THE struggling dairy industry in Cheshire suffered another blow this week when the UK’s largest dairy firm First Milk announced it would be withholding farmers’ pay for two weeks.

First Milk, a cooperative owned by British farmers, said the milk payment deferment was a result of a steep fall in milk prices and a ‘year of volatility that has never been seen before’ in the industry.

The move is expected to deliver a cash injection of £10million to the First Milk business.

Dairy farmers are already struggling to stay afloat due to recent price cuts, with many currently making a loss, and First Milk’s announcement presents farmers with a fresh challenge.

As hundreds of farmers take stock of their future in the industry, the Guardian spoke to three Knutsford dairy farmers – none of whom supply to First Milk – to get their view on the situation.

Alan Norbury, of Booths Hall, said: “First Milk farmers are struggling as it is and are losing money. They are getting fed-up of working for less money than minimum wage – I feel very, very sorry for them.

“I think if it happened to us, we would have to pack up; we can survive as it is but we can’t survive on any less.

“We don’t want any subsidies; all we want is a fair price for what we produce – it’s a bad job when water is dearer than milk.

“I have two sons and I want to pass the business on to them but the future is not looking great.”

Ray Brown, from Goostrey, said that First Milk farmers are having to pay for everybody else’s oversupply, which is ‘unfair and unbalanced.’

He said: “We have to get in a position where everybody is responsible for their own oversupply. We don’t want the supermarkets to be without milk but we don’t want to see a reduction in the number of dairy farmers.

“If we carry on with the same philosophy, where we basically let the market decide who stays and who goes, we are looking at going from 10,000 farmers to 5,000 in as soon as five years time.

“There is already a massive reduction in dairy farmers and this is going to accelerate. We need to find a way of stabilising the market and giving everybody a fair chance.”

Tony Garnett, of Allostock, is the chairman of Cheshire County Show.

He said that a number of factors have contributed to the industry’s current situation, including the Russian import ban and supermarkets competing over lower prices.

“It’s a pretty serious situation we find ourselves in,” he said. “There are several reasons and no short answer. First Milk not being able to pay producers is a really savage blow on top of the price cuts.

“You can’t just stop for two weeks – you are either in it or its stops completely. Sainsburys, who we supply to, really look after us. I would urge consumers to buy from supermarkets who actually pay their producers a realistic price.”