The Dealer has been assured by one of Lee Strand’s suppliers that the co-op is “squeaky clean” regarding the milk quota it made available to west Cork suppliers. The supplier, who watched events unfold with great interest, said the Tralee co-op first got the brainwave of leasing out unused quota last year. “However, by then it was too late for the March 2014 year,” he said.

There wasn’t the required three months’ official notice left for members of any other co-op to become dual suppliers to Lee Strand and thereby qualify for its plentiful flexi milk, so Lee Strand instead offered its unused quota in this, the final quota year.

It first went to its closest neighbour, but “the Kerry [Co-op] boys ran a mile”, the supplier said.

It was then offered to west Cork suppliers via an ICMSA intermediary, who has since retired. However, by this stage, only suppliers who were still under quota could transfer the token amount of their west Cork quota over to Lee Strand and be registered as Lee Strand suppliers.

“So it was farmers who were under quota who got the flexi milk. The hard cases couldn’t get it.”

The Lee Strand man said that he and his fellow suppliers have been farming in a bubble of their own.

“We’re operating in a non-quota environment for a good few years. We’re not capable of filling our quota.”

Lee Strand now has some 70 suppliers and a 25m litre milk pool. Some suppliers finished the year over quota but had access to as much flexi milk as they wanted. That left Lee Strand able to give about 300,000 litres of flexi milk quota to suppliers in Lisavaird and Barryroe, and it charged them 9.5c/l. That came to only about €30,000.

Small or not, suppliers are wondering why it’s not going directly to them.

“The farmers on the ground are a bit disgruntled as they’ve got nothing. It’s gone into the coffers of the co-op. They’re making a bit of noise now,” the supplier told The Dealer.

Despite having only 70 milk suppliers, Lee Strand has 115 employees and significant debts from property adventures.

Lisavaird

Back in west Cork, seven Lisavaird suppliers leased the Lee Strand quota – three of them board members. Of those three, chair Donal Tobin has resigned while the other two apologised to Monday night’s meeting of suppliers in the Fernhill House Hotel, accepting that the optics were wrong. Other board members then called out to individual suppliers to steady the ship.

Concerned Barryroe suppliers called a meeting in Timoleague last week but were sent home with their tails between their legs. They were told they were begrudgers and to “go home and milk their cows”.

Nobody in the co-op was answering their phones this week.