Heavy showers have been very frequent around here for the last few weeks with cows getting unsettled again when asked to graze out paddocks tightly.

Summer rain is always a bonus in these parts but roadways and gaps are starting to unravel a bit, especially when the cows decide to stage a protest around the entrance to the paddocks. The broken weather looks like continuing for another few days at least which will make it very difficult to graze out and set paddocks up properly for the back end of the year.

Grass has continued to grow well all year on the other hand, but utilisation is the issue again this week.

Cows have started to slide a bit already with yield dropping closer to the 20-litre mark every collection.

This usually means that protein would be rising at this time of year, but so far this year the protein is stubbornly refusing to pass the 3.6% mark. The weather is holding it back this week, but all summer it’s been running behind the last couple of years.

While protein may not be hitting the levels that we would like, the overall production from the herd this year has been exceptional.

We have 310kg of solids sold per cow up to the end of July and hopefully we can get close to 500kg delivered to the co-op by the end of the year.

We are stocked at three cows to the hectare this year so that would give us 1,500kg of solids sold per ha on the milking platform. We will push this on a small bit next year with a stocking rate of 3.2 cows/ha and hopefully push beyond 1,600kg solids sold per ha.

It would be great if we could get paid properly for all of these kg of milk and milk solids going out the gate every year.

We are continually asked by our processors and our Government both in Europe and at home to jump through various sustainability, environmental and quality assurance hoops to get our milk collected, processed and sold.

We are told at every conference that we produce 18% of the world’s infant formula, we have the lowest carbon footprint per kg of milk solids in the world, we have cows out to grass at least 250 days a year in most cases and we have some great brands that are selling for a huge premium in lucrative European markets. So where is the reward for Irish dairy farmers?

According to the Irish Farmers Journal, Glanbia paid a measly 22.9c/l of a base price for our milk in 2016. This was 5c/l lower than Fonterra in New Zealand and 11c/l lower than the confinement systems in the US.

This is basically a skim milk powder price, but what we’d all like to know is where is the cream going?

Are all our value-add products and brands financing Mercs and perks or are our sales people in far off lands just not that bothered about the lowly farmer and his cow back in Ireland that effectively pays all the bills.

This year will be no different.

Scale

We will be paid as little as possible for our milk, we will get a few vague promises about scale and efficiencies coming down the line. We will put up more stainless steel and though we won’t be charged for it, we will definitely pay for it. We will produce and process a third of the country’s milk at over 2bn litres in the fastest-growing region in the country.

We will use plc share sales to finance some of it but whatever we do we won’t get ahead of ourselves in terms of milk price.

Just enough to keep the meters turning on the backs of the trucks.