Herd size on the up but number of producers continues to fall

This drop compares with the loss of 41 dairy herds over the whole of last year.

Lanarkshire was the most affected county, losing 18 herds alone, while was Dumfriesshire was second, losing five herds.

But these two areas still retain their reputation as being central to the Scottish dairy industry, with 116 herds remaining in Lanarkshire and 175 still in business in Dumfriesshire. The top county for milk production continues to be Ayrshire, where there are some 246 farms still milking cows.

Many of the herds going out of production were smaller and associated with a farmer's retirement or the need for large capital expenditure to modernise.

On a more positive approach, however, a large number of herds did increase their number of milking cows over the same period, raising the average herd size by three to 148 milking cows.

While herds are fewer in the east of Scotland, they also are on average larger than their west-coast counterparts. There are only two milk herds in Peebles, two in East Lothian, three in Berwickshire and ten in Roxburgh, but between them, they average 273 cows per unit.

The total milking cows in Scotland now number 158,236 down by only 1,330 from 1 January.

The percentage of cows being officially milk recorded has remained static, but more non- recorded herds are using the service on an on-call basis to sort out somatic cell count or to supply more accurate information to assist better nutrition and health management.

The big increase has been in health testing via the individual cow milk sample for Johnes, BVD and IBR.

Many dairy farmers are now modernising and investing for the long term and a significant factor is the number who are installing robotic milking parlours, which up to now have been popular in some European countries but were less so in Scotland.