Here we go again with the impecunious dairy farmers playing their public emotion card - "if we don't get more money Daisy the cow will have to go for slaughter." Well the simple truth is that Daisy will be sent for slaughter anyway when she's not producing a profitable return. And if dairy farming is in such dire straits as is claimed then common economic sense dictates that the national herd must be reduced.

No other industry but farming receives such generous help in the form of subsidies, but if the market is awash with milk fats then the price is bound to collapse and thus affect the primary producer - dairy farmers. I accept they perform a vital role in feeding the nation, work long hours and seldom have time off, but they are subject to the same economic reality as everyone in these difficult times. It was their choice to join the industry, just as it is their choice to leave.

Not so many years ago it was sheep farmers who were protesting about prices they were receiving, but look at them now. New quad bikes instead of Border Collies and new 4x4's instead of rattling old Land Rovers. Not to mention of course the arable farmer who with the failure of this year's American harvest is already taking delivery of brand-new machinery to prepare for next year's crop.

Every dairy farmer has a hard-luck story to tell at the moment, but even the Daisy the cow one won't gain much sympathy from me for their plight at the moment.

Nick change the record perhaps you will be happy drinking eastern European milk and killing off another British Industry.

Lets have a look at the economic reality.

Employment, not just on farm, in the wider community, vets, machine suppliers, mechanics, contractors,feed suppliers feed maufacturers, so the loss of the dairy farmer will not only be a loss of others jobs, it will mean loss of UK production, higher imports and associated costs, more food miles, lower food security.

That is the economic reality.

one, do you actually having anything to do with farming ie Dairying to know what you are talking about to start with.

If the dairy industries collapsed, it would take the backbone out of the country and then we would be in serious dire straits, our economy is on a knife edge at the moment and it would only take us to go to send us over that edge, then we would be like spain italy greece and ireland. Is that what you want to happen.Your attitude is very narrow minded, im alright mate....

What ever money farmers get they plough straight back into their business , thus helping other business as well.

Also most of the processors are owned by companies outside the uk and are taking money out of the country at a alarming rate. One took 20 million to its danish sister company last year alone. so please.....

As for subsidies we do not get "such generous help" from the Government as the paperwork you have to fill out to get a pittance from them is disgraceful and that will be taken away in 2015.

You are quite welcome to our P reg 4x4 which is on its last legs,and our aging farm dog who's 14 years old,

Dairy farmers are currently making a loss because the supermarkets/processors are more concerned with saving their own bacon and shareholders to realise that without the "white stuff" they will have no business left.

Would you say any manufacture would sell their product to a retailer for less than what it cost them to make, no they would'nt so WHY are we as dairy farmers expected to DO SO.

We have a crappy car NO holidays in many many years , the kids basically dont have what most townies take for granted.

Lastly milk is very much in demand , the national consumption is increasing every year.

My family is in its 4th generation of dairy farming and is not going to give up with out a dam good fight!!!!!!! just so the "SHAREHOLDERS" can have their profit.

I suppose you would be crying into your cornflakes with your milk if you lost your livelihood and expect sympathy from everyone else.

Farmers have a right like everyone else on this planet to make a decent living to feed their family and put a roof over their heads.

This is probably a turning point in the dairy industry. Unfortunately there are still many who continue to live in 1953 and assume they have a right to farm dairy and profit from it, and for their children and grandchildren to do the same. If the economics of the industry for a small herd don't stack up, the market is telling you to find more efficiencies, diversify, specialise, or give up.

The current issue in the dairy industry may recover, or it may go the way of mining, steel, shipbuilding, etc. The market realities can't be fought forever, so all the industry can do is hope for the best, plan for the worst.

Nick, from Telford. Ok i know what a good idea is, lets have no agricultural industry in this country. Lets import all food, then in 10 - 15 years time when there are food shortages and all food prices are 20% above inflation, who will be crying again.... yes you.

The fact is, if we dont support our agricultural industry better and give fairer prices, so farmers can modernise and make the food cheaper. You will end up paying more in the long term.

Nick, whilst it's fair enough to say that farmers don't have an automatic right to be protected from market forces, it isn't solely a question of market forces turning against them.

Whilst the problem is in part caused by a collapse in the commodity price of cream, this would be less of an issue if processors hadn't used the high price of cream to subsidise liquid milk wholesale prices in order to win market share from the supermarkets.

Now that the price of cream has dropped, rather than simply charge the supermarkets what it costs to produce, they are passing their loss back to the farmer. The fact that they can do this with impunity highlights the dysfunctional nature of the milk supply chain.

Farmers face a monopsonistic situation where the retailers are abusing their dominant position in the market, the farmers are being treated unfairly and that is why they are protesting. It's no different that your boss turning round to you and saying that he's not going to pay your full wage this week and you'll have to accept it because you can't get a job anywhere else.

Comments such as "my family have always been in dairy farming and will fight hard to remain so" reflect the attitude endemic in the industry. If Abraham Darby had stuck to building iron bridges his family would have been impoverished very quickly. Nor will a reduction in the national dairy herd lead to total reliance on imports, for when prices eventually return to profitable levels farmers will be anxious for a share of the rewards.

And as for workers outside of agriculture being forced to take wage cuts, well I have to inform the dairy community that it is happening now, as well as jobs disappearing, and has been happening for the last four years. Indeed, some companies have been unable to give their workers a pay rise for the last three years. Even the government has frozen pay rates for at least 12 months.

My only connection to agriculture is through my friend who farms 950 acres near Shrewsbury as a tenant. I've never heard him complain once in 30 years about the state of the industry. Indeed, he's just ordered two new John Deere tractors because of his confidence in future grain prices.

So 100's of farmers were "picketing" outside muller, i thought there laws against such numbers in disputes, like there are in other industrial actions taken out by other "workers"