Northern Ireland Milk Price Tracker

Conrod96

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Co. Antrim
Baled 15 acre yesterday not the driest stuff but glad it’s off the fields 20 acre left to zero graze and maybe 10 days grazing left for cows hopefully youngstock out a while yet out longer at this stage than they were last year all the same
 

daveydiesel1

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Co antrim
What do you mean farm dies slowly? Lack of investment?
Does investment inevitably mean expansion?
What are wise investments and which are just jumping on the treadmill of more work?
A farm improvement to make the job easier or safer is a wise investment such as fencing or a silage pusher up for example.
 

MrA.G.

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Northern Ireland
Not my writing below but I’d tend to agree. Any strong counter arguments?

To NI dairy farmers, a note on milk solids and milk price.
We hear talk on paying for milk solids and changing the payment structure. Some farmers are nervous about changing the way milk is paid for. They are worried about losing out.

Today we use a generation old model set up when milk was 18p. It could be 30 years old.
Broadly speaking Fat is worth 7.2p or so, and protein is worth about 11.3p = total of 18.5p (it varies slightly between the buyers)

This month Lakeland paid 29.9p for base quality milk to a 100,000 litre supplier.
That leaves a difference between quality and price of 11.4p.
This 11.4p is for producing volume, or water, which is of no value to your milk powder, cheese, butter and whey producing milk buyer.

Combined fat and protein payments are worth 18.5p/29.9p = 62%
You can conclude that additional milk quality over and above base is only getting 62% of its worth. Likewise, low quality producers are not getting penalised properly.

Why should we worry?

Because you as a farmer has been getting the signal that litres trumps quality, and now we have one of the lowest milk quality figures in Europe. This inevitably means a lower than average milk price. We're living on a lower milk price and will eventually become uncompetitive.

Now the price of gas is rocketing, and it costs more to dry low % milk, making the problem worse.

We need change, we need farmers to start thinking about this, and ask questions from their milk buyers.

We don't need A+B-C payments, its too much to go from volume bonuses to that

What we need at least is a new standard litre reflecting a mid point in our milk price cycle, (25-26p?) and fat and protein increments to be based on that price. We can talk then about a new milk pricing model.

And we need this soon.
 

Cowcorn

Member
Mixed Farmer
Not my writing below but I’d tend to agree. Any strong counter arguments?

To NI dairy farmers, a note on milk solids and milk price.
We hear talk on paying for milk solids and changing the payment structure. Some farmers are nervous about changing the way milk is paid for. They are worried about losing out.

Today we use a generation old model set up when milk was 18p. It could be 30 years old.
Broadly speaking Fat is worth 7.2p or so, and protein is worth about 11.3p = total of 18.5p (it varies slightly between the buyers)

This month Lakeland paid 29.9p for base quality milk to a 100,000 litre supplier.
That leaves a difference between quality and price of 11.4p.
This 11.4p is for producing volume, or water, which is of no value to your milk powder, cheese, butter and whey producing milk buyer.

Combined fat and protein payments are worth 18.5p/29.9p = 62%
You can conclude that additional milk quality over and above base is only getting 62% of its worth. Likewise, low quality producers are not getting penalised properly.

Why should we worry?

Because you as a farmer has been getting the signal that litres trumps quality, and now we have one of the lowest milk quality figures in Europe. This inevitably means a lower than average milk price. We're living on a lower milk price and will eventually become uncompetitive.

Now the price of gas is rocketing, and it costs more to dry low % milk, making the problem worse.

We need change, we need farmers to start thinking about this, and ask questions from their milk buyers.

We don't need A+B-C payments, its too much to go from volume bonuses to that

What we need at least is a new standard litre reflecting a mid point in our milk price cycle, (25-26p?) and fat and protein increments to be based on that price. We can talk then about a new milk pricing model.

And we need this soon.
Lakeland operate tha A +B -C system down here .
The print the standard litre price at 3 .6 Fat and 3.3 pr and then your price at your solids beside it
The contrast can be very stark
Currently im at 478 fat and 367 pr and i confess i cant tell me you what im getting a litre like Albert Reynolds im inclined to only pay attention to the last line on the milk statement what ended up in the bank account !!!
Moorepark research suggests that litre yield has only a 10 % bearing on profit per acre while solids has 18 .
The say this applies at moorpark and equally at Ballyhaise in Monaghan .
The amount of grass dm grown and utilised per acre is the route to high profits but as we all know mother nature can throw a wet or dry spanner in the works so nothing is constant .
I agree with you that with increasing oil and gas prices hauling and proccesing low solids milk will come under close scrutiny.
For those of us who milk cows through the winter for our sins my experience is that no matter how good grass silage is it has a negative effect on pr maize silage and fodder beet are the feeds to get the solids lift .
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 80 42.3%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 66 34.9%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 15.9%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 7 3.7%

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

  • 1,294
  • 1
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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