Farmers in Cumbria are being tempted with the chance to start a new life in the United States.

A meeting will be held at the North Lakes Hotel, in Penrith, on Tuesday evening, when they will be told how they can move to South Dakota.

They will hear from James Ailsby, who has already sold his 50 cattle and is moving to the USA in March.

He says he will benefit from lower taxes, cheaper land, and more realistic prices for milk.

Dairy industry

Mr Ailsby is leaving his 80-acre farm in Holmes Chapel, Cheshire, to begin a new life in South Dakota.

He said: "When we saw how they treat their farmers in the US, and what a thriving industry dairy farming is over there, we had no doubts about going.

"I think the most impressive thing about South Dakota itself is that agriculture is still the number one industry in the state.

"They are very much behind it as an industry, from the top all the way down to local communities."

Extra cattle

The farmers are needed to help serve a new multi-million pound cheese factory that has opened in the American state.

Farmers are needed to rear the 65,000 extra cattle that will be needed to supply the mozzarella-making plant.

The South Dakota International Business Institute has been advertising in the UK farming media to try and attract dairy farmers.