WHILE David Attenborough laments the threat of extinction hanging over many species of creature, it looks as if one type of animal has already joined the dodo in south Essex - the dairy cow.

The National Farmers' Union trawled its database on the Echo's behalf and came up with the name of one dairy farm, in Althorne, north of the Crouch. South of the Crouch is a milk, butter and cheese desert.

The entire county of Essex only supports five milk producers.

It wasn't always like this. Although south Essex is arable, rather than prime cow country, the region supported numerous small-scale producers until the 1960s.

Most of these little cow farms supplied their milk to the mighty Lord Rayleigh Dairies, which dominated the market in Essex. Between 1890 and 1910, Rayleigh also claimed to be the largest single supplier of milk to the London market.

So it was a powerful sign of the times when the once booming Lord Rayleigh Dairies went into receivership, in August 1996.

The situation in Essex is only an extreme example of a downward spiral in the dairy industry throughout the country.

Britain is losing an average of three dairy farmers a week. In East Anglia, the number has dropped from 212 to 197 over the past 12 months. "We are set to lose one billion litres from the market over the next two years," said Alex Butler-Zheni, the NFU's East Anglian dairy expert.

The reason is simple. At present, a farmer obtains 18p for a litre of milk that costs a mean average of 21p to produce. "Dairy farmers have been subsidising the consumer, but simple mathematics means it can't go on," says Mr Butler-Zheni.

The demise of local dairy farming means milk has to be trucked in from further afield. The Basildon depot is run by Dairy Crest. While for business reasons the company will not reveal precise figures, Dairy Crest acknowledges much of the south Essex milk supply now comes from the Midlands and the West Country.

Dairy Crest spokeswoman Lyndsey Anderson said: "We buy milk from approximately 1,600 direct supplying dairy farmers, the majority of whom are located in central and also southern England." Milk for Essex pours into Dairy Crest's Chadwell Heath depot, one of the organisation's so-called super dairies', employing 376 people. From here, it is shipped to hub depots, like Basildon. It does take milk from Essex's remaining dairy farms, in the north of the county. Not, though, from south Essex dairy farms, because there aren't any.

All this may seem academic to the average Essex dairy products consumer.

Yet a profound change is about to hit the industry, and the shockwaves could curdle many a cup of tea.

The long decline in dairy prices recently performed a U-turn, and the figures are now moving upward fast. The Milk Development Council predicts a rise in demand of 30 per cent over the next year.

Behind this, lies an unexpected phenomenon. It has always been an article of faith that dairy products are not consumed in the Far East. Yet suddenly, the world's biggest and fastest growing population is clamouring for ice-cream and yoghurt. If the price is right, a substantial proportion of British dairy produce could be diverted to this ravenous new market.

For beleaguered dairy farms, this is good news at last.

For the Essex consumer, the advent of a seller's market is less good news. The soaring cost of dairy products could soon unbalance many a household budget.

Nor can supply simply be bumped up overnight. It takes three years even for a dairy specialist to set up from scratch. A huge amount of expertise has already disappeared forever.

Oblivious to the fact they are becoming ever more valuable commodities, the dairy cows go on munching grass in the fields. We may soon regret none of them are Essex Girls.