SIR, – In last week’s edition of The Scottish Farmer, regarding the article titled ‘Dairy’s road to recovery’, I was disappointed by the inaccurate and misleading information provided by Kite Consultants senior dairy specialist, David Keiley.

I write to ask Mr Keiley to clarify and back up with real evidence the following points:

1, Mr Keiley said that the average dairy business at the end of the dairy crisis had debts of £800 per cow, which have now been reduced to between £500-600 per cow. What do these figures mean? Is he saying that debt on dairy farms have reduced by 30% in the past 12 months?

2, Mr Keiley pointed out that Scottish milk producers generated 5-6ppl more gross output from having a shed full of store cattle. This cannot be achieved without having to buy in dairy replacements which would negate the output from said stores. Can he clarify how he gets to this figure?

3, The article stated that the average milk rice for 2017/18 will be 29ppl. Mr Keiley said we were experiencing a period of good milk prices, however he then goes on to say ‘typically, average producers will be around the 27-28ppl break even mark’. Does Mr Keiley think that 1-2ppl is a good margin for businesses to be making?

In the same article, according to Old Mill Accountants, the cost of production is currently 29.19ppl south of the Border.

Consultants should not be conveying the message to retailers and milk processors that this is a good price. In my opinion, a good milk price in the current climate should be in excess of 30ppl.

Craig McMiken

Upper Barr,

Newton Stewart.