This is a subscriber-only article
I was with a group in Fermanagh last week and I was well impressed with the openness and honesty of the farmers as they discussed the best barometer of efficiency.
Many were upset that the milk price signal to the farmer still pushes for volume rather than solids.
Correctly, they suggest milk solids is better for the farmer and the processor. Milk produced per farm or per hectare and profit per hectare will be the best measure in a no-quota environment.
The best financial measure of efficiency for high-input farms is again profit per farm. Inefficient producers have a figure greater than 0.3kg of meal per litre of milk produced, meaning for every 1,000 litres produced they are feeding over 300kg of meal.
In Northern Ireland, another barometer used is milk from forage and benchmarking results suggests a figure of over 2,500 litres from forage should be the target. We need to get more specific and aim for milk from grazing rather than forage.
SHARING OPTIONS: