Episode 1 Gareth Wyn Jones - Milk Man


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Milk - we pour it on our cereals and stick it in our tea.

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In the UK, we consume over nine billion pints every year,

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but have we forgotten where it comes from?

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I don't think people really know how much work goes into

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getting milk onto that shelf.

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Along with the dairy farms and cows that produce it,

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milk has shaped our countryside and our way of life.

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The dairy industry is just one piece of the jigsaw

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within the whole countryside.

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But now the industry is facing a crisis like never before.

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This is the worst period I've seen in my working life.

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Over the past 15 years, the number of dairy farmers

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in Wales has halved.

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On average, three farmers leave the industry every month.

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It's an embarrassment on me, on myself, that I can't make it pay.

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The traditional family dairy farm is in serious trouble.

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There isn't a future for every dairy farmer.

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Milk is now a global commodity and dairy is big business at the mercy

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of the world markets.

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Can Welsh farmers survive in this new cut-throat world?

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There must be room for a small family farm.

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My name is Gareth Wyn Jones.

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I'm a hill farmer and campaigner for the best of Welsh food and farming.

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Do you know how much you're paying for your milk?

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I want to explore the dairy industry from the inside,

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from the cow to the consumer

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and from the farm to the supermarket shelf.

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I want to see what it takes to satisfy our thirst for milk

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and find out if there is a future for the Welsh dairy farmer.

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If I'm going to understand how this industry works,

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I need to start at the beginning - the farmer.

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It is 5am on the north Wales coast

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and this is Aber Ogwen Farm near Bangor.

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It's a typical Welsh dairy farm, handed down through the generations.

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The Owen family milks around 120 cows and today the herd

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is looked after by my old friend Carwyn.

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I've offered to give him a hand this morning,

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but this is an early start even for me.

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You don't get any better than this, this morning.

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No. Living the dream, boy!

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Well...

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-Do we want to go and get this one?

-I'll shout on Bob if you will.

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Bob!

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Bob!

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Cheaper than a quad bike.

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-You don't have to pour petrol in him.

-No.

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Nice to see a good working dog.

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Well, I don't think he'd do well on One Man And His Dog, but...

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North Wales may be known more for its hill farms than its dairy herds,

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but I can remember when most farms were mixed.

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Sheep were kept on the mountain and small milking herds

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grazed the lowland pastures.

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You can look down this coast, how many people milked here, Carwyn?

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If you went 50 years, every farm milked, didn't they?

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-Yeah.

-And then you go back 20 years,

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there's about eight gone here and there's only me left here now.

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Carwyn's cows are milked twice a day, every day,

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365 days a year.

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But it's been a few years since I did a shift.

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So you wipe each one of these now?

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Yeah, just to make sure they're perfectly clean.

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-So we do each one of them now?

-Yeah.

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Have you got any kickers?

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Or are you not going to tell me?

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We move on to this, Gareth.

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The machine's on?

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Swing it round and it will come on.

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Oh, wow. OK. And then it's...

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-Do you give it a little bit of a touch to say that we're here?

-Yeah.

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Still very early, the sun's just come up.

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It's going to take us about two hours to milk these cows.

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Oh, hey.

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It's a job to be doing this every single day, seven days a week,

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twice a day as well.

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Carwyn's flying through these.

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I'm struggling to keep up with him.

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What's nice is you can hear him talking about every single cow

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individually, he knows each one...

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..and he has a real connection with them.

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People like Carwyn are putting everything they believe

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into these cows and into these parlours, just to make a living.

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It's not for everyone. I don't think it would be for me.

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It's not the easiest way to make a living.

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It's not just the cows that Carwyn is investing his time in.

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He's training his 15-year-old son Gwion to milk the family herd.

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THEY SPEAK WELSH

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LAUGHTER

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-All natural, there.

-All natural.

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It's really nice, you know, watching Gwion here with his dad.

