Mount Pleasant Farm
Dairy robots providing
fresh outlook at Brigham
Chris Berry talks with the Foreman family at Mount Pleasant Farm
» » EVERY DAIRY FARMER IN
the UK will have been
questioning their resolve once
again when the milk price
plummeted, but fortunately
this year’s return to the mid-
20s pence per litre and now
hovering between 28-29ppl
has provided welcome relief.
Everyone still in the industry
knows that thousands have
departed the sector since the
Milk Marketing Board was
disbanded and of those that are
left there questions lingering
over their future, particularly
as there is a strong belief that
depressed milk prices are a
cyclical event.
The East Riding of Yorkshire
never had an abundance of
dairy farms and there are
probably less than 20 that
remain but one that does has
been investing and chose to
invest once again late last year
when they installed two robotic
milkers with a third to follow.
They’ve been on the edge of
giving up with their dairy herd a
70 Autumn 2017 www.farmers-mart.co.uk
few times in the past 20 years
but the impetus for their recent
drive towards a new approach
has been brought about by
Chris and Christine Foreman’s
son, Mitch taking hold of the
dairy operation at Mount
Pleasant Farm in Brigham near
Driffield.
‘We became purely dairy
about 20 years ago when we
cut down our arable acreage
and sold the combine,’ says
Chris. ‘The days are gone when
you can do a bit of everything,
so we specialised in milk. We
now have around 120 milkers
all Holstein Friesians, although
we are introducing Norwegian
Reds into the mix. All young
stock leaves the farm at eight
weeks and is sold at Dunswell
livestock market.
‘We put in two Lely robots in
December last year. We took the
risk when the milk price was at is
lowest. We were getting 19ppl at
the time with the thought that if
we struggled but could manage
while it was that low we would