Kindness boost for dairy farmers

The comfort and condition of dairy cows could provide some Scottish milk producers with an additional payment worth thousands of pounds annually under an innovative payment scheme pioneered by one of the UK's leading supermarkets.

Making the announcement in Edinburgh, yesterday, Steve McLean, agriculture manager at Marks & Spencer, said they were introducing a bonus of up to 2p per litre as recognition that their customers expected milk producing cows to be kept to the best welfare standards. "Even in the current recession, the health and welfare of the cows is important to consumers."