There is big re-ranking in the Milk League for December, with the inclusion of unconditional out-of-season payments for Tirlán and Centenary Thurles. This has pushed these two co-ops from division three in November to the top of division one for December.

With the out-of-season bonuses remaining for January and February, expect to see them in division one for the next few months.

You don’t need to be a cynic to know that the milk price paid in December and January doesn’t have a big bearing on the overall price paid for the year.

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There is only a little over 3% of the annual volume produced in December, so it has little impact on the cumulative figure.

Most of the co-ops cut the price of milk in December, with the four west Cork’s, Kerry, Lakeland, Boherbue, Aurivo and North Cork, all cutting price.

Tirlán and Dairygold were the only ones to retain base price, but in real terms they actually paid more, because the VAT rate has been cut from 5.1% to 4.5%. This means that the top-up from the Government has reduced, with unfortunate timing. This VAT add-on to milk price is designed to compensate flat-rate farmers for having to pay VAT on inputs.

Some years it goes up and some years it goes down. Even though it is being paid on December supplies the VAT rate change kicks in now as it is paid in January. Arratipp, the new name for Arrabawn Tipperary Co-op, cut the base price but added in an out-of-season bonus to balance the difference so there is no real change in price. Last year the Tipperary-based co-op paid a winter bonus in December, January and February.

Aurivo, Kerry Dairy Ireland, Lakeland and North Cork find themselves in division three for December.

At this stage it’s familiar territory for North Cork suppliers, who have been in division three for most of the year and unsurprisingly have received the lowest cumulative payment.

Lakeland Dairies has dropped from division two to division three for December. While it cut its base price for December by 39c/kg MS, the conditional out of season payments are excluded this month. Most suppliers won’t receive this flat rate 6c/l payment, as they don’t supply 40% of their May milk volume in December.

The price for Lakeland includes the 0.029c/l excluding VAT top-up for 2025 supplies. It remains to be seen what other co-ops will pay a top-up. Tirlán has come out to say that it will not, but the west Cork co-ops, Dairygold, North Cork, Aurivo and Kerry usually do a top-up payment.

See more on cumulative supplies on page 33.