Welsh Dairy Farmers Milk Area for Dates

By COURTNEY FRENCH

LONDON (AP) - Got milk? Got a date? A group of dairy farmers are putting single's ads on milk cartons in the hopes of finding Mr. or Mrs. Right in the far-flung countryside of Wales.

The novel approach to the singles' scene coincides with Thursday's celebration of St. Dwynwen's Day, the Welsh patron saint of lovers.
"My family thinks I'm nuts," said 30-year-old farmer Iwan Jones, who appears on the cartons and hasn't had a date in a year. "My friends think it's hilarious - but everyone's taking it with kind of a lighthearted attitude."

Three men and two women appear in the ads, which feature an oval photograph under the heading, "Fancy a farmer?" The address for a dating Web site, , is also written on the stickers for those who want to follow up. www.pishynwales.com

Since the ads appeared Monday, the site has received 2,500 hits, or about 10 times the usual daily traffic, said Aran Jones, who runs the nonprofit operation.

The ads are also a way of highlighting the low points of a dairy farmer's hard-scrabble existence in Welsh communities like Camarthenshire, where the cooperative is based 220 miles from London. Farmers say they often feel isolated among the verdant rolling hills dotted with medieval castles.

"It's a beautiful environment, but in terms of actually trying to meet somebody it's not particularly easy - especially when you have to wake up at 5 o'clock in the morning to milk cows," said the cooperative's director Richard Kerr, who is happily married and not pictured in the ads.

It's not just the hours, either. The farmers say many young people have left the farm to seek education and opportunity in the cities. So for Aran Jones, the ads are a way to try to "keep people in the Welsh countryside by helping them meet each other."
Iwan Jones, who owns a 250-acre farm and 100 cows in Denbighshire, 225 miles west of London, said he had received several messages through the Web site so far.

Though he doesn't expect to take anyone out just yet, he's open-minded about the kind of woman he'd like to meet, as long as she has a "good attitude about life."

Aran Jones said most of the Web site's new visitors are probably just starting to get a feel for it and deciding what to include in their online profiles. And no matter what, all the attention has been good for the dating site.

"It's like the first dance of the evening," Jones said.