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Dairy collapse forces herd sale
A dispersal sale forced by the break-up of Dairy Farmers of Britain took place at Skipton this week.
Chris and Judith Wellock, of Crag House Farm, Halton East, Skipton, sold their entire dairy herd of 35 Holstein Friesians at the monthly Craven Dairy Auction on Monday.
Mr Wellock, who has been milking cows for 40 years, since leaving school at 15, said he could not afford to continue taking the emergency price of 10p a litre from the receivers.
He said: "I have had to bite the bullet. I feel a lot better than I did last week. The decision has been made and we have to go with it."
He will now concentrate on beef cattle and sheep at his 120-acre holding.
All 35 cattle were sold. Prices for in-milk cows were: 4th calvers to 1,360, 3rd calvers to 1,500, 2nd calvers to 1,760, heifers to 1,120. Prices for in-calf cows were: July calvers to 1,250, September calvers to 1,220, October calvers to 1,380. Elsewhere, there were signs the DFB receivers will eventually be able to announce a relatively small number of farmers were actually forced out of business.
Eight days ago, there were 190 of the original 1,800 still looking for new contracts. But this week, several of the Yorkshire cases were hopeful of sorting something out.
Carol Mellin of Oakworth, near Haworth, said she and nine neighbours had found a buyer but needed to fix their own transport and were looking into costings.
Colin Grice of Westerdale, near Whitby, said First Milk had got back to him, after publicity about his situation, and offered a six-month deal while he decides whether to increase production to their required level or wind down to a suckler herd.
Meanwhile, rural estate agents Carter Jonas were pointing out that not all is doom and gloom in dairy.
They helped to set up a North Yorkshire dairy business by selling Church House Farm in Danby Dale, near the moors village of Castleton, to Andrew and Judith Morris, a year ago.
The couple had a successful run in the dairy industry in Cornwall a few years ago and wanted to get back into it in the north of England, where they have roots. They now have 220 Jerseys on 220 acres at Danby and are planning to expand to 300, after signing a Channel Islands milk contract with Arla.
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Sunday 12 February 2012
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