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This is what family farms are about,

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passing on that knowledge year in, year out.

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It's a way of life that people...

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..need to see.

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With all the cows milked, they return to the fields.

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And with the parlour washed down, my shift is over.

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Carwyn and Gwion though will soon be back to do it all again.

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I don't think people understand how much time and how much commitment

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goes to having milk on their cornflakes and in their tea.

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Cows need to be milked twice a day.

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You can't hide, you know. If Carwyn doesn't feel well,

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he has still got to get up and he has still got to do these.

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You've got to think that seven days a week, there's no hiding,

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there's nowhere to go.

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Welsh daily farms like this are in serious decline.

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Over the past decade,

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there's been a steady trickle of farmers leaving the industry.

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The roots of the current crisis are complex.

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But, put very simply, there's too much milk in the world.

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When prices were high a few years ago,

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milk producers across the globe increased their herds,

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flooding the market with cheap milk.

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The price crashed.

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Small Welsh farms can't cope with this roller-coaster global market

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and are now struggling to ride out the bad times.

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At the same time, supermarkets engaged in a ruthless price war.

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They use staple household items as loss leaders and slashed

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the price of milk.

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Many dairy producers feel that this has devalued milk in the eyes

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of the consumer.

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For Welsh dairy farmers, it's a perfect storm.

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This is the Royal Welsh Show,

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the biggest agricultural event in Europe.

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Farmers and their families come from all of the country to showcase

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the best produce and livestock that Wales has to offer.

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If I want to gauge the state of the dairy industry today,

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then this is the place to be.

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And behind the parades and prizes, many farmers are angry.

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I'll tell you on camera, we lost £60,000 in money last year.

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You lost £60,000?

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-Yeah.

-How was that?

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The price of milk.

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16.8 pence a litre I had on my last milk check.

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-Is that not enough?

-No, not from 16.8.

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The cost of production is 25.

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You don't have to be a rocket scientist to work that out.

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So you're producing something and losing money every day?

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-Yeah.

-That's not a good businessman.

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I know. If you were a businessman, you'd sell up.

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Water is worth more than milk -

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that doesn't make sense because that cow has got to drink water to

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produce milk. All we want is a fair price, you know, and as it is now,

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we're not having it. Far from it.

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It's the summer of 2016.

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The average price paid for milk is down to 18p a litre.

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But with the average cost of production at 24p a litre,

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many farmers are losing 6p on every litre they produce.

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It's frightening, really,

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what has happened to agriculture in the past 12 months.

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When you've got milk price at 16 or 18p,

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it doesn't give you a very bright future.

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A few years ago, the milk price was up at 30p a litre.

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When times were good,

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many farmers borrowed heavily and grew their herds and farms.

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We have spent 1.8 million...

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Wow!

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..on our new set-up.

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As it is now, the products we sell are so devalued

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we would never pay it back...

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as the price of milk as it is now.

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If you have another two years or another year of this,

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where will you be?

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Oh, we can't carry on.

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We need the industry to survive and at the moment it's not.

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I don't think I've ever heard so many farmers being so open

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about their finances and how they feel about the industry.

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These people are losing money every single day of the week.

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They're hurting and frustrated.

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Passionate about what they do but not getting any reward.

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And to me, a lot of these guys,

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they're not going to be able to survive another 12 months.

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This industry is in dire straits and something needs to happen.

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Not that long ago, the way we got our milk was simple and local.

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Dairy farmers supplied milk to lots of small local creameries and the

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milkman brought milk to our doors.

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In the last 20 years, our food chains have become far more complex.

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Now the dairy industry is dominated by a couple of big processors

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and a handful of big retailers.

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The balance of power in the milk supply chain lies not with the farmers,

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but with the big corporations.

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And the gap between the farmer and your fridge is greater

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than ever before.

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I think people have lost contact of how milk is produced.

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Dairy farmers are in the front line, you know.

