Dairy farmers are closing at the rate of one a month in milk price crisis
UK - Hampshire's dairy farmers are being milked dry. The figures make for stark reading. In 1996 there were 288 dairy farmers in the county. Today there are just 127, with several more expected to quit within weeks.
3 March 2007
1 minute read
Hampshire has always been home to dairy herds, the county's lush green pasture making it ideal for cattle.
The history of Romsey's Broadlands Estate herd that was sold off by Lord Brabourne this week can be traced back to the Domesday Book, which was written in 1086.
For nearly a millennium, farmers have been able to make a living out of grazing cows on the land, until in the 1990s the price they got for milk plummeted and stayed there for years.
Today farmers receive 3p to 4p a litre less for their milk than it costs to produce it.
Source: thisishampshire.net
