'Life-changing' Scottish farms fear losing staff on skilled worker visas

A group of dairy cows are grazing on a grassy slope overlooking the Irish sea, a picture-postcard scene that wouldn't be out of place on a VisitScotland advert.

- Joanna Partridge

These are just some of the 1,200 Holstein-Jersey cross cows kept at Dourie Farm, perched on the hill above Port William in Dumfries and Galloway in the southwest of Scotland. The area is known for its mild, moist climate, thanks to the warm air brought across the Atlantic by the Gulf Stream.

The herd - one of the largest in Scotland - produces about 6,500 gallons (30,000 litres) of milk each day at the farm, which is owned by the brothers Rory and Gregor Christie. The cows are able to graze outside all year round, producing fatand protein-rich milk that is made into cheddar cheese down the road in Stranraer at the creamery, owned by the French dairy company Lactalis.

While there have been significant advances in mechanisation since the Christies' grandfather founded the farm in the 1950s, producing milk is labour-intensive and the cows are milked twice a day.

While the region's climate is ideal for dairy farming, its isolated beauty comes with a shrinking population. Most of the hundreds of lorries trundling along local roads are just passing on the way to and from the port at Cairnryan, where ferries leave for Belfast.

"Three, four years ago, I was absolutely at the end of my tether," said Rory, looking across the green fields of his farm. "I couldn't find skilled workers and we got to the decision that we were maybe going to have to sell our cows."

The survival of the herd came from an unlikely location: the Philippines. Unable to find staff in Britain, he decided to begin the costly and laborious administrative process of bringing foreign workers to the UK on skilled worker visas.