PLUNGING milk prices left a sour taste in the mouth of dairy farmer Mr David Stevenson.

Fed up with receiving less than 10p a pint, he decided to strike out alone so he gambled on investing in his own dairy and bottling plant and enlisted local roundsmen to deliver to the door.

The introduction of the dairy has seen the clock turn full circle, as the family used to sell milk locally until the 1960s.

"We were getting under 10p a pint, yet it was 39p on the door-step," said Mr Stevenson, whose family have farmed Trout Hall at Skelton in Cleveland for four generations.

"Today, selling on to the commodity market, whether grain or milk, is no longer the way forward. The major buyers are in a very dominant position and have handed all the benefits from price cuts to farmers on to the supermarkets."

Unable and unwilling to put up with low prices any longer, he investigated setting up his own dairy and bottling plant. "We were looking to do something in order to survive," he said.

"You cannot produce milk from grass on the North-East coast as well as you can on the South-West coast because of the climate, so we were looking for ways to add value or diversify."

Mr Stevenson contacted Business Link Tees Valley, which helped him gain £15,000 grant from the Department of Trade and Industry, believed to be the only DTI grant given to a farm in East Cleveland.

Endeavour Dairy has now been operating for two months and has created two full-time and two part-time jobs.

The 130-strong herd of Holstein Friesians produces 2,800 litres of milk a day. The farm has 1m litres of milk quota and what is not used for the milk rounds is sold to Zenith.

Roundsmen Mr Andrew Batchelor and Mr Dave Wildon deliver the milk to doorsteps in Hinderwell, Runswick Bay, Brotton, Easington, Loftus, Liverton and Moorsholm.

The milk is pasteurised and bottled on the farm each day. Skimmed, semi-skimmed and whole milk is sold in one-pint, one-litre and two-litre containers.

"We try to recycle glass bottles," said Mr Stevenson. "From an environmental point of view they are better than plastic containers. The bottle is a very recyclable item, but to be financially viable we have to have them returned and some areas are better than others for doing that."

The quality of the milk is assured, as are the crops that go into the cows' diet. "We use as much of our own home-produced feed as possible, silage, cereals and beans for protein," said Mr Stevenson.

Mr Ken Harrison of Business Link is impressed with the quality of the milk produced by Endeavour Dairy. "The milk is fresh, fully traceable, local and on the doorstep within 24 hours of leaving the cow," he said.

He helped Mr Stevenson reach the production standards required by the Environmental Health Department and ADAS and Redcar and Cleveland environmental health department advised on, and helped plan, the dairy.

Mr Stevenson is grateful for the help, but has some criticism of the general policy of how some schemes operate. "In North Yorkshire, for instance, there are grants for farm diversification yet there are none available in East Cleveland," he said.

Trout Hall, a 500-acre tenanted farm, is a mixed farm with arable, dairy cows and some beef. It employs two full-time and one part-time worker.

The logo adopted on the bottles and delivery vans reflect Mr Stevenson's family's long association with the area. It includes Guisborough Priory, in recognition of their long association with Guisborough grammar school. "All my uncles, father and grandfather went there," said Mr Stevenson.

He is pleased with the success of the dairy. "We have had a very positive response," he said. "It was a struggle to get the business off the ground and now we are looking to make a success of things."

He is concentrating on increasing milk sales and is in discussions with Business Link about producing their own traditional dairy ice cream on the farm.

Endeavour Dairy can be contacted on 01287 651784