Only 55% of the milk supplied to Dairygold is from milk-recorded herds and Dairygold would like to encourage farmers to move this to 100% over coming years.

Both Munster AI and Progressive Genetics supply the milk recording service in the Dairygold catchment region.

Similarly, Dairygold is offering a bonus for herdowners who participate in herd health bulk milk screening.

At the moment, only 25% of Dairygold suppliers participate in the bulk milk herd health screening service that is offered to farmers.

So what’s changing?

The co-op is moving an existing 0.5 c/l milk quality bonus to 0.65 c/l by including two new aspects – milk recording (0.1 c/l) and a herd health (0.05 c/l) bonus.

Dairygold is calling this a sustainability bonus in an effort to improve the sustainability of the Dairygold milk production base as a healthy, productive herd will deliver more milk solids and in general be more efficient.

The numbers might sound small (0.1 c/l milk recording bonus) but when you round it up for a typical 100-cow herd delivering 550,000 litres per year, the bonus is €550.

This effectively can be put against the cost of milk recording which is €1,150 (own meters with assistance) or €900 for those farms using the Tru-Test DIY milk recording. I understand the cost of milk recording has been frozen for two years by Munster AI.

All this means that milk recording comes in at a lower net cost (down 45% to 57%) to the supplier. On the herd health bonus for the 100 cow herd, the 0.05 c/litre comes to €275 per 100 cows.

The gold package for the herd health screening test costs €349, so the net cost to the supplier is €74.

Dairygold is keen to get the additional benefits of milk recording and better herd health status across to suppliers and on Friday this week in Corrin Mart is holding a forum to discuss the milk payment change and other potential benefits for suppliers.