Faced with the prospect of a major road upheaval a few years ago, Derbyshire farmer Peter Thompson and his family had the mindbending decision of re-affirming their commitment to dairying of re-affirming their commitment to dairying or exploring alternative enterprises. Five years ago 7ha (18 acres) of Field Farm's land was taken in the construction of the A50 dual carriageway which left the family with a make or break decision on the dairy unit. At the time the Thompsons were milking 140 cows andrearing beef cattle but were to lose their headage payments when the land was taken for the road building work. "Although the milk price was already starting to fall we decided on a long term commitment to invest in the dairy herd and increase numbers tocompensate for the loss of the beef enterprise," explains Mr Thompson. As part of the expansion the family decided to replace their existing 8:16 herringbone parlour which, although only nine years old, was not only very unpleasant to work in especiallyin the summer but also took up to 3 hours to milk 140 cows. "We were also conscious of the Farm Assurance pressure on clean milk production and were finding the parlour very difficult to keep clean," he added.
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