APPENDIX 22
Letter to James Gray MP from Ms Daphne
Edwards
I am writing this on behalf of my husband who is
out making silage at the moment, and has not any time to spare
indoors!
We farm approximately 100 acres, milking around 80
cows, in partnership with one other man. Until about three years
ago we also employed another on a casual basis. Now of course,
we are unable to justify or even afford this, so everything is
done by one or other of the partners. which makes for longer working
days. For our erstwhile employee, it means less employment altogether!
Milk prices have all sorts of complicated factors
to determine them, but a quick glance at our records shows that
in March 1995 we were paid 23.1 pence per litre, in March 1996
the price was 23.74 ppl, in March 1997 it was 23.886 ppl, in March
1998: 20.05 ppl and last March we saw only 19.55 ppl. In March
of this year we supplied 56,659 litres of milk, which brought
in a payment of £11,079.84 (less costs of £34.64). I
don't have time now to look for corresponding remittance for previous
years, but a quick sum shows that the same volume of milk at 23.5p
(a rough average) comes to £13,314.87, £2,235.03 more.
Multiply this difference by twelve and the figure you end up with
as a drop in income from milk is £26,820.36 per annum. Against
this most costs have either stayed static or gone up; the rise
in fuel prices and veterinary costs spring to mind as they are
both constants.
The income from calves was always important. Consider
85 cows, each producing a calf. We always hope to rear our replacements,
which means approximately half of the herd is inseminated with
Friesian semen, and obviously an average of half of these are
likely to produce Friesian bull calves. The remainder of the herd
runs with a beef bull. This means that we have approximately 60-65
calves to sell every year. Before the BSE crisis, we expected
to average £100 for a Friesian bull calf that is now worthless,
due to the imminent end of the calf scheme. £220 was an average
price for a beef bull calf which is now worth about £100
and £80 for a beef heifer calf for which, the last time we
sold one (last April) we got the princely sum of £4.95. Put
simply, we used to average an annual income from calves of £10,600,
where we now expect to receive £3,175, a further drop in
income of £7,425 pa. Or to put it another way, once a calf
has drunk 70 litres of milk. been ear-tagged (twice, since the
new regulations) and been taken to market, the income from its
sale is hardly worth the effort.
Our only other source of income on this farm is from
cull cows Pre-BSE we averaged between £300 and £500
for our cull cows, and had probably around 17 of them every year.
Now the prices are around £160 to £270. This used to
amount to an income of £6,800 pa, now it is £3,655 pa,
a drop of £3,145.
Taking all of the above into account we have had
a drop in income of £37,390.36 from £177,178.44 to £139,788.08.
All of this is before any running costs have been taken into consideration.
The farm is too small to consider going organic or
to raise any other crops to supplement this income. Neither are
we in a position to cash in on the "stay on a farm"
tourist market. Therefore we are wholly reliant on the dairy business.
One last question which we would like put to the
Select Committee—what are we to do with the calves that
are not sold in market? Do we shoot them on the farm, send them
up to Downing Street en masse or set up a charity for unwanted
farm animals, funded by the public?
I hope this is of use to you (and not too long) and
arrives in time for Tuesday.
11 June 1999
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