Farm Diary - January 6

IT was Wednesday night when the tanker turned up, having not collected for four days!

With around 14,000 litres being produced each day and a 50,000 litre tank, we expected milk to suddenly flow down the outside at any time, but we now know it has some spare capacity over and above its nominal capacity.

Two articulated tankers turned up at the same time (just like buses), and although they took almost 50,000 litres between them, the tank was far from empty.

Guess where our haulage company is based?

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Yes in Basingstoke, and we all know what happened in Basingstoke on the Monday before Christmas; night; six inches of snow and total chaos.

Why was this; the wrong sort of snow?

No, it was the wrong time for it to be snowing!

A snow storm arrived during the rush hour, which meant that thousands of cars were stranded and the gritters were in their midst, unable to move.

I received a call to tell me that no collection would take place on Monday as the tankers on the day pick-up had not returned, never mind unloaded, and would not therefore be coming out that night.

As we are on every other day collection, that left two day's worth of milk in the tank, and on Tuesday the tankers were still stranded or broken down.

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I rang on Wednesday morning at 5m, and was informed that out of six tankers, only one was operational, as the others were still stranded, broken down or the drivers have run out of hours.

We squeezed another milking into the tank, which now had over 50,000 litres in it, and were waiting to hear before pulling the plug on 14,000 worth of milk; the stakes were high.

It was a relief when they came that night.

n With Eurostar problems, aircraft problems, traffic problems, we once again show how a maritime climate equips the country to deal with everything in moderation, but no extremes.

We do seem to be slipping up on the basics though, and whilst I understand that digging brussel sprouts in this weather is not possible, sprinkling some salt on pavements should be.

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The number of icy pavements, which are so dangerous especially for the elderly, is a disgrace, and when politicians interfere with our lives and what we eat in order to (misguidedly) try and save money, the NHS could certainly benefit from safe pavements.

It's not the cost though, the trauma of a broken hip affects people's health no matter how good the treatment, and it is such basic neglect not to make sure that pavements are properly salted.

n So how has 2009 been otherwise.

In the dairy industry it has been a mixed bag; whilst British dairy farmers on the whole have been cushioned from the worst effects of world collapse in dairy commodities by our hugely devalued currency and the dedicated pools that we have in place with major retailers, a large number of our friends have suffered terribly with the collapse of their Co-operative 'Dairy Farmers of Britain' losing not only this year's profit, but all their invested capital as well.

I am pleased to report that the men who were in charge of DFoB are now set to appear before the 'EFRA' Committee today (Wednesday), following intense lobbying by the NFU.

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It seems only fair that those who were at the helm explain themselves to those who lost so much, giving much needed 'closure' (to use a much used modern word) to the whole sorry saga.

n What will 2010 bring to dairy farming?

Slow sustainable recovery, which will not satisfy everyone, but is by far the best news for the industry as world (particularly India and China) demand recovers, and the effects of diminished production in Europe and across the world brings the market back to balance.

In the UK we should see cheese prices lift at long last, and liquid prices will maybe rise a little, with returns from cream gaining momentum after January.

There are still plenty of questions to answer though, such as will new Chairman of First Milk Co-op Bill Musto turn their fortunes around following the departure of Chief Executive Peter Humphreys?

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His 30, 60 and 90 day plans suggest that he will and I would not be surprised if merger talks with Milklink were back on the cards in 2010.

n My wish list for 2010? That Peter Mandelson has the courage to put an Ombudsman in place to curb the worst excesses of retailers.

That dairy farmers see the need for a proper milk contract (whether they supply a Co-op or Plc) which suits the world we live in today, offering them at least a chance to negotiate their milk price and to escape quickly should their buyer start to abuse them (as we have seen happening several times in 2009).

A new Secretary of State (no offence Hilary) who has some interest in productive agriculture, rather than an obsession with climate change.

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To see people being left alone to live their lives in this country, without quango-driven 'big brother' watching and telling us how to live, what to eat, how our actions drive 'climate change'etc:

n On the farm, I just hope we can have another season like 2009 (which was truly excellent for us), a happy workforce, contented cows and not too much hassle.

It would also be nice to have an engine consuming our methane gas, rather than a very large flare!

It got too close to Christmas for the Germans, and thanks to Eurostar and that dry snow (!) there was no way across anyway as ferries all got booked up in desperation.

Let's hope that following another holiday, our German friends will be in the right frame of mind to do some work.

All the very best to our readers for 2010.

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