To wonder why people care more about dairy farmers than ............

[ChocLover2015]

..coal miners when the pits closed because of cheap foreign coal?
Is it because farmers are more middle clarrsss. Have nice houses send their Dc to private schools and drive new land Rovers?

Urm what ! AT the time people cared alot famlies were devestated whole communities gone but it was decades ago my dad took redundancy 20 odd years ago why would people still be talking about pits I don't understand your rant

well I wasn't born until 1990...

Apparently you don't know many farmers.

My cousin is a dairy farmer. Lives in a 3 bed terrace, kids go to the local comp, drives a 15 year old rover and has a holiday every couple of years to South Wales. Bet he'd love to come and live and work near you if they're rolling in it there OP!

I think you have very little understanding of the miners' strike and you've obviously never met a dairy farmer.

And BTW, why do you care if other people care about milk farmers, OP? What bothers you about that?

I was 3 when the mines closed, yet know all about it.

I know sod all about dairy farmers and their troubles (don't eat dairy). What's going on?

I distinctly remember my parents having every sympathy with the miners. Whole communities became unemployed. It was a terrible time, and we lived nowhere near any coalmines but the sympathy was countrywide.
How old exactly are you OP?

It is possible to care about more than one group of people.

Cared hugely about the miners and what the government did to them. I also care about what is happening to dairy farmers. Am able to do both at the same time.

My first ever .

What is your suggestion op? That everyone should care less to keep you happy?

Want to see you local dairy farmers brought down a peg or two perhaps? Nice.

'Completely different scenario op

Miners worked for the mines.....dairy farmers work for themselves'

I think that proves my point.

OK then -what about other industries? The huge decline in British manuafacturing? British Car building? Ship building?

I think it's because the farmers look like more of a winning cause. When the time comes for pitched battles with the police, they can use their Land Rovers to run over the horses.

(Writing this made me look up the definition of "pitched battle." Very interesting, especially the example of an army deliberately moving to a less advantageous position in order to encourage the other side to fight.)

I know many dairy farmers. The nature of the company i work for means their client base is almost exclusively farmers.

Not all dairy farmers obviously, but enough.
The way dairy cows are treated is enough to turn me off DF's

The town I live in is both next to a former "pit town" & surrounded by farms. I'm going back quite a long time here, but I vividly remember the trestle tables outside Tesco where my mum left an extra bag of groceries each week for the miners' families. It seemed to be there for ages. And the stories of repossessions, extreme poverty & even suicides as a direct result of the pit closures are still being told now. TBH, the town has been an unemployment hotspot ever since.

The only words I have heard in support of farmers in RL have come via Facebook from one of my two farmer friends. Along the lines that it is scandalous how water costs more than milk etc. Admittedly, I didn't worry too much for him as he also owns a vast amount of land & around 50 houses which he rents out for a handsome profit. He is very much a two Range Rover & prestigious public school household. Not quite in need of a food collection just yet.

My understanding of the dairy farmer issue is that the issue is not international competition but instead profiteering by the supermarkets. They are paying less than the cost of production to the farmers so they can sell milk cheaply.

If your client base is farmers, why don't you care about them? If it wasn't for them, your company wouldn't have any clients...

As a PP says, it's possible to care about more than one thing. I care about all sorts. I wasn't born at the time of the closing of the mines but have heard all about it and have every sympathy. I care about dairy farmers. I care about the working poor who can't afford to live on minimum wage. I care about carers who live on a pitiful allowance from the government and work 24/7. There's a huge list of things I care about, dairy farmers are on that list.

If you dislike your client base so much maybe you should look for another job.

Do you have a car OP?

When you filled it up this week and thought "HURRAH! It's nearly on a quid a litre", did you get your placard out the boot in support of the 300 oil workers that lost their jobs in Scotland last week?

No?

Yep. Maybe I should.it is very convenient though, and I like the job mostly.

That dairy farming is cruel is a whole other argument. This is just whataboutism.

Although, I should add, I would have sympathy for farmers whose whole business was dairy & who, therefore, are now running at a permanent loss.

And clearly many farmers have to work with people like the OP who have very little understanding of and lots of contempt for their work and lives. Which must be frustrating

It's such a different situation to the miners, and such a different time and social period, they just aren't comparable