Milk output has fallen off a cliff over the last three weeks, with October deliveries back 10% to 15% on 2022.

Dairy processors have blamed the atrocious weather and low milk prices for the collapse in supplies.

Increased culling of cows due to the derogation changes has also contributed to the sharp drop in milk output.

“October volumes are around 10% lower than the same period last year,” a spokesperson for Tirlán said.

Year-to-date milk supply at Tirlán is around 1% behind 2022, they added. Dairygold’s milk supply is down 15% week-on-week compared to last year.

“This is primarily driven by poor weather conditions,” a Dairygold spokesperson told the Irish Farmers Journal.

Kerry Group said recent milk volumes were “markedly back on the same week last year”. Supplies are down just over 5% for the year to date.

Milk supplies were back 12% to 15% at the west Cork co-ops over the last three weeks, with Aurivo reporting a fall-off in deliveries of 5%.

Poor grass quality has contributed to the poor milk supply and yield problems, farmers and co-op staff maintained.

“The grass quality is not great. It just doesn’t have the punch,” one co-op official said.

He pointed out that grass dry matter digestibility was running at around 10% to 12% when it should be 15% to 20% for this time of the year.

As a consequence, grass “was running through cows”, he said.

Since it doesn’t pay farmers to feed on cows this autumn because of the low prices, the official claimed that milk yields had “nosedived” over the last three weeks.

Herds that would normally be yielding 13l to14l/cow/day are back around 30% to 10l to 11l/cow/day.

With ground conditions continuing to deteriorate, the general consensus is that farmers will dry off cows and house stock early this year.

There is also an expectation that the culling of cows will intensify over the coming weeks.