Ireland remains on course to handle record milk volumes this year, with supplies to the main processors running 4.5% to 7% ahead of 2024 on a year-to-date basis.

The latest data from the industry shows that milk supplies for the year are running 6% ahead of 2024 in Aurivo, Tirlán and Kerry Dairy Ireland.

Lakeland Dairies stated that supplies are around 6-7% ahead of last year, while Dairygold is up 4.5% on 2024.

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September milk supplies were up 5-6% on last year at Lakeland Dairies, up 4% in Tirlán, up 3% in Aurivo and up 1.5% in Dairygold.

The recent milk price cuts – which have seen base quotes drop by as much as 10c/l (VAT inclusive) since spring – have had little impact on deliveries.

Dairygold’s milk volumes are running 9% ahead of 2024 on a week-on-week basis.

Week-on-week supplies are up 6-7% on 2024 levels at Lakeland Dairies, up 5% in Aurivo and up 2.5% in Kerry Dairy Ireland. Given the current supply patterns, it now seems likely that total milk intakes will be up around 5% on last year.

Since the overall volume of milk processed in 2024 was 8.43 billion litres, a 5% increase on this supply will take this total to 8.85 billion litres.

This is 0.3% ahead of the previous record milk supply of 8.82 billion litres which was processed in 2022.

However, this year’s milk supply came off a significantly smaller herd than in 2022. While the Irish dairy herd numbered 1.63m cows in 2022, the latest figures from the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation put the number of dairy cows at 1.56m – a drop of 70,000 cows.

Feed prices

The increased milk supplies this year have been attributed to strong prices through the first half of the year and excellent grass growth.

Relatively low feed prices have also helped to drive milk supply. In fact, feed mills report continued strong demand for ration from dairy customers, despite the recent milk price reductions.

“At a base of 40c/l, solids are pushing the actual milk price over 50c/l, which means the relativities between milk price and feed costs at €320-340/t are still working in the farmer’s favour,” one merchant explained.

However, he predicted that most farmers would dry off cows in early November this year. “We’re on the last rodeo at the moment in terms of dairy ration,” he said.