Author Topic: Dairy industry (Read 2972 times)

Horse & Farm · « **on:** July 11, 2012, 11:08:25 pm »

You all might have heard of the dairy farming industry getting hit by another 2p a litre price drop from Arla, wisemans etc becouse of this i was made redundant today, what a crap day phoneing around herdsman i know a few of them have had a massive cut in hours or lost contracts etc.

On the bright side of life at least i can spend more time with my stock while i panic about getting more work to feed them.

Mammyshaz · « **Reply #1 on:** July 11, 2012, 11:16:03 pm »

hope you get some reasonable work soon.

We just don't hear of the consequences of workers on the tv. May be worth publicising o

Fowlman · « **Reply #2 on:** July 11, 2012, 11:28:02 pm »

Where are you located ?

Horse & Farm · « **Reply #3 on:** July 11, 2012, 11:45:11 pm »

Im near to Penrith in Cumbria

SallyintNorth · « **Reply #4 on:** July 11, 2012, 11:46:21 pm »

Commiserations, horseandfarm

It's never easy to be 'let go'.

I hope you'll be able to get plenty of relief milking - if a lot of dairy farms have had to let go their full-time people, there should be relief work about? (I know there'll be several of you all trying to get the relief work, for a while at least...)

Our local guy also does AI - that's turned into his main thing over the years, I think. (Mind, I think his area may extend to Penrith, so that's maybe not a good seed for me to plant...

)

Anyway, best of luck - and as you say, more time to enjoy the stock at home

for a while.

{{{Hugs}}}

Sally

Horse & Farm · « **Reply #5 on:** July 11, 2012, 11:53:32 pm »

Tks Sally, im just following stuff on twitter about milk prices etc cant believe the response that is on there.

Will spend next couple of days asking around area to see what relief milking is out there, also looking into AI work, worse case scenerio is i might have to relocate so we can afford smallholding here.

Hermit · « **Reply #6 on:** July 12, 2012, 02:41:16 pm »

I have been told today from a couple of farmers , not from the horses mouth I might add, that the dairy industry up here has all but shut down . One huge dairy farm gone bust and the other going to beef, the processor/outlet for the dairies is also shutting as there is not enough milk now to keep the business going ! Sad if its true , nothing in the local news yet but everyone is talking about it.

jaykay · « **Reply #7 on:** July 12, 2012, 02:56:41 pm »

I'm so sorry about your job

Hope you can find something good soon.

the great composto · « **Reply #8 on:** July 12, 2012, 03:04:41 pm »

Commiserations for the job loss but who are you blaming? I understood the supermarkets were to blame for keeping the price too low for the dairy industry to make a decent living but it seems the milk processors have a lot to answer for too.
Am i naive in thinking that we need to cut out a few middlemen?

SallyintNorth · « **Reply #9 on:** July 12, 2012, 03:13:52 pm »

I've worked on an organic dairy farm that had its own pastuerising and bottling plant and sold direct to the public and through local shops.

As far as I could tell, they didn't make any more money per litre than they would have selling in bulk to the big creameries.

What it did do was allow them to have pasteurised milk, processing capability, staff and distribution to make and sell real added value products - cream, creme fraiche, clotted cream, butter, yoghurt, chocolate milk, chocolate sauce, etc. I think they barely managed to make that pay any better, either.

They did have the satisfaction of employing local people within that equation, and of seeing their own cows' milk being drunk and eaten locally - but it was a lot of hard work for them to keep that all running.

They don't do it now.