Dairygold Co-op announced this week that any future milk price top-ups, year-end bonuses or feed rebates will only be paid in full to those suppliers that make purchases with the co-op that exceed 6c/l in 2025.

Suppliers that spend less than 6c/l with the co-op will only receive 50% of the top-ups.

In 2023, Dairygold paid a 0.48c/l (excluding VAT) top-up to annual milk supply, while in 2022 it retrospectively paid out 0.95c/l (excluding VAT).

For a typical supplier with 100 cows, these top-ups were worth €2,400 (excluding VAT) in 2023 and €4,750 (excluding VAT) in 2022.

From next year, if a 100-cow supplier with 500,000l of milk spends less than €30,000 per year on inputs at Dairygold, they will only receive 50% of any top-up payments.

These changes are in addition to the bonus or patronage share scheme issued to co-op members for supplying milk or buying inputs at the co-op.

Meanwhile, Dairygold has increased the amount of money it will pay out in its Grassroots sustainability scheme.

From next year, a total of 1c/l is available to suppliers who undertake all the measures, including purchasing protected urea from the co-op.

This is up from the current figure of 0.75c/l. The new measures for 2025 include one-to-one training with a water quality adviser and a payment for improved dairy and beef genetics.