A COMBINATION of poor milk prices and atrocious wet weather has forced the owner of one of the country’s oldest Ayrshire herds – Changue, at Cumnock, Ayrshire – to consider calling it a day.

For Robert Stevenson, the first steps of cutting back kick off next week, with the dispersal of 100 summer/autumn calving cows and heifers at Harrison and Hetherington’s sale at Carlisle next Wednesday.

Once they've gone, Robert will still be left with around 200 head, and will then make a final decision on whether further dispersals are on the cards at the end of the year.

Robert, 61, told The Scottish Farmer: “I’m not married, and there's no family to follow me on. I’ve been forced to make this move by the weather and, being with First Milk, suffering a string of poor prices over the past two years.

“The fodder situation will be the deciding factor on whether I continue or not," said Mr Stevenson. "As things stand everything is out of joint.

“For eight months last year my farm gate price was 13p and I had to apply for the government grant. Prices have started to move upwards, but First Milk have penalties in place if production falls. And this year’s dreadful weather hasn’t helped on the production front.

“In this part of Ayrshire we have had 16 inches of rain since June and my first cut of silage is still not finished and there won’t be a second one. I didn’t get a second cut in 2012 and this is the third bad year weather-wise in the past five, and by far the worst. It’s so difficult to get a contractor because they are so behind," he reported. “The rain, which has been relentless some weeks, meant I’ve had to keep the cows in since July and feed is getting short.

“I have two brothers, one a fund manager in Edinburgh and the other a retired doctor. I’m beginning to think I got the short straw by choosing farming. Having said that, it’s not all been hard times. We ran a successful retail milk business from 1935 until 2003 and weren’t dependent on First Milk. Since then, however, it’s been anything but plain sailing.

“It will be a sad day to see the first of the cows go. The family has been at Changue since 1866 and was 150 year-old last November. The herd was started by my grandfather in 1906 and the first Ayrshire to be registered with the Ayrshire Cattle Society was Changue Jess, known as ‘old Jess' in 1900.

“Unless things start improving weather wise between now and the autumn it may be very difficult to carry on," he conceded. "We’ll just have to wait and see."