The last two weeks of October have seen significant falls in milk supplies compared with the previous year and compared with the first two weeks of October.

For most processors, the first two weeks of October were consistent with previous months, an 8% to 10% increase compared with the previous year.

However, once the storm-force winds knocked out electrical power, especially in the south and east, milk supplies crashed dramatically.

Farmers switched to once-a-day milking as generators travelled between farms to power milking parlours and bulk tanks.

For the last two weeks, the west Cork co-ops are back as much as 20% compared with the first two weeks of October. Glanbia and Dairygold report similar supply reductions in parts of their catchment areas.

A spokesperson for Thurles Centenary said supplies were up 5% for the first 23 days but have dropped off dramatically in the last week.

Arrabawn reports monthly supply will be up compared with last year because the first half of the month was so good but since then some parts of the Arrabawn catchment area have been hit hard and bad weather has been the big factor.

In Kerry, October milk supply is still ahead of October 2016 by 7.5%, despite the strong winds. Milk supply is falling back and in the last week supply was up by just 5%. In the year to date, Kerry is up 5.4%.

The situation is very different in the Lakeland catchment area. Lakeland reports that supply is up 11% compared with the same month last year and the weather had minimal effect on milk supplies. Aurivo reports little or no storm impacts on supply and expects October supplies to be up 13% week-on-week compared with the same period last year.

€20m hit in milk price

CSO statistics report that 500m litres were collected in October 2016. If the last two weeks of October fall 20% back on last year for over 60% of the milk pool, it suggests a lost output of over 50m litres.

At current milk prices, that’s a loss in output of close to €20m or €1,100 per farm for the 18,000 dairy farmers on average.

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