DAIRY farmers from across North Cornwall and West Devon — joined by Daisy the cow — united for a peaceful protest at one of the area’s largest supermarkets on Sunday over the price the company pays farmers for their milk.

Stocks were exhausted at Morrisons in Bude and Bideford when farmers bought the stores’ entire milk supplies to raise awareness of the low prices they are paid.

The protest was organised by dairy farmer Mike Shadrick, from Bradworthy, who is one of many calling for a ‘fairer deal’.

He said farmers receive 23p per litre of milk from Morrisons and it is sold for around 32p per litre, with many producers making a loss on their produce.

Mr?Shadrick, who is a member of Farmers for Action, said: “Why should we work for nothing? When 80% of the milk produced goes to supermarkets, why can’t we have a sensible price for it? We are just asking for a fair price on the shelf and a fair price on the farm.”

Mr Shadrick said Morrisons staff were ‘overwhelmed’ when they arrived and started buying all the milk.

“This was a first for me, I have never taken part in a protest before, but we couldn’t have asked for a better response.

“The Morrisons staff were overwhelmed because they had no idea we were coming and they didn’t know what we were going to do. Some protests in Gloucestershire were disruptive, but we just went in and bought the milk.”

A positive response was also received from shoppers, with many donating to the farmers’ cause.

“It’s a busy time of year for farmers with harvesting so the turnout wasn’t huge, but we emptied the shelves and filled around ten trollies.”

The milk was then offered to the public free of charge.

“Many donated and we have had hundreds and hundreds of selfies taken with Daisy the cow, including one with a tortoise! The response was phenomenal.”

Protests have been taking place across the country, with more planned, says Mr?Shadrick.

“There will be events like this taking place all over the country and we have made a huge impact because we were the first to buy all the milk.”

Morrisons has announced it will not accept further price decreases from its milk suppliers.

For the full report, and a round-up of the area news and sport, see this week’s edition of the Post.