Sunday 16 January 2011

Low price - low esteem

Cows need help sometimes during calving - you may have to use the calving aid, or - usually at the worst possible times - you may need to call the vet. That costs. Cows also have to be milked twice a day. There's a huge capital investment, also in parlours, milking machines and housing. It is more of a tie than running a pub. Come rain or shine, high days or holidays you have to be there in the parlour twice a day. You get crapped on,mucked up and ocasionally kicked. Anyway cutting to the chase, it is not the easiest of lives. So what is the supermarket's response to this - they give with one hand (to their selected suppliers)and take away with the other. Well, taking away after a fashion. How else would you describe the message they give by selling milk at half the price of water? What a way to educate people about farming, the countryside and sustainablility. Say what you like about celebrity chefs. They seem to have some moral compass, and are making some effort to educate us and curtail bad farming practices and our excesses. Supermarkets? Do they see past the shareholders returns? I don't think so.

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