WHEN first I began to cover the farming scene, only about three and a half years ago, I recall a senior Scottish Office civil servant telling me the boys who were really coining it were the dairy farmers, writes Robert Ross, Farming Editor.

''With the milk cheque coming in regularly every month it's as good as being on a salary,'' he said.

By comparison, incomes today are down about 40% and the milk sector is one of the most strident in demanding that the government should be pitching in with assistance.

A favourite line from Ministers is that this disastrous year follows hard on the heels of one or two very profitable years - therefore the industry should be able to ride out the storm.

The NFUS milk convener has dismissed that argument as ''pathetic''. The money from the good years was used to invest in upgrading systems to meet new quality standards, he says. Like good entrepreneurs producers ploughed profits back into the business and now they are suffering because the Government will not trigger the mechanisms which would compensate for the strength of sterling.

Whether you sympathise with the dairy sector or not you would have to accept that it is a bad time to be in the business of producing milk.

Those who are wondering which way to turn would have found little comfort in attending last week's Scottish Dairy Conference.

Most of the keynote speakers were agreed that quotas would have to go in time and farmers should look to the world market, where current prices are 11p a litre, about 5p or 6p less than our producers get just now. That prospect may be all right for the big players but it is little wonder that Scottish Milk chairman John Duncan pointed out such talk was enough to induce a weakening of the bowels among those operating on a smaller scale.

Ian Gardiner, policy director of the English NFU, recalled that he had been in at the beginning of the milk quota system and hoped also to be around to witness its demise.