Opinion: What if expansion or diversification aren’t options?

How many cows do you milk? It’s the standard dairy farmer conversation starter across the UK.

Whenever I’m asked this question, my standard reply is: “150 through three robots”, but recently I’ve adopted a more direct response.

“Not enough” are generally the words that tumble from my mouth.

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About the author

Cath Morley

Cath Morley grew up on a mixed livestock farm in Derbyshire. She now lives and works on a Lancashire dairy unit with her husband, Chris Halhead. They milk 150 cows with three robots and rear all their own replacement heifers.

Read more articles by Cath Morley

The cows are milking well – it’s not enough. Feed prices have come back a bit – but not enough. We are working seven days a week and it’s still not enough.

Milking more cows is obviously the answer and many farm consultants will make it sound easy.

Chuck an extra 10 cows on and “Bob’s your uncle” – the milk cheque increases, the cashflow eases and everything else will follow.

Expansion dilemmas

It’s what comes with those extra 10 cows that is the sticking point on our farm. More slurry – we need bigger storage. Extra calves – our shed is on its last legs.

Then there’s all the other extra work – I can see an eight-day week looming.

After 15 years of running robots, we know our sweet spot is 147. Happy cows, with plenty of space and busy robots averaging 3.2 visits a day.

Anything over that, visits drop, milk plateaus and we don’t gain anything.

It’s also become apparent that our small farm is so small, we can’t really afford to do the diversification project we had planned.

Without a massive lottery win, the investment needed to convert some lovely old stables will put too much pressure on our core business so isn’t viable.

Successive governments have banked on the fact that farmers will diversify to subsidise food production, and many have, very successfully.

But what happens when you can’t diversify because, like us, no matter how fabulous the idea, the borrowing required is just too much.

What happens then? Sell the cows, exit the industry and go and live a less stressful life somewhere else?

Sounds appealing, and with milk prices falling faster than skydiver without a parachute, it’s probably the sensible option.

It’s a tricky predicament, when all you are doing is treading water and heavy investment will only put your already tight margins under even more pressure

Bigger dairy herds in the area desperately wanting more land and cow prices are, for now, remaining buoyant. It looks a favourable option.

But could I see our land used as a dumping ground for someone else’s slurry, our cows swallowed up into a 1,000-cow herd or sent off to a TB1 with a virtual death sentence over their heads.

No, I couldn’t.

It’s a tricky predicament, when all you are doing is treading water and heavy investment will only put your already tight margins under even more pressure.

The only option left is to look for a low investment, quick return income stream. YouTube, TikTok or Only Fans are quite profitable apparently.

I can just see myself – a Ridgeline-clad influencer or content creator with lucrative sponsorships and freebies galore.

But after a quick scroll through for market research purposes, I soon realised I’m too old, wear far too many clothes and my lumps and bumps are all in the wrong places.

Farm profitability review

Minette Batters’ farm profitability review will hopefully find answers for farmers like us.

I don’t envy her position; farmers are a fastidious bunch and whatever recommendations are suggested, someone will moan.

Emma Reynolds, the current secretary of state, will need to find her backbone, stand up for her department and act on the findings, so I can say, with confidence, that 150 cows is and will always be enough.