DEAR SIR

I am an 87-year-old retired dairy farmer. I spend my time going around the farm on my scooter looking at the cattle and then doing jigsaws and reading, especially farming papers.

My attention was immediately drawn to the headline in the Northern Ireland edition of the Irish Farmers Journal dated 3 December comparing milk prices North and South.

I am not qualified enough to question the accuracy of the figures – I will leave that to others – but I can compare these down to farm level and how the farmers are doing.

I have used average results from Northern Ireland (NI) and the Republic of Ireland (ROI).

The difference in margin works out at £120 (€136) per head or £12,000 (€13,600) in a 100-cow herd.

I am sure some farmers will point out they are producing more milk in the South than I have quoted, or are feeding less, but in our own case we produce 9,200 litres on 3t of feed, and many are doing much better.

In future when writing an article, please tell the whole story.