August and September sees fat and protein levels in milk rise to higher levels, which are maintained into the October to December period.

The figures in September for all milk in Northern Ireland are likely to be at least 4% for butterfat and around 3.35% for protein.

In our league for September, we have used fats of 4.02% and proteins of 3.38%, which are up by 0.1% points in each case compared with August.

The calculations show that Glanbia Milk and Fivemiletown, whose milk is purchased by Glanbia, are top of the league with milk prices of 19.5p/litre for milk collected on alternate days.

Milk collected every day is priced at 0.26p/l lower, at 19.24p/l, given the higher transport costs for daily collection, but this will apply to only a few producers at this time of year.

The calculations are for base prices, which in September were unchanged from August levels.

The other companies in the league also have unchanged prices. The one exception is Dale Farm Red Tractor where 0.3p/litre was shaved off the September price. However, the price paid is good enough to leave Dale Farm Red Tractor in third position in the league at 19.19p/litre.

Over 90% of the milk purchased by United Dairy Farmers is now classed as and paid for as Dale Farm Red Tractor.

The other company above 19p is Aurivo with a price of 19.08p. This leaves Lakeland Dairies, Glanbia Cheese, Fane Valley and the newly constituted LacPatrick in a range from 18.65p/litre to 18.95p/litre.

Good base price

As indicated in the August milk league, Strathroy Dairy is offering a good base milk price and, for September, it has held its base price at 20.5p/litre. With quality adjustments and a deduction for transport, its price is just over 21.5p/litre which is 2p/litre above the Glanbia Milk price.

LacPatrick

LacPatrick is the new company formed by the amalgamation of Town of Monaghan and Ballyrashane co-ops and it started milk purchases on 1 September. In addition to the prices shown in our league for LacPatrick, it is approving suppliers as Red Tractor certified and paying a Red Tractor bonus of 0.3p/litre.

To date, it has 200 approved, with more in the pipeline. Bigger producers can also earn bigger volume bonuses. These payments, plus Red Tractor, would add 0.4p to the LacPatrick prices shown in the league, pushing prices up to 19.05p/litre.

The prices in the League are for a supplier with 650,000 litres of milk in a year. They are based on milk with the average NI seasonality pattern and with 3.38% protein, 4.02% butterfat, 4.60% lactose, a total bacterial count (TBC) of 18,000 and somatic cell count (SCC) of 185,000.

Quality counts for financial benefits

One farm in Co Down demonstrates the financial benefits of high milk quality. This father-and-son operation took the deliberate decision a number of years ago to use Jersey and New Zealand Friesian genetics on their herd of Holsteins to breed a smaller, hardier cow with better quality milk.

Butterfat for August 2015 milk was 4.71% and it was 4.91% for September. Protein was 3.76% for August and 3.94% for September. In their milk buyers’ quality payment scheme, these results add almost 4p/litre to their milk price in August and over 5p/litre in September. Given the current low levels of milk base prices, these quality premiums are a major boost in the milk cheque, giving a milk price that helps cover the costs of production.

Rolling average prices for the 12 months to September 2015 (Tables A and B) are down by 0.6p/litre compared with a month earlier. This is mostly due to the base prices in September 2015 being 8p/litre below the prices in September 2014.

The best companies in the leagues vary depending on milk quality. For good quality milk, Glanbia Milk and Fivemiletown are the leaders with prices of 23.34p for the 350,000-litre a year producer and 23.54p for the one million-litre producer.

After that, it’s the other southern-based producers who rank well – Lakeland, Aurivo, LacPatrick and Glanbia Cheese – leaving Dale Farm Red Tractor and Fane Valley in their wake.

For average quality and below-average quality milk, the leader is Lakeland Dairies with 22.11p for the small producer and 22.38p for the large producer, ahead of Glanbia Cheese and Fivemiletown.

Aurivo does well for below-average quality milk. The other southern-based companies again do well and are ahead of Dale Farm Red Tractor and Fane Valley for both qualities.

Note that the LacPatrick average price is based on 11 months of Town of Monaghan prices and one month of LacPatrick prices when Monaghan and Ballyrashane started trading as LacPatrick on 1 September.