The March milk league table published below reflects the end of the relatively consistent milk prices we have had over the last couple of months. Milk price cuts announced by processors over the last week (see Table 1 on facing page) are for April milk in the main.

The Aurivo early-calving bonus on all March milk supplied dropped from 1.5 to 1.4 c/litre, but it wasn’t enough to knock the co-op off top spot for the March milk league. Arrabawn is in second place, continuing a good run of prices, followed closely by Town of Monaghan, which, like Aurivo, has an early-calving bonus on January, February and March supplies.

The Monaghan base price for March is 30.5c/litre for March but there is a 1.4c/litre plus VAT bonus on top of that for all March supplies and hence it puts them right up there towards the top.

The top three are followed closely by the four west Cork co-ops that make up the balance of Division 1.

Glanbia, Dairygold and Lakeland mix it up with some of the smaller co-ops in Division 2. The Glanbia base price for March was 29.5c/litre but the Co-op top-up of 1c/litre lifted the price to 30.5 c/litre. There was a milk solids accounting error in the North Cork price for the February league and it should have been in Division 2, where it is now, in the March table. Kerry has Division 3 all to itself for March.

Clarification and explanation

The Town of Monaghan early-calving bonus is unconditional and is paid on all supplies for January, February and March. The Aurivo bonus is also unconditional and paid on all milk supplied. North Cork milk solids in February league were not updated from January milk solids and the price for February was 30.5 c/litre.

On top of the strong milk league price, the four co-ops in the Carbery group pay a bonus of 0.5c/litre for milk with an SCC of below 200,000 during the summer months – this is not included in the milk league ranking because it’s not paid to everyone. Conditional bonuses are not included in the monthly milk league but the west Cork co-ops would get the benefit of any money paid out on this to farmers in the KMPG/Irish Farmers Journal annual milk review. Similarly Tipperary co-op have a 3 c/litre February bonus that depends on May supply. They don’t get credit for that in this monthly milk league but will get credit for money paid out in the KPMG/IFJ milk league.

The Irish Farmers Journal milk league ranks processors on the price paid for a kilogramme of milk solids, using the average milk fat and protein for last year (3.99% fat and 3.43% protein) in the calculations. For a typical supplier, the impact of the milk league price gaps on March receipts is shown in Figure 1.

The March milk league is based on milk with a somatic cell count (SCC) of 300,000 and TBC of 50,000. From 1 April (next month’s), the milk league will move to a base SCC of 250,000 and 30,000 TBC. Conditional bonus payments (not paid to all suppliers) are excluded in the main milk league ranking, although they are shown in the column to the right of the main table and included in Figure 2.