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They're the ones that are bringing it for us to pour on our cornflakes,

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pour in our tea, and we don't see that side of it.

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You know, probably the closest we get is when we walk

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into a supermarket and when we grab that pinta.

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I think we need to ask the question to ourselves,

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as somebody that drinks a lot of milk, are we paying enough?

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I want to find out more about the milk on supermarket shelves,

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so I'm off to do a bit of shopping.

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Yes. So we're just arriving at the first supermarket in Bangor.

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We're going to do a bit of shopping in Tesco.

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Slightly against the grain.

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Well, one down, many more to go.

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Supermarket number two, Morrisons.

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The cheapest one yet.

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These supermarkets are just like factories,

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people are just in and out and in and out.

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Just don't seem to think how much grip they've got.

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Next one - Lidl.

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I just can't believe how many choices of the same thing there is

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because it's all milk but sold in different kinds of packaging,

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for different kinds of prices.

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What's it all about?

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To make sense of all this white stuff, I'm going to need some help.

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So who better than the National Farmers Union's chief dairy adviser,

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Sian Davies?

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I'm hoping she can tell me more about how the supermarkets

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source their milk.

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So tell me a little bit about these five then, Sian.

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So these five retailers all pay the farmers a cost production price.

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So the retailer works with their farming group to work out the average cost production

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for the group and then they pay those farmers above that

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cost of production. For example, Tesco here

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has around 800 farmers supplying them and they work with that group

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of farmers to work out their average cost of production and then they

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would review that cost every six months and pay above that price.

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Only around 15% of British dairy farmers

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are on this sort of contract.

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A few of the other retailers have taken a different approach.

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So I got this one from Asda and this says an extra 25p.

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Now, this is part of a minimum price scheme.

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The retail price has gone up by 25p a bottle.

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The consumer chooses to pay more for this milk and they are guaranteed

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that extra money goes back to the farm.

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This scheme has been introduced by Arla, one of the biggest processors,

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a Europe-wide farmer-owned cooperative

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with over 13,000 members.

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That 25p goes back to the farmer?

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25p - it won't be going to a farmer.

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It won't be going to the farm down the road,

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it will be shared in the pot across Europe.

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I think some of the supermarkets

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are paying a good price to some of the farmers.

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There is a few really good schemes,

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where the farmer is going to benefit,

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but it's not really a fair playing field.

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The majority are not having a fair slice of the cake.

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Only a fraction of Welsh dairy farmers

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will benefit from the supermarket schemes.

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Many are at the mercy of a volatile, wider industry.

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I've travelled to Powys to meet a second-generation dairy farmer

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who's been struggling to make ends meet.

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Good morning.

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-Are you well?

-Yeah, thanks for the invitation.

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Ian Gethin's family has built up their herd over the past 50 years

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but now he's decided to sell his cows.

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These are the last ones going today.

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Ah, right.

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It's a massive decision cos that's all I've always done and loved.

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But it's a lifetime of work, really,

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you've been breeding what suits your farm.

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And it's a pity they've got to go,

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but that seems to be the way it is going.

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At the end of the day,

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if the milk price isn't there, you just cannot do it.

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For Ian, like most good farmers, this is much more than a business.

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These cows mean the world to him

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but, in the end, everything comes down to the finances.

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What's your cost of production here, is it pretty low?

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-24p.

-And your milk price is?

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14 we were offered on the 1st of April.

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So that's 10p under what you can produce it for.

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So, as a businessman, that's a no-brainer, isn't it?

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Yes. It doesn't take much working out, does it? You don't need a calculator for that.

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No, you're right there.

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Having done this twice a day almost every day since he was 12 years old,

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this will be the last time Ian will milk his cows.

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Come on, girl.

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It will be a different day for you tomorrow.

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-Yeah.

-No milking.

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No. This time last January we were milking 120 through here...

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..as we have been doing the last few years.

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But you were losing money every single month.

