With dairy farmers experiencing cuts in the region of 10c/l since August, The Dealer heard a snippet of conversation at Dairy Day, which showed just how adaptable farmers are when the pressure comes on.

I wasn’t privy to the back of an envelope calculations but the gist of it was, a €300 calf was worth 5c/l or 6c/l to a cow producing 5,500l.

With falling milk prices could we see dairy farmers divert milk from processors to their calves instead in order to recoup some income for themselves?

The high value of beef calves in the US is resulting in more dairy cows being bred to beef sires and is said to be a contributing factors to a global glut of milk.

The day of the mixed farmer mightn’t be gone just yet.