To use a summer cycling analogy, Arrabawn Co-op has retained the yellow jersey by paying the highest milk price in June at €7.36/kg milk solids or 52.78c/l excluding VAT at base solids.

Arrabawn has taken over from Dairygold who won the king of the mountains stage by leading the milk league in May.

However, in overall classification as measured by the cumulative payout column to date in the main table, Dairygold still leads the way followed by Aurivo.

I was always fascinated by the beauty of the countryside during the Tour de France and the steely resilience of the riders.

Peaks and troughs

Like the dedicated bike riders, milk suppliers see through the monthly peaks and troughs and are now, more than ever, concerned with where the annual cumulative payment lies.

To be fair and transparent to all co-ops and to minimise assumptions, we are of course only comparing base prices.

It means some are not getting credit for conditional bonuses such as a bonus for milk under 200,000 SCC.

The west Cork co-ops didn’t jump as high in June milk price and settled at a 2c/l lift in base price which means they drop down the pecking order for June.

Those co-ops at the back of the Peloton didn’t do themselves any favours to try and rise through the ranks.

Kerry lifted by 1.9c/l excluding VAT and Tipperary Co-op by 1.4 c/l.

They were already out the back of the field for May, so it means they are losing touch with the main bunch and the gap has widened to almost 2c/l to those at the top. That’s not as big a problem in November or December, when supply is a dribble, but in June it’s hard to make up the gap.

So while Kerry entertained the Sam Maguire in Naas, they didn’t do much to keep milk suppliers happy. Already, I hear calls for a summer top-up. A sort of celebration for having to mind Sam for 2022.