Farmers in certain parts of the country will face a feed price rise this week as co-ops and feed processors confirmed that prices are going up by between €10/t and €20/t.

Kerry Group confirmed that its feed prices would be increasing by €20/t for dairy ration and €15/t for beef ration. Glanbia also confirmed that its prices had gone up by €10/t since 27 August and it hoped feed prices would remain stable until the year-end.

The €10/t Dairygold subsidy that was in place to alleviate pressure during the drought period concluded at the end of September, meaning the co-op has reverted to its original price list. A spokesperson confirmed that it is currently reviewing prices.

In contrast, feed mills such as Grennan’s Feeds, Liffey Mills and Roches Feeds all stated that they weren’t increasing prices for the medium term, but it is understood that a number of other feed mills are increasing prices this week.

The summer drought caused a surge in feed demand and some 1,500 Glanbia members signed up to their extended credit scheme. Kerry and Dairygold also imported large volumes of fodder with Dairygold distributing over 1,000t of Italian alfalfa.

However, the impact of the drought is still visible with Glanbia tweeting this week that it had sold over 500,000t of feed for the first time by September.

The high feed demand was reflected by a number of feed mills. “Demand is higher than this time last year but the lunacy of July and August has gone out of it,” head of Liffey Mills, Pat Ryan said.

Grain intake was affected by weather conditions and Glanbia and Dairygold both confirmed that grain intake in 2018 was down. “There are a number of factors that impacted volumes which include later sowing due to poor spring conditions and reduced yields generally,” a spokesperson for Dairygold said.

Summer feed bills are a serious concern for many farmers and Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed told an Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture this week that he was in early discussions with the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (SBCI) on a measure to assist farmers with merchant credit.

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