David Handley needs to raise �275m

Mr Handley said struggling dairy farmers would get better prices if the milk distribution company was in their control.

Dairy Crest controls nearly 30% of liquid milk sales in Britain.

It became a private company when the Milk Marketing Board broke up in1987 but, with milk returns under 20p a litre, Mr Handley says farmers should raise the �275m to take control.

One difficulty is that although farmers already own a third of Dairy Crest shares, takeover rules mean they would have to buy out the whole company.

Job losses

Back in January, the Dairy Crest Food group announced it would close its operations in Cardiff and Carmarthen with a loss of 545 jobs.

But it also announced plans to create 175 jobs at the Maelor creamery in Marchwiel, near Wrexham, where it is investing �10m.

Five processing plants across the UK were earmarked for closure, with the total loss of around 800 jobs as the company creates a �39m "super dairy" - and more than 300 new jobs - at Severnside in Gloucestershire.

The development will be the biggest operation of its kind in Britain.

Dairy Crest controls nearly 30% of milk sales in Britain

Dairy Crest is second only to Express Dairies plc in the UK liquid milk market after its �250m purchase of Unigate's diary and cheese business last year.