LETTER: Herd instinct is to blame the `greedy' farmer

Sir: If William Waldegrave is determined to "stand back" on the export of calves for crate rearing, perhaps the heads of our milk processing and supermarket chains will stand forward.

Now that the Milk Marketing Board has been abolished, and users of milk make individual contracts with producers, the chief executives of companies such as Northern Food, Sainsbury's, Tesco and the like could promise their customers not to buy milk from dairy farms that persist in exporting calves for crate rearing.

As consumers, we could all insist that they do so, making participation in protests and blockades unnecessary, and bringing a speedy end to this trade. No doubt, the price of milk would rise a little - a good test of our determination in this matter.

Yours faithfully, ROBERT SANDOW London, W4

9 January