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Yes. Yeah, we were losing up to...

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The last couple of months of milking, £3,000 a month.

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I was working for nothing and I was working to lose money, which is...

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That had to be soul destroying?

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Yes, it is.

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Yeah.

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The last 18 months, really, what's happened with the milk price and...

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You always get quite attached and proud of your own cows.

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Had you hoped one day that you would be passing this on

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-to little Harry here?

-Yes.

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Very much so. Same as my father's handed over to me, really.

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And you can keep gambling for a few years and hope it will come right,

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but at the moment I don't see the future there.

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So...

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Yeah, it is very disheartening,

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but...it's got to be done.

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I hear this at farm after farm.

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The responsibility to pass it on, not to let people down,

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not to be the one who fails.

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It's difficult, really, to understand how much pressure

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is on this family.

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There's a lot of emotion

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and I don't think he's taken this decision lightly.

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Ian has been selling his herd gradually over the past six months.

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This will be the last batch sent for auction.

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He and his family are now the latest casualty of an increasingly

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challenging and unforgiving industry.

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They won't be the last.

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With farming you've got decisions every day,

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but you've just got to sort of work it out really whether...

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Is it the right thing to do?

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My heart says stick at it, but my head says get out

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because at the moment I don't see the future there.

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You never could believe that this day would come when...?

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No, no. You always think you will get a contract around the corner.

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Where do you think the blame lies with the whole industry, Ian?

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It's very difficult. You can blame lots of people,

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but at the end of the day it's got to be the supermarket buying power...

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..because they are selling milk as a loss leader.

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They say they're not passing it back to the farmers,

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but they obviously are devaluing the product.

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Ian's cows are going to Cheshire and will be sold at one of the biggest

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dairy cattle sales in Britain, the Beeston Castle Auction.

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Around 500 cows will be sold at the market today,

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with buyers and sellers coming from as far afield as Kent and Scotland.

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Ian plans to build up a herd of beef cattle, so the money he receives

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for his cows will be vital for the future of the family farm.

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Big day for you today.

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Yes, it is.

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Yeah, no, a bit nervous before selling them.

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-You don't know what trade you'll have on the day.

-No, no.

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If he doesn't get a good price, or if the cows don't sell at all,

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it could jeopardise his hopes of rebuilding his business.

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Ian is going round now talking to people, saying what the best points

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of his cattle are. It gets me a little bit that, you know,

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that's it. That's it finished after all the time and all he put into it.

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It comes to an end here, today, right now.

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As the auction gets underway, bids come flying in.

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This is Ian's first cow in the ring, number 24.

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Ian is up in the box.

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50, 80, 1,220, 50, 80. 1,280 I'm bid.

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1,280 I'm bid now. 1,280...

0:20:270:20:29

Ian has got a £10 note in his hand and that's luck money.

0:20:310:20:35

Every cow he sells, he gives that £10 to the buyer

0:20:350:20:39

and it is an old tradition.

0:20:390:20:41

In the end, all of Ian's cows have sold.

0:20:410:20:44

His days in the dairy industry may be over,

0:20:440:20:47

but at least he's still got a future in farming.

0:20:470:20:50

It's been so nice to see Ian having a fair price

0:20:500:20:53

for his cattle here today.

0:20:530:20:55

He can take that money home now and reinvest it

0:20:550:20:57

in the family farm.

0:20:570:20:59

Ian's story is far from unique.

0:21:010:21:03

He's one of the many farmers to have left dairy in recent years.

0:21:030:21:07

Auctioneer Clive Norbury has seen the challenges facing the industry.

0:21:070:21:12

Well, I'm in my 42nd year of work

0:21:120:21:15

and, yes, I've seen massive changes.

0:21:150:21:17

There were 35,000 milk producers when I started my work.

0:21:170:21:21

Now we're down to around between 9,000 and 9,500,

0:21:210:21:24

which is a colossal change.

