The rapidly expanding Pembrokeshire dairy farming sector has become a focus for milk producers exiting the industry in England.

Farmers giving up milk production or reducing herd numbers are transporting stock to Carmarthen Mart to be sold.

With the average price of freshly calved stock firming at £900 this week, the reasons are clear.

Huw Evans, livestock director for Bob Jones-Prytherch and Co, auctioneers at Carmarthen, said there was a big demand for dairy stock in the area.

"There are lots of new milking parlours being built. Farmers are expanding, there is a feeling that they have got to get bigger to justify their labour costs. We don't have sufficient stock in the area to meet their requirements.''

Bob Jones-Prytherch teamed up with Tetbury-based livestock auctioneers and valuers, Norton and Brooksbank, for recent sales at Carmarthen when nearly 300 cows from two herds from Hereford and Upton-on-Severn were sold.

"There was interest from local buyers and farmers had also travelled from those areas to bid,'' said Huw Evans.

Even the numbers coming to Carmarthen aren't enough to satisfy local demand. Over 100 cows were bought by one local producer when a large herd went under the hammer in Worcestershire last month.

Provisional results from the June 2004 agricultural census show that there was a 2% rise in the Welsh dairy herd.

Expansion aside, farmers are also building up numbers to fill their quotas. "Cows have had a rough time this autumn and are coming inside in not the best of condition. Producers are keen to fill their milk tanks again,'' said Huw Evans.

Next Monday (November 15th) a herd of 300 autumn calving cows owned by a producer in Lewes, Sussex, will be sold at Carmarthen.