RECENTLY farmers have been demanding a fair price for milk, but what is a fair price?

A cow would naturally produce about six pints of milk per day (enough to feed its calf on).

However, the poor modern dairy cow has been genetically manipulated to produce about 40 pints per day and her poor calf will be lucky to taste any of it.

After about three years of milk production, which means three pregnancies and three calves snatched from them, the cows will be killed as her milk production will begin to fall.

Two common ailments of dairy herds are mastitis and lameness.

Both are a result of the high yields that the cows have been forced to produce.

Every year tens of thousands of dairy calves are shot just after birth. They, however, could be the lucky ones, as others are shipped abroad to be raised on intensive veal farms.

Finally, it is pressure from dairy farmers that has led to this government announcing that hundreds, if not thousands, of badgers will be shot later this year.

All of this happens because some people seem incapable of weaning themselves off breastmilk, and when mother’s is no longer available some poor cow has to take her place.

A fair price for milk? There isn't one.

TOMMY WOODWARD, Pickering