0:21:240:21:27

This is the worst period I have seen in my working life.

0:21:270:21:31

Not only for the milk producers,

0:21:310:21:32

but the hundreds of people that hang on a cow's tail -

0:21:320:21:35

and there's hundreds of us. You know, it's affected everybody.

0:21:350:21:39

The dairy industry is just one piece of the jigsaw within

0:21:460:21:50

the whole community of farming, countryside.

0:21:500:21:54

The knock-on effect on the dairy boys going out must be hitting

0:21:550:21:59

the smaller businesses that sell to these guys.

0:21:590:22:04

I think we need to look at how we can help the smaller family farms

0:22:040:22:09

because, you take them out of the equation, we will lose something

0:22:090:22:13

in what is cefn gwlad,

0:22:130:22:16

what is the countryside,

0:22:160:22:17

and that is the traditional small family farm.

0:22:170:22:20

So we won't see these patchwork fields

0:22:220:22:24

and these black-and-white cows dotted around - they will be gone.

0:22:240:22:28

I think it's about time we did something about this crisis

0:22:310:22:34

and took the message to the masses.

0:22:340:22:36

The only people I haven't chatted with yet are the consumers.

0:22:430:22:48

Do they really know how much work goes into getting milk

0:22:480:22:52

onto that supermarket shelf?

0:22:520:22:54

I don't think they do.

0:22:540:22:56

I want to find out what the great Welsh public really know about

0:22:560:23:00

their milk, so I'm off to see a man about a cow.

0:23:000:23:03

I've come to Anglesey to meet award-winning breeder Euan Hughes.

0:23:050:23:10

You and your family built this herd over many generations.

0:23:100:23:13

Yes, yes, I'm the third generation.

0:23:130:23:15

My grandfather started it all off.

0:23:150:23:18

That must be something that you feel really proud about.

0:23:180:23:20

Oh, I'm very proud, I'm very passionate.

0:23:200:23:22

That's my biggest fault as a businessman -

0:23:220:23:26

I'm a sentimental farmer. I love my cows.

0:23:260:23:28

Yeah. Is it a sad feeling that, when you're milking twice a day

0:23:280:23:33

and getting such a low price for what you do?

0:23:330:23:36

Well, for over two years now,

0:23:360:23:38

I've been selling milk cheaper than what I can produce it for.

0:23:380:23:41

Yeah. Lots in the business will say, "Get out,"

0:23:410:23:45

but you can't do it.

0:23:450:23:47

How can I turn around to my grandmother who's 94 to say,

0:23:470:23:53

"After all you and my grandfather have done,

0:23:530:23:56

"after all my parents have done, I can't make it pay"?

0:23:560:24:00

You know, it is embarrassment.

0:24:000:24:01

It feels like it is an embarrassment on me, on myself,

0:24:010:24:04

-that I can't make it pay.

-It's the passion and dedication that farmers

0:24:040:24:08

like Euan have for their work that I think we need to show to the public.

0:24:080:24:13

I have come up with a crazy idea

0:24:130:24:16

of taking a milking cow into Llandudno.

0:24:160:24:19

It is a crazy but good idea.

0:24:190:24:22

Euan has selected his finest cow, Maya,

0:24:220:24:26

but there's a catch.

0:24:260:24:27

-You want to take my cow to Llandudno...

-Yeah.

0:24:270:24:31

-..you're going to have to wash her.

-Oh!

0:24:310:24:33

-That's all right with me.

-There you go.

0:24:350:24:40

THEY SPEAK WELSH

0:24:400:24:41

THEY SPEAK WELSH

0:25:010:25:02

I think I seen a car wash down the road there.

0:25:090:25:11

You sure it was a car wash, it wasn't a cow wash?

0:25:110:25:13

It will be now!

0:25:130:25:15

Do a lot of cow washing?

0:25:190:25:20

-Always a first, isn't it?

