Base milk prices in NI have broken the 40p/l threshold for the first time in 18 months following a 3p/l increase from Dale Farm.

Adding in the co-op’s 0.3p/l loyalty bonus, the Dale Farm base rises to 41.3p/l for August, making it the highest starting price, excluding winter bonus payments, since February 2023.

August is also the first month that payments have been issued under the co-op’s milk realignment scheme.

Under the criteria, farmers receive 4p/l on all additional litres supplied every month from August 2024 to January 2025 over the average monthly volume for the same period in 2021 to 2023. According to the co-op, August supply was up 2.5%, so the incentive was worth an additional 0.37p/l to its average supplier.

Higher increments

Dale Farm has also outlined the next phase in its financial incentives to reward suppliers for improving milk quality.

The current payments were rolled out in April 2022 as part of a three-year programme to encourage higher solids.

Following the latest review, from 1 April 2025, Dale Farm will increase its protein payment from 0.048p/l to 0.062p/l, while butterfat rises from 0.031p to 0.038p/l. For a farmer supplying 750,000 litres annually at the NI average of 4.18% butterfat and 3.32% protein, assuming no change to solids and a standardised base price, the higher increments boost milk sales by £2,025.

Super hygiene

An additional “super hygiene bonus” will be introduced by the co-op in January 2025 and pays 0.3p/l for milk produced at, or below, 30 Bactoscan and 100 SCC. The new increments and new hygiene bonus will both be reviewed on an annual basis.

Other prices

Of the processors to set a price for August, Dale Farm is out in front.

Leprino Foods and Aurivo both opted for a 1p/l increase to their respective base prices, which brings Leprino Foods to 38.25p/l, with Aurivo moving up to 39.15p/l.

Strathroy also went up 1p/l, taking base price to 40p/l, while Tirlán added 2p/l, taking its price to 39.65p/l. Last week, Lakeland announced a 1p/l increase to 38.3p/l.

A full analysis of August prices will be published in next weeks’ NI milk league.

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