GOODBYE Buttercup, goodbye Bluebell. It is probable that your descendants will be X123 and X124 in a vast barn and stand on concrete all their lives in an industrial world.

Milk is currently being sold at less than the cost of producing it in Britain, so inevitably some farmers are selling out of dairy farming. Supermarkets buy from abroad and sell at a discount, without the quality assurances and welfare standards that we have here.

The dairy industry needs some security from price variations and a degree of protection that those with a free market mantra are not willing to provide.

It is not just nostalgia for times past, most people like to think of Buttercup and Bluebell chewing the cud in fields, it’s good for the land and good for making excellent butter, cream, yoghurt and cheese.

What would candidates in the General Election suggest we do about it?

Jill Knight, Hovingham