-Is it all right if I use the pressure washer?

0:25:210:25:24

Is it a special one or something?

0:25:260:25:28

With Maya washed, it's time to hit the streets of Llandudno.

0:25:310:25:36

And with a quick costume change...

0:25:360:25:38

A change of hats.

0:25:380:25:39

..I am ready to meet the people and I'm armed with ice-cold milk

0:25:390:25:43

and a megaphone. Come and try...

0:25:430:25:46

Got to switch it on first, haven't I?

0:25:460:25:48

Do you know where your milk comes from? Meet Maya the cow.

0:25:480:25:52

Come over and try some glorious ice-cold milk.

0:25:520:25:56

In return for a free glass,

0:25:560:25:58

I want to know how much people really know about the milk they buy.

0:25:580:26:02

Do you guys know how much a pint of milk costs?

0:26:020:26:05

Do you know how much?

0:26:070:26:08

Do you know how much you pay for your pint?

0:26:090:26:11

-Ask her, not me.

-Do you know how much you're paying for your milk?

0:26:110:26:14

Come over, have a chat.

0:26:140:26:16

So, do you know how much you pay for your milk?

0:26:160:26:19

No. Neither of you have got a clue?

0:26:190:26:21

It's about, um...

0:26:220:26:24

Um...

0:26:240:26:25

Um...

0:26:250:26:27

People are seriously confused about how much they pay.

0:26:270:26:29

They really don't know. I've had all kinds of different price ranges

0:26:290:26:34

and it's quite funny. What's really great to see is the number of people

0:26:340:26:39

taking an interest in Maya the cow

0:26:390:26:41

and taking the time to speak to Euan.

0:26:410:26:43

It's difficult for these guys, you know, because it's costing them more.

0:26:570:27:00

-I know.

-More to produce it than...

0:27:000:27:02

-I've seen it on the news.

-Have you?

-Yeah.

0:27:020:27:04

And a lot of people seem sympathetic to the challenges

0:27:040:27:07

facing dairy farmers and many think that milk is too cheap.

0:27:070:27:12

-Would you be willing to pay a little bit extra?

-I would. I would.

0:27:120:27:15

Definitely, without a shadow of a doubt.

0:27:150:27:17

Why not? Yeah. We are paying for everything extra, why not for milk?

0:27:170:27:22

I would pay £1.50 at least for four pints

0:27:220:27:24

if that meant people didn't get short-changed.

0:27:240:27:26

I'm going to give you a little bit more because

0:27:260:27:29

you've been so supportive.

0:27:290:27:30

Does a day like this give you a kind of hope and a feel-good factor?

0:27:330:27:36

Everybody you talk to about the problem of the price of milk,

0:27:360:27:39

they're interested in what we're saying.

0:27:390:27:41

-Yeah.

-And they're all willing...

0:27:410:27:42

"Yeah, we would pay more for the milk."

0:27:420:27:44

It does make you feel better.

0:27:440:27:46

Today we brought the cow to the consumer and what we found out

0:27:500:27:53

was the consumer is more than willing to pay

0:27:530:27:56

that little bit extra for milk.

0:27:560:27:58

The dairy farmers are not in a good place,

0:27:590:28:02

they are not very happy with the price,

0:28:020:28:04

so this is a problem.

0:28:040:28:05

There's a problem in the middle and that's what I'm going to do next -

0:28:050:28:09

is find out what's going on.

0:28:090:28:11

Next time I find out how the UK's biggest supermarket

0:28:150:28:19

sources its milk.

0:28:190:28:21

Actually, every time you do buy our milk,

0:28:210:28:23

that money is going back to the farmer.

0:28:230:28:25

I see milk production on a massive scale.

0:28:250:28:28

The quantity is seriously mind-blowing.

0:28:280:28:31

And I visit some of the biggest dairy farms around.

0:28:310:28:34

This is milking in the 21st century.

0:28:340:28:37

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