All six players in the bottom half of the league last month lifted milk price for June. The rest held the same. Some of the processors have termed the lift a drought bonus – others just lifted the base price.

Call it what you like – the net effect is on average the bottom six in the May league lifted June price significantly by 0.16c/kg MS (1.3 c/l). Glanbia led the way with the 0.26c/kg MS (2c/l) price increase and it pushes them up behind Dairygold for June towards the top of division two.

Kerry was leapfrogged by all the lower players last month so now it ranks back down in division three with LacPatrick. Drinagh Co-op (West Cork Carbery) held on to top spot marginally ahead of the other Carbery suppliers. Given the significant feed cost increases on dairy farms, there will be big pressure on board members to hold or further increase milk price for July.

Monthly league versus KPMG/IFJ annual review

I’ve received some questions about the milk price comparisons following the publication of the annual prices compared to the monthly milk league and what some farmers thought were surprises.

Let’s be clear – in the monthly league we rank the prices at a standardised fat and protein on euro per kilo milk solids. To help understand this, the column beside that has the price in cents per litre again at a standardised protein and fat of 3.3% and 3.6%. Yes, the actual price paid by the co-op will be different as the fat and protein delivered will be different, the milk quality bonuses or other conditional bonuses and penalties will be in addition to the base price.

Some co-ops have fixed milk price schemes which could be higher or lower than the base price. Our league allows a comparison of base milk prices and unconditional bonuses on a monthly basis at standardised fat and protein.

The KPMG/IFJ review price shows the price at the actual fat and protein (not standardised) so those co-ops that get better fat and protein will rank higher and all bonuses (conditional and unconditional) get included. To understand how it is calculated, take the total pot of money and divide by the total volume of milk collected to get a cent/litre figure.