Holsteins sell for top price of £4,000 at Dungannon

Dairy cows sold to a top price of £4,000 at last week’s sale of pedigree Holstein cattle, conducted by Taaffe Auctions at Dungannon Mart.

The top price female was bred by the Haffey family from Lurgan.

Over 80 cows and heifers were sold to an average of £1,810 with a clearance rate of 99%.

Buyer demand was strong with farmers looking for quality milking stock to capitalise on rising milk prices.

In Ballymena Mart, the weekly dairy sale also saw an improved trade as buyer confidence grows.

Dairy cows sold to a top price of £1,960 from an entry of 84 animals, almost double the size of the previous week’s sale. Prices started at £1,214 with a sale average just over £1,600.

Glanbia and Fivemiletown pay 0.86p/l bonus

Glanbia Milk and Fivemiletown have confirmed that they have now paid suppliers in NI an additional 0.86p/l on all milk delivered from 1 January 2017 to 30 June.

The 0.86p/l payment is the sterling equivalent (exclusive of VAT) of the 1c/l paid to Glanbia suppliers in the Republic of Ireland.

For a 650,000-litre producer, the additional payment would amount to approximately £2,983 for milk supplied during the first six months of 2017. For a one-million-litre supplier, the payment increases to approximately £4,707.