Scottish dairy farmers stop en masse

Scottish dairy farmers are throwing in the towel en masse, according to the latest data from the Scottish Dairy Cattle Association (SDCA). Last year 46 dairy farms were lost. This is mainly due to the corona crisis. In the meantime, the number of cows no longer exceeds 180.000.

The number of dairy farms in Scotland fell to 1 on 2021 January 843. That's 7.000 companies less than 50 years ago. Since January 1, 2020, a decrease of 36 dairy farms is visible in the latest figures from SDCA. However, 10 new companies were started last year.

The biggest loss was for the Aberdeenshire region, where 11 dairy farms have gone out of business. The reason that the SDCA started the investigation was reports from dairy processor Muller. It stated that 14 of the 26 milk suppliers in the above-mentioned region had sent a termination notice to the processor.

Average livestock higher
The fact that dairy farms in particular have ended with a relatively small dairy herd is apparent from the fact that the average herd per farm did increase last year, to 209 cows per farm. That is an increase of 6 cows compared to the previous year. The total number of dairy cows has dropped to 176.338 due to the significant number of stopping farms.

In particular, the first wave of the coronavirus is seen as the reason for the large round of stoppers among Scottish dairy farmers. As a result, the demand for milk fell from one day to the next, causing prices to fall sharply. As a result, many dairy farmers could no longer keep the company profitable.

Kimberly Baker

Kimberly Bakker is an all-round editor at Boerenbusiness. She also has an eye for the social media channels of Boerenbusiness.

k.baker @boerenbusiness. Nl

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