WEST DORSET: Farmers are counting the cost of milk price reductions as MPs call for more protection for dairy farmers.

Farmers were told about the cuts just two days before Christmas and they came into effect in the New Year.

The reduction for affected farmers sees the price paid for standard milk drop between 10 and 40 per cent – below the cost of production – at a time when the country imports £1billion worth of dairy products a year.

New West Dorset NFU branch secretary Jennie Greenwood said: “Nationally 60 farmers withdrew from dairy farming in just the last month at a time when as a nation we need to produce more to be self-sufficient.

“There is a wide reaching knock-on effect for the local rural economy, if farmers go out of business, their suppliers and customers also start to feel the pinch.

“The milk price varies according to world supply and demand but UK famers do not have the same free market benefits their worldwide counterparts see.

“They have significant limitations affecting them, such as cattle movement restrictions due to bovine tuberculosis controls and they are further hampered if they actually have bTB on the farm as they could have additional mouths to feed or not be able to restock when animals are taken.”

Hooke dairy farmer Kevin Wallbridge, who milks 100 cows, says he is one of the lucky ones – with a contract from Sainsburys that pays him the cost of production – around 30p a litre.

But he says he is in the minority.

He said: “Producers who provide milk to Marks and Spencer, Waitrose, Sainsbury and Tesco have cost production prices for their liquid milk but it is probably in total no more than 1,000 out of the 10,000 producers who have that contract.

“I can feel 100 per cent sympathy for the worst off dairy farmers who are getting just about 20p a litre.

“You can see they are not making any money at all, it must be absolutely horrendous.”

He fears more and more smaller farms will go out of business.

He said: “Every time there is a crisis you can see the number of farms go down. And every month the average number of cows in a herd goes up.

“We have herds in Dorset around here that are thinking about milking 2,000 to 3,000 cows.

“All the smaller herds like ours could disappear and because it is not economic, then you won’t see cows in the fields, they will all be shut in barns.”

This week MPs have urged the government to do more to protect dairy farmers from sharp falls in milk prices.

The Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee said farmers were being forced out of business every week by factors beyond their control.

The NFU said there had been a 50 per cent fall in the number of dairy farmers since 2001, with fewer than 10,000 in the country.