Northern Ireland Milk Price Tracker

yin ewe

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Co Antrim
Is anyone on the spreadable butter with United? First year on it and has put buffterfats to 3.4. Is that normal, and do they rise sharply after the scheme end?

We are on in but our bf has stayed over 4 this year, normally goes down to 3.6. Not sure why other than the grass is fairly stemmy at the moment, will be going on to silage aftermath at the end of next week so might drop a bit. Normally recovers fairly quickly once you go onto normal nuts.
 

Happy at it

Member
Location
NI
Cheers, I know they said they'd be paying to 3.7 as a base but just thought it strange it went so very low. Maybe less of the dromona nut required.. just interesting to see how it works out going forward, only person I asked before trying it said they wouldn't do it again.
 

yin ewe

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Co Antrim
Cheers, I know they said they'd be paying to 3.7 as a base but just thought it strange it went so very low. Maybe less of the dromona nut required.. just interesting to see how it works out going forward, only person I asked before trying it said they wouldn't do it again.

We've been doing it more or less since it started, helps use a lot of milk during the peak time. Can't see us being any better off financially, but it's all about the greater good:rolleyes:.
Yous can thank me later.
 

jay

Member
Location
Co Down NI
Cheers, I know they said they'd be paying to 3.7 as a base but just thought it strange it went so very low. Maybe less of the dromona nut required.. just interesting to see how it works out going forward, only person I asked before trying it said they wouldn't do it again.
Ours has dropped to 3.2 this year, even buffer feeding hasn't lifted it. On the other hand the iodine value has stuck at 39-40. In other years we hit 42-43 & fat stayed above 3.6, they're milking better than ever this year that may be the cause. Without the 3.7 base it wouldn't be working for us this year, I'm not looking for a fortune out of it, taking product out of the commodity markets should help us all.
 

Davy

Member
Location
North NI
What protein % is the spreadable meal? Always hear the same about it being hard on fats. Would there be any fertility issues with it for not yet in calf cows? It's a good bonus if you get the iodine levels up and can keep the fat level sensible
 

jay

Member
Location
Co Down NI
What protein % is the spreadable meal? Always hear the same about it being hard on fats. Would there be any fertility issues with it for not yet in calf cows? It's a good bonus if you get the iodine levels up and can keep the fat level sensible
It was 18% before, this year it's 17. The oil level is high that's what pushes the fat down. It also means it's high energy which "should" help fertility, I'm not sure if it makes much difference one way or the other.
 

yin ewe

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Co Antrim
It’s pee poor
1 what are the excuses ?
2 what are their suggested remidies
3 why aren’t you all challenging them more ? Especially those on the co op boards.

Very poor, none of the buyers over here are outstanding with regards to price though. The only consolation for us atm is we have around 40% of our supply fixed on 27/28p, although not all producers signed up as milk price was higher when the deals were put on the table.
Anyway, if milk was 30p every Tom, Dick, Harry and Sally would start milking cows or stick another 50 cows through the parlour.
Nobody better at beating a farmer than another farmer.
 
Very poor, none of the buyers over here are outstanding with regards to price though. The only consolation for us atm is we have around 40% of our supply fixed on 27/28p, although not all producers signed up as milk price was higher when the deals were put on the table.
Anyway, if milk was 30p every Tom, Dick, Harry and Sally would start milking cows or stick another 50 cows through the parlour.
Nobody better at beating a farmer than another farmer.
That's all true but we cant simply depress the price of milk to try and run a closed shop on new milk production. Quotas were a very effective tool on how to control milk supplies and therefore price. It's all about governments ,cheap food and low inflation. They know you cant turn the tap off on farming overnight. We need self regulation but that wont last 5 mins because dairy farmers are greedy.........just ask your non dairy neighbours
Dump the milk for 1 week and see what happens. Milk perishabilty is it weakness but also its strength in that fresh milk would run out very quickly. Before some one says you first,I dont want to be the only one out of the trench to charge the machine gun and no one behind me. Pointless
 
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Mouser

Member
Location
near Belfast
You will NEVER (I don't often use capital letters) get dairy farmers to agree to dump milk, always someone to break ranks. Look what happened when fane valley/ ballyrashane etc offered an extra penny, it was every man for himself.
Definitely not when price is still ok for high quality milk on farms that aren't heavily invested. Not a long term solution but plenty of farms could kick on 15-20 years without heavy spending.
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

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Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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