William Britain (1828-1906) established himself as a toymaker in north-east London in the 1840s. He originally made mechanical toys and moved on to model soldiers in the 1890s. His son, William Britain Junior (1860-1933) invented the lead hollow-casting process for which the company became famous. Farm figures, animals and accessories were first made by Britains in 1921. The term Model Home Farm was used for items made before the Second World War.

The Nestlé Farm boxed set is a variation on Britains’ Model Home Farm. The illustration on the box cover was drawn by Fred Whisstock (1878-1943), an artist who designed several of the Britains toy soldiers’ boxes. The box design is exactly the same apart from the wording. The contents are the same as those found in a No 1 Model Home farm set. These are figures of the farmer, his wife and a carter, a shire horse, a cow and calf, two pigs, two sheep, two lambs, two geese, eight chickens and a sheepdog. The only difference is the design of the cow which features a map of the world in its black and white markings. The Britains Nestlé's Map of the World Cow was first issued at the 1924 British Empire Exhibition.

The Nestlé company had prospered during the First World War with its dried milk products. In the 1920s, when people reverted to using real milk, it may be that Nestlé saw an opportunity for promotion by associating itself with farming in general and cows in particular.