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Dale offers a shelter from the dairy storm
What's black and white and was once a regular sight throughout Wensleydale? Today, it might surprise you to find that you can sometimes travel almost 10 miles in the dale without seeing a single cow – and that may well be getting worse very soon.
There is a bright side of the street. The market for beef from dairy herds is stronger now than for many years, one of the country's leading dairy farmer co-operatives has just reported annual profits of more than 10m, and the price of dairy cows at market is very healthy.
On the dark side, the industry is reeling in the aftermath of milk producer co-operative Dairy Farmers of Britain going bust and milk prices dropped recently.
Those whose milk was signed up to Dairy Farmers of Britain did not get paid for the milk they collected last month. If you calculate that the average herd size in the UK is now around 150 cows, that means an average farm has lost around 15,000 for May alone, while they still had to pay the same costs for production.
The receivers promised an interim arrangement to pay 10p per litre, way below the going rate, so that DFOB members received at least something until they found new buyers. Many have done so. But there are some for whom that prospect is bleak, and for small-scale dairy farmers in Wensleydale, it could spell the end.
Dairy companies don't want to pick up milk from small dairy farms, particularly those in out-of-the-way locations maybe 40 miles or so from their nearest dairy processing plant.
Yet Wensleydale is home to one of dairy farming's success stories of modern times – Wensleydale Creamery (of Wallace and Gromit fame) – which processes milk produced in the dale. So why are there fewer cows up here and why are those numbers all set to reduce even further?
Once the creamery has the quantity it needs, there are few other dairy buyers willing to haul milk from the dale.
Fifteen years ago, when the UK milk industry was deregulated, the solidarity the dairy farmers had through the Milk Marketing Board was eliminated. Since then, half of the UK's dairy farmers have quit, and Wensleydale has mirrored that trend.
Alice Amsden is concerned for those dairy men who are in trouble. She is one of the founding directors of Wensleydale Creamery, after it was bought from Dairy Crest. Alice is a former director of Hawes Auction Mart, and, coming from a farming family herself, she understands the dilemma most dairy farmers in the area will be facing. She is
also a business adviser for Business Link.
"On a personal note, I just want to help," she says.
"This is a terrible time for both the staff and members of DFoB, and I am more than happy to work with those who may now be looking to diversify or start new businesses. Some farmers have already found other outlets for their milk, but there are also those that haven't and those who still don't know what they are going to do.
"Some may be looking at using their milk at home by developing their own niche products; others may move from dairy to beef. I think we're very fortunate that we have Wensleydale Creamery, and it looks like half of those who were with DFoB in the dale have been able to take up new contracts with it.
"Unlike some other milk purchasers, they are also paying nearer to the market price too. By losing one month's milk cheque that means every DFoB dairy farmer has immediately
lost eight per cent of its turnover for the year, the impact on profit over the year, due to margins, is likely to cost them around 80 per cent of what they would have hoped to make."
William Lambert is chairman of the Upper Wensleydale Producers Group, who supply milk to Wensleydale Creamery – and he has been heavily involved with the fallout from DFoB and how the creamery has been able to come to the rescue of some dairy farms. He runs a herd of 90 dairy cows himself.
"With the climate and geography here, it was always going to be hard to stay in milk production without Wensleydale Creamery," he says. "We had planned to take another six or seven producers into the group later this year, but in the light of what has happened, Wensleydale Creamery has been brilliant and has offered seven of them a temporary contract until the full contract comes available in December. They've also taken on another that wasn't due to be on contract with them at all.
"I think some of the smaller milk producers are going to struggle to find a buyer because the dairies want mass volume now. Probably the easiest and best option for those dairy farmers will be to go out of milk.
"We all have the same pressures, with the supermarkets bearing down on the supply chain and crucifying our milk price."
William's wife, Claire, is a member of the Yorkshire Agricultural Society's Growing Routes team, which seeks to help farmers who are looking to diversify.
"Those who are changing direction and perhaps going out of milk can access funding to assist them in setting up. We're always looking to help and in times like these it could be more important than ever."
The Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution is
also offering its support.
Sally Conner, organiser for North Yorkshire, said: "We have put emergency procedures into force and we are ensuring that all requests for help from farming families facing financial hardship as a result of the collapse of Dairy Farmers of Britain are processed without delay.
"Our emergency funding is to cover domestic expenses for those facing financial crisis, and by the end of
last week, we had received initial calls from around 50 dairy farmers throughout the country.
"We have already assisted a number of those."
HELP ON CALL
RABI Emergency Helpline 01865 727888
Business Link – Alice Amsden 07718 520560
n Growing Routes 01423 546200
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Weather for Yorkshire
Friday 25 May 2012
Today
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Temperature: 10 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 20 mph
Wind direction: East
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