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DEAR SIR: Many dairy farmers in Northern Ireland (NI) are not getting the hundreds, if not thousands, of pounds that they should be getting for producing good-quality milk. This is due to a totally unfair milk-pricing structure in NI, based on litres produced as opposed to the Republic of Ireland’s payment on solids. Indeed, 90% of the world’s milk is paid for on a component basis.
Most of the milk in NI is for export and goes into the same markets and often the same factories as the Republic’s milk, but anyone with good-quality milk in NI isn’t being rewarded for it by nearly as much as farmers in the Republic. What we need is a fair and transparent pricing structure that reflects what our milk is worth. So why do NI processors not make the change? It seems they are afraid to be the first to move and risk losing some producers of high-volume, low-quality milk. That means our money is being used to subsidise their milk prices. However, many high-volume dairy farmers also have good milk solids.
On a visit to the Montgomery brothers’ farm in Derry recently, I saw a farm producing almost 10,000l/cow, at 4.4% butterfat and 3.27% protein, on a grass and TMR diet. They would definitely benefit from a change towards milk component pricing. Longer term, there will also be benefits to the entire NI dairy industry, whether it is huge savings to the processors on transporting watery milk or less energy required to dry it. These fuel and energy savings will also help our environment. Overall, because of the payment system, milk solids in the Republic have increased much faster over the last 10 years than in NI, effectively adding value to milk. I would encourage NI producers to contact your milk processor and let them know it’s not OK to keep the status quo. Talk to them at their stands at the Balmoral Show. Otherwise, the processors will be happy to sit on their hands and farmers with poor-quality milk will just keep on taking your money.
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