MORE unrest has emerged from farmers who are this time unhappy with the methods United Dairy Farmers are using to test members' milk.
Ahead of the special meeting being held next week between United's board and its owning members, more dissatisfaction has been expressed by some top dairy farmers who are calling for independent milk testing.
A number of farmers contacted FarmWeek to say they were unhappy with the milk quality testing programme undertaken by United Dairy Farmers.
The farmers insisted they remain anonymous for fear of repercussions by United. The first caller from County Tyrone explained that when he received his milk cheque some months ago there was over £800 deducted for what he described as a 'bad Somatic Cell Count reading'.
He said: "I never had any problem with Somatic Cell Count before and never received any notification from United to say a bad reading had been taken.
"I feel cheated by United that they can just deduct this money off my cheque, especially when the base price was so low, without any prior warning.
"How do I know if the reading was bad? Whatever United says in these circumstances we have to accept it as right - but it is hard to do that when the processor seems to be getting a lot of criticism at the moment."
And this milk producer was not alone. In another phone call a United producer from north Antrim was also unhappy with the testing service.
He said: "I milk under 100 cows so my income has really suffered in past months due to lower prices but even more so when I had money taken off by United for bad quality.
"I would call for an independent testing service to be set up to test for milk protein, butterfat and things like Somatic Cell Counts in order for there to be no controversy with United.
"There is a great deal of unrest among United producers at present and members seem to be losing faith in those at the helm of the co-op.
"I hope to attend the special meeting set up next week in Cookstown to hear just what United have to say with regards to their operating methods."
However, in its defence, Eamonn Donnelly, United Group technical manager, explained that United places a strong emphasis on the accuracy of quality testing of its members’ milk supplies.

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September 3rd 2009
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