FARMER Willie Campbell says he will do "whatever it takes" to keep his family farm going despite increasing financial pressure.

Mr Campbell, of Low Hole House farm in Galston, Ayrshire, is currently operating at a loss but believes the delayed payment from First Milk is not as big an issue as the overall drop in milk prices.

He said: "I'm incurring losses which no-one likes to do but I've spoken to the bank about the situation and I've rearranged expenditure, deferring payments so that we can try to work within our means.

"The delayed payment has not been as big an issue for us as the price drop. The drop in prices is causing major problems for farmers but the delay is a surmountable problem we can deal with and I take some comfort from the fact that, by doing this, First Milk is in a far better place.

"So for me, there's pain and there's gain."

Mr Campbell added that the downturn in milk has come about rapidly, with little warning to the industry.

"If this was a factory, we would be laying people off and considering shutting the place down", he said. "But this a family business - myself, my wife and my son work here and my father and grandfather ran the farm before me.

"It's not just my business, it's my family's business, it's my home. I'm attached to my cows as well.

"We will go to inordinate lengths to keep that in place and if that means making losses, taking no money out of the business of less than we should, then so be it.

"I'm willing to do whatever it takes to keep the place going."