The CEOs of the 10 largest dairy co-ops in Ireland held a crisis teleconference on Wednesday to finalise emergency plans to ensure Irish milk continues to be processed during the weeks of peak milk supply, which are fast approaching.

Co-ops are forecasting peak milk supply in 2020 could be as high as an unprecedented 250m litres per week, meaning there would be as little as 1% to 2% spare processing capacity during these weeks.

HSE modelling on the spread of the coronavirus and the probability that employee absentee rates will rise as they await test results or are forced to self-isolate, co-ops believe it’s highly likely there will be “material disruption” to throughput at key processing locations in the coming weeks.

Co-ops are finalising emergency plans for their processing sites based on an absentee rate as high as 50%.

Heaven and earth

Dairy Industry Ireland (DII) director Conor Mulvihill said the industry would move “heaven and earth” to ensure milk would continue to be processed and that discussions were ongoing with State agencies and other partners to draw up plans for milk processing in a worst-case scenario.

The Irish Farmers Journal understands Northern Ireland milk processor Strathroy has offered to help process excess milk during the peak, while the three infant formula companies operating in Ireland – Danone, Wyeth (Nestlé) and Abbott – have also indicated they would be able to help.

“This is a national issue not confined to any one co-op. The spread of the coronavirus has resulted in enormous logistical efforts to safely collect milk even prior to the peak period,” said Mulvihill.

“As this crisis deepens, our concern is escalating because of the growing potential for employees working in milk processing sites to contract the virus, which may cause a production line or even a full factory to go down. We have seen processing difficulties reported by our colleagues in Italy, Croatia and France.”

In a worst-case scenario, dairy farmers may be asked by co-ops to restrain milk supply at peak, which could take the form of once-a-day milking, reducing feed supplementation or feeding milk to calves.