Day in the life of a dairy farmer

A storm of protest has been whipped up by the falling price of the milk that is produced by the business and the slump now threatens his future on the land at his Midland Farm that his family has worked for more than 300 years.

"It would break my heart if that happened but I need 25p per litre to make ends meet and am getting 23p at the moment," he said.

"That will be reduced to 22p next month. I cannot carry on like this indefinitely."

Last month Matt was forced to add £25,000 to his seemingly ever-growing bank overdraft.

He and son Dan, 13, have stayed at home at Aston Pool Farm in Stafford Road, Stone, while wife Radka enjoys a holiday with relatives in her home country of the Czech Republic with their other children.

"I would have liked to go with them but we have had to cut back," he confessed during a hectic start to the day. His annual holiday this year was two days at the Great Yorkshire Show.

Earlier this month dairy farmers in Shropshire bought milk from supermarkets before handing it to members of the public outside in protest at the prices they are paid.

A group of about 20 farmers cleared the shelves at Asda in Telford town centre.

Police were called to a separate protest in Oswestry the following night when about 50 young farmers and their supporters removed all the dairy produce from the shelves of the town's Morrisons store.

They then set about putting the milk in the water aisle at the store to show that the 89p price for four litres of milk was cheaper than bottled water.

It followed a trolley dash held in Shrewsbury's Morrisons and Asda stores and further action in Devon, Cornwall and Scotland.

Farmers created a stir in Stafford when they led dairy cows into an Asda store to protest over the falling price of milk.

Stone farmer Matt Weaver marched two of his one-year-old Holstein heifers into the supermarket in Queensway on August 9 joined by an army of 70 supporters and demonstrators.

Just days before the supermarket giant had announced that it was reducing the amount it paid farmers for milk by 0.8p a litre to 23p. Farmers claim it costs 30p a litre to produce milk.

Video footage went viral with about 50,000 people having watched the protest on YouTube so far.

Demonstrators started buying up bottles of milk from the shelves to avoid being accused of trespassing after police were called to the scene.

Officers eventually herded the cattle and the campaigners out of the store with minimal disruption.

Mr Weaver, 38, said: "Milk has been devalued by a number of retailers and is a key item being used in an aggressive supermarket price war."

"The four-pint carton is offered by Asda, Morrisons, Aldi, Lidl and Iceland for 89p – cheaper than water, and a slap in the face to farmers. We wanted to make a point."

Asda bosses said: "Our milk is supplied by the Arla farmer cooperative.

"The Arla dairy cooperative is owned by farmers. We moved to this model after guidance from those who were supplying us and means the price received by our farmers is set by their own co-operative business.

"They receive an on-account payment for their milk and take an equal share of any remaining profit. There is no link between retail prices and farmgate price."

Matt was hard at work nearly two hours before dawn broke on Wednesday and did not finish until 10pm.

It was a typical day, but despite putting in a near 100-hour week his wife and he take just £600-a-month from the business, meaning they are eligible for tax credit benefits.

He got up at 4am at his converted cowshed home built on his brother Richard's beef and arable farm just over a mile from his own spread which includes 170 acres of rented land.

Less than half an hour later Dan – putting in a shift during his school holidays – and his father had donned plastic aprons and gloves and were preparing the milking parlour.

Meanwhile Steve Burrows – one of the three full-time staff who work nine-hour shifts – brought the animals from the surrounding fields and sheds for the first of their two daily milking sessions.

There are 24 milking units down either side of the parlour and the cows patiently waited their turn to be linked up to the four cup clusters that collect the milk.

Matt and Dan raced up and down the line connecting the cows, disinfecting the equipment and regularly washing the shed floor clean while moving the milked animals outside to make room for the next wave. The pair gave gentle words of encouragement to ensure the cows remained calm.

Those at the right time of their annual cycle for milking produce 30 litres from the two sessions.

Matt has to have cows calving every month to ensure the level supply of milk demanded throughout the year by the dairy production company which collects more than 7,000 litres a day from the farm.

The morning session took three hours, after which it was time for the father and son to feed 40 new born calves. The pair lugged buckets full of milk and feed to the hungry animals that each has its own pod.

