THE tumbling price of milk has forced an Oxfordshire farm to auction off its herd of cows ending a century of dairy production.

For three generations, Elm Farm, at Stratton Audley near Bicester, has produced milk. But the sight of dairy cattle at the farm will now be a thing of the past,

Herdsman Robin Davis, said he was sad to see the herd at the parish's only dairy farm go.

The father-of-four has been working on the farm for more than 60 years, getting up at the crack of dawn to pull an estimated 64 million pints of milk over the years.

He said: "The milk prices have just got so low, farmers can no longer make the money to cover costs.

"I started on the farm in 1954, age 15, when I left school, and have been here ever since. I just like my job.

"I packed up full-time milking about four or five years ago after having both my knees replaced but have been looking after the cows.

"It is a bit wrenching to see them go, to be honest.

"It has been my life and the kids are sad too as they have grown up on the farm."

An auction was hosted at the Mill Road farm last month, where most of the herd was sold off excluding the calves.

Owner Simon Goss said the dairy farm had been considering the prospect of selling off the milking side of the business for the past six months but hoped it could still run into next year.

The third generation farmer said: "It was down to many factors that we had to make the decision, but the low milk prices was the final straw.

"We've always felt that that falling prices are down to the money not getting back to farmers.

"The supermarkets make sure their profits are covered but we are the ones that suffer always at the bottom of the pile."

According to AHDB Dairy, a not-for-profit organisation which monitors the farming industry, the average producer milk price has fallen from 31.61 pence per litre in 2013 to 21.42 so far in 2016.

In has fallen to that figure from 24.42 pence per litre in the past year alone.

National Farmers' Union (NFU) has been urging people to buy British to help with the ever-present milk crisis. Last year figures showed there were 42 dairy farms still in Oxfordshire, down from 57 in August 2010.

NFU spokeswoman Isobel Bretherton said: "This is a tough year for dairy farmers; it has been unprecedented.

"The problem at the heart of it is the global glut of milk, which has unfortunately dragged down prices.

"The EU has put forward a fund of €150m for farmers to reduce production, but it is a terrible situation and dairy farmers have been going out of business left, right and centre."