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Michael Yates’ winning essay from the President’s Medal competition.
y Agenda for Dairy Farming “Adopt, Adapt, Improve”, an old moto that I find appropriate in today’s dairy farming industry. It has become obvious that farmers have mixed needs. Have we ever seen a market as varied as the one we are in now? Milk prices have caused farmers to look at their business needs differently.
M MARKETING
Driving around in 4x4s and wearing tweed jackets is a stereotypical image often associated with farming. Although this may sometimes be true, the public are not always aware of the hours, working conditions, hard graft and financial strain which dairy farmers go through on a daily basis.
The public’s perception of dairy farming and the industry’s relationship with consumers is a topic high on my agenda. In an era where retailers are battling
for custom, not only through price, but by meeting the demands of their shoppers, the dairy industry has a fantastic opportunity to raise the profile of milk. In general, the industry should do more to promote it. There is great scope for developing a unique selling point (USP) for milk as we have seen with individual milk brands, such as Cravendale. Their recent ‘Cats with Thumbs’ advert was so popular it has more than 8.3m views on YouTube alone.
Changing the perception of whole milk is also important. The public see the words ‘full fat milk’ and are scared by it. They do not realise whole milk only contains less than 4% fat and has so many health benefits. As a growing market we must do more to explore the sporting sector.
New research shows milk consumed as a post-exercise recovery and rehydration drink
is just as effective, if not more so, than commercially-available sports drinks. In recent months, there have been sports stars such as Welsh international rugby players, Dan Lydiate and Mike Phillips, advertising the health benefits of milk, and Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson has also starred in a ‘Got Milk?’ campaign with the message ‘protein to start your day.’ I would like to see milk being advertised to young people as a healthy alternative to sports drinks. These added value products will generate more profit and widen the market.
MILK COMPONENTS As processors shift their
pricing mechanism, putting greater value on milk
constituents, I believe farmers must make it more of a priority to use Holstein bulls which are positive for butterfat and protein percentages. For the last two years, I have used Holstein
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