Next task for Dan was to travel with his grandfather to Market Drayton market where they sold five of their calves, while his father checked cows due to give birth at the farm within the next three weeks. When that chore was completed Matt moved on to determine which of his herd was at the right time for insemination. Each animal has a collar round its neck that monitors activity and transmits hourly data reports to a processor.

The farmer trawled through the information on his computer system and identified tell-tale fertility signs in the behaviour of two cows. He phoned a breeding technician after selecting the ideal sire to ensure the best possible progeny from the selection of samples held under special conditions at the farm. By chance the technician happened to be in the area and was on site within minutes to inseminate the cows.

Matt paused to watch traffic travelling past the farm while he prepared for a 10am meeting with his staff and said with a smile: "We have done half a day's work and the rest of the world is just getting up while we get on with things."

Then it was time for a snatched breakfast after which he decided he did not have time to deal with any paperwork and headed off to a supplier to pick up a part for a repair to the milking parlour.

Next he visited four different fields spread around Stone, all but one of which is rented by him. Each contains some of his £400,000 herd ranging from heifers in calf to cows that have completed their lactation cycle and have a rest during the two months they give no milk.

At lunch time he has another bite to eat before spending the afternoon preparing the yard for harvesting that was due to begin the following day.

That task was completed as afternoon milking started. After two hours he had to leave a member of staff to finish off the session while he fed the calves again before heading home for dinner. Ninety minutes later he made final checks on the calving cows and other animals before getting to sleep at 11pm. He said: "I don't toss and turn worrying about the size of my bank loan as long as I could sell my livestock to get me out of the debt if necessary. Things could be a lot worse.

"I have my health, my family and my faith. There are dairy farmers under a lot more financial pressure than me because they do not have assets to borrow against. They are highly stressed and depressed on the brink of serious problems.

"I am not whinging. I love my job and am not materialistic but there is a profit objective to everything.

"I want to give my children the same opportunity to farm as I had, but if people continue to undervalue milk and not pay me what it costs to produce it I will have to stop.

"I would like to say there is a 100 per cent chance of my family still being in this business in 20 years' time but if things carry on like this it will be zero. I am pessimistic about the short term future but have got to be optimistic about the long term. If I wasn't I would give up now."

Milk price war is not adding up down on farm

The dairy crisis is centred around the falling cost of milk, as farmers are paying more to produce the milk than they are receiving from retailers.

Supermarkets have been dragged into the problem because farmers are incensed at them using the cost of milk to wage price wars on each other.

In June last year, milk cost 31.66 pence a litre for the retailer and those buying milk straight from the farms. Now, as of 12 months later, it costs just 23.66 pence. A near 10p drop.

For a two-litre bottle, it costs farmers 62p to produce, but they are only paid 48p for it. Supermarkets then add a 46p mark-up and sell it for 94p.

This means the retailer is making a profit of 46p but farmers are losing 14p on the same carton of milk, according to this month's average figure. Stone dairy farmer Matt Weaver said: "Milk has been devalued by a number of retailers and is being used as an important weapon in an aggressive supermarket price war.

"The four-pint carton is offered by Asda, Morrisons, Aldi, Lidl and Iceland for 89p, cheaper than water, and a slap in the face to farmers."

The 38-year-old father of four fears the plunging price could force him off land that his family have farmed for more than 300 years unless milk production is made more economic.

But he is aware that his 13-year-old son Dan has already been bitten by the farming bug and declared: "It would be a disappointment if my children had not wanted to follow in our footsteps, but I would have accepted it. I put no pressure on Dan, but I want to give my children the same opportunity I had to farm.

"With the next generation of our family being keen and wanting to enter the industry I am determined to continue.

"I am able to do that at the moment by increasing my borrowing on a day-to-day basis in the hope that the job will become more profitable some time in the not too distant future," he added.

"People ask why we do not make the process more efficient, but at the moment that would mean borrowing even more money from the bank. If I was to install a robotic milker I would need four units and they cost £100,000 each, together with associated building costs.

"It is not worth even considering that sort of investment without knowing how the situation is going to work out in the long-term."