Sponsored by
Dairy appeal to work in harmony
The dairy industry could help farmers by getting back in tune with the natural rhythms of cows, it has been suggested.
Tony Evans, Leicestershire dairy farmer and a partner in farm business consultancy The Anderson Centre, chipped into the debate about milk prices by pointing out that one way to tackle the problem was to reduce costs by cutting down on winter feeding.
He said it would be sensible to produce storable products, like butter and cheese, while cows were eating grass, and let most of them have their dry periods over winter.
Liquid milk supplies could be kept going by paying a premium for intensive barn feeding.
"The most expensive milk of the year is produced around November and we struggle to get the nutrition in it. You want to avoid producing any more than you have to but nobody has really tried. If we do not change, we will end up importing more low-value powder and butter and cheese from countries which get it right," he said.
Mr Evans said the British dairy industry used to cope with the peaks and troughs of two calving seasons a year, in spring and autumn. But as processors had got bigger, they had started looking for steady supplies, and the farmers had fallen in line.
He said the change had been assisted by the spread of the Holstein, which disrupts its own fertility cycle by producing unnatural amounts of milk and takes more than 13 months to become ready to breed again after a calving. So Holsteins get increasingly out of synch with each other and fit into a non-stop calving calendar.
Mr Evans said New Zealand and Ireland both worked in harmony with bi-annual calving and so did he, on his own farm.
But to make it possible for most farmers, the processors had to make the first move.
David Shaw, who runs Jerseys at Elvington, near York, and speaks for the NFU on dairy matters, commented: "It's an interesting argument and now is the time to have it, while everyone agrees that something has to change.
"It might mean some problems with employment patterns in the dairies but from the farmer's point of view, it would mean he could take a holiday."
Email to a friend
Print this page- Three-inch blanket of snow heading our way today
- Alan Shearer in list of favourites for Leeds and England jobs: Latest odds
- Barnsley’s Keith Hill invokes Fawlty Towers over link with Leeds job
- McCormack feels United search can be narrowed down
- Redfearn throws down gauntlet as queue builds at Elland Road
- Rival chips in with £500,000 to restore the original Harry Ramsden’s
- Visit from Princess as Serbian culture celebrated
- SportsTalk: Leeds United’s manager search, Super League and Calcutta Cup
- Libraries aren’t like supermarkets, they are magical places where dreams begin
- Strategic review will lead to job losses at Yorkshire Bank
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Yorkshire
Sunday 12 February 2012
Today
Light rain
Temperature: 1 C to 6 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: North west
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 4 C to 8 C
Wind Speed: 16 mph
Wind direction: West
