Having narrowly lost out to Lakeland Dairies in December, Tirlán/Fivemiletown is back at the top of the NI milk league for January supplies.

The co-op has now led our monthly analysis in four of the last five months and over that period has kept base price unchanged at 40.9p/l. Tirlán also pays a 3p/l winter bonus between October and February.

In January, Tirlán is the only processor to have paid over 47p/l to a 750,000l supplier, on alternate day collection, producing milk at NI average solids.

The average solids used in our calculations are those recorded by DAERA in January 2024, when butterfat averaged 4.27%, with protein at 3.29%, Lactose of 4.77%, SCC of 180 and TBC of 18.

Milk qualities are down on those used in the December league, when butterfat averaged 4.34% and protein 3.34%. With most processors leaving base prices unchanged, the reduction in milk quality has taken 0.23p to 0.45p/l off the final prices paid.

Second place

Behind Tirlán is Lakeland Dairies, with a final price of 46.67p/l, down 0.99p/l on the previous month.

Lakeland did keep prices unchanged at a starting point of 43.80p/l, however, a 0.65p/l loyalty payment, which applied to all milk produced by suppliers in 2024, is no longer applicable.

In addition, the Lakeland volume bonus is lower in January – a 50% increase in this bonus applies between September and December.

The Lakeland price in our January league is calculated using an A+B-C model. It is the first time this model has been used to calculate a Lakeland price in our league and follows on from confirmation that the majority of suppliers have opted to make the switch.

As highlighted on page 8, it has actually delivered a higher price for average suppliers when compared to the traditional increment approach.

Dale Farm

Just behind Lakeland is Dale Farm, with a price of 46.62p/l. NI’s largest co-op did hold its starting price at 44.8p/l, but the drop in milk quality takes over 0.4p/l off its final price paid.

Aurivo has slipped from third to fourth, with its winter bonus dropping from 3p/l to 2p/l in January.

At the bottom of the table, Strathroy has moved ahead of Leprino Foods. The Magheralin processor did add 1.5p/l to its base price, taking it to 42.25p/l, however, the 4p/l winter bonus paid in December doesn’t extend into January.

Rolling averages

Tirlán continues to lead our analysis of 12-month prices, having paid an average of 42.18p/l to a 750,000l producer over the last year.

Lakeland remains in second, however, Dale Farm has slipped to fourth, behind Aurivo, after the west of Ireland based co-op confirmed it is to make a 13th payment of 0.4p/l on all milk supplied in 2024. This payment is to be made alongside the February milk cheque and has been factored into our 12-month averages.

Pay-out

Shown in Figure 1 is our estimate of the payout to a 750,000l supplier for January milk, based on the actual butterfat and protein percentages notified to us by each processor. All positions are the same as in our main milk league analysis.