Breed's champion sets out the facts in black and white about dairy farms

Bernard, who runs Dalesend Farms in Newton le Willows, near Bedale, has just become the national president of Holstein UK, the country's leading breed of dairy cattle and he reckons the dairy exodus has accelerated.

"The reason is down to a combination of factors," he says. "Firstly there are a lot of people who may have no obvious successor, and they are getting older. Their dairy farming operation may need a lot of money spending on it from a milking management point of view, such as adhering to various regulations. They have probably been doing it for a long time and are thinking that if the milk price eases back again and cost of production goes up, what's the point?

"What is quite noticeable is that some of the sales of dairy herds are now of the bigger herds. They have looked at the job financially and said there isn't enough in it for them to keep reinvesting." Bernard feels that the trend needs addressing. "Whether it is dairy farming or whatever, I think agriculture is going to have to look very seriously from now onwards over the next 15-20 years at succession and who is going to farm the land.

"Recently, I undertook an exercise with one or two of my neighbouring farmer friends. We looked across what was probably the surrounding 20,000 acres and in that area there are farms where there are one or two sons, but neither want to farm. There are also those farms which only have daughters or have no children at all. There are many who have never got married.

"We did this exercise about three or four months ago and it turned out that there were only about half a dozen obvious successors."

But present circumstances stand in the way of vigorous young entrants.

"There's no way a young person can find the kind of cash that is needed to get going. If you're looking to buy 150 cows, they are going to cost you the best part of 200,000. Then there's whatever you would need to spend on the building and equipment.

"I personally feel the way forward is in some kind of share farming agreement. This would give those who own their farms at present a chance to stay where they have perhaps lived many years, while giving an opportunity for younger people to get started."

Dalesend Farms has reduced its cow numbers from a high of 400 across five herds at its peak to 160 milkers and dry cows.

"The three oldest units for the five herds needed a lot of money spending on them and from a labour point of view it wasn't ideal that we had separate herds.

"We kept the best cows from each of the herds and put up a bigger unit to take up to 120 cows. We expanded it further eight years ago and we are just completing a new young stock unit. By coming down from five herds to one my annual mileage dropped by nearly 18,000 a year. It's not until you stop doing something that you realise how much time you're spending running about."

There has been a constant battle for all dairy farmers in attracting a favourable price for their milk, ever since the Milk Marketing Board was abolished in 1995. Bernard has been one of those who has hopped around between milk buyers in search of the best price.

"There is a lot of nonsense talked about going here, there and everywhere and that you must make the best out of your milk buyers.

"But the reality is that in most parts of the country you don't have much of a choice. We stayed with Milk Marque originally, then we were with the Co-op for a while, then First Milk.

"We moved to Arla quite a long time ago. Our reasoning still holds true today that a penny better than 25ppl (pence per litre) is a good price, but a penny better than 18ppl is no good to anyone."

Bernard was born at Great Ayton, near Stokesley and his father farmed close to Roseberry Topping. The family moved to Nidderdale where Bernard was brought up. He came to Dalesend Farms, owned by Jonathan Ropner in the 1960s, taking over the running of the farming operation unexpectedly in 1969.

"I came here as a student, worked here a year, then I went off to Cirencester to the Royal Agricultural College for two years. After I'd finished at college I came back and looked after one of the herds at Fox Park. I ran that for 18 months and then George Healey, the farm manager at the time and a great influence on me as well as being a great trainer, fell ill and subsequently died.

"If George hadn't passed away I would probably have only been here for another 18 months as I would have moved on.

"But Mr Ropner asked me to take over the management of the farm and 41 years on I'm still here."

Bernard is married to Marnie and they have a son, Adam, who works as a gamekeeper in the Scottish Borders, and a daughter, Sarah, who shows the dairy herd and runs her own promotions business

called The Farm Organisation.

He has held offices with the Holstein Friesian Society and Holstein UK and is delighted to have been elected as president of Holstein UK for this year. "I'm really honoured and I am looking forward to visiting all 26 clubs in the UK as well as attending all the major shows.

"As president it's not about achieving things and the breed society does not have a political role as such, but it does have a part to play in making sure that the Government is aware of what it does.

"There is a lot of misinformation, such as the recent stories of cloned cows. A lot of the facts were wrong in the way that was put across so we need to put our side of the case.

"It's the same when people talk about methane emissions and the effect they have on such as global warming.

"There is talk that we should do away with the Holstein cow because it produces 60 per cent more methane than others, but what they don't realise is that the Holstein produces twice as much milk. So in actual fact she is more efficient than cows producing less milk."

It sounds as though Bernard is in for a busy year, flying the flag for the black and whites.