Former NFU dairy board chair Michael Oakes is well-known in the industry for his campaigning on fairness in the supply chain and lobbying politicians for dairy contract legislation. With margins tight, increased regulations and problems with recruiting staff, many dairy farmers have found themselves facing the difficult choice of whether to invest or to leave the sector.
In June, Mr Oakes made the ‘tough decision' to quit milking. He sold his 200-head Holstein dairy herd and has now started a new venture rearing beef cattle on his Bournville Village Trust tenant farm on the southern outskirts of Birmingham.
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