former common country. When the company consolidated its position in the dairy industry they could modernise and increase production capacity. In 1966 the company had trouble processing 60,000 litres of collected milk, at its 30th anniversary it was more than capable of processing up to 220,000 litres per day, and together with the factory from Novi Sad, which joined the company on 10 June 1970, they could process up to 320,000 litres.

Ljubljanske mlekarne had since the beginning of integration processes increased the collected amount of milk: from 10 million litres in 1959 to 55 million litres in 1971. In percentage points, in 1979 the company collected and processed 34 percent of all milk in Slovenia, and 12 percent of all collected milk in Yugoslavia. For the amount of collected and processed milk the company came in third in the country, right after dairies Zagrebška mlekarna and PK Beograd.
Today, Ljubljanske mlekarne process around 200 million litres per year, which is about 50 % of all collected milk in Slovenia. During the years of their existence they have processed, as an example, more than two thousand Olympic swimming pools of milk. And a bit more.
However, our reputation was not built solely on the amount of milk collected and processed, but on the quality of our products, business operations and our relationships with growers and producers in private and public sectors.

In more than fifty years Ljubljanske mlekarne experienced many organisational changes, which left marks on its sensitive technological organism, because food processing industry, due to its daily exposure to quality control, is a very sensitive economic branch. If not, today we would not be proud of our quality level and effective market management, or could not say with confidence that we are the largest Slovene dairy, which is also ready for the open European market and its relentless competition.