Southern milk producers Dairygold, Kerry and the west Cork co-ops all estimate they will be back on February supplies relative to last year.

Our estimates suggest Dairygold will be back 5% for the month, while Kerry estimates it will be back 14%. Each of the west Cork co-ops supplying Carbery are back in the region of 4%. Glanbia bucked the trend, with supplies up 1%. The lower figures reflect a later start to calving and a knock-on effect from extreme weather in 2018.

The west and northern midlands all show estimated improvements for February supplies. Lakeland Dairies is up 5%, Arrabawn up about 2% and Aurivo up about 8%. CSO stats show 280m litres of milk were collected in February 2018. If our tallies are correct, February 2019 supplies will end up about 3% to 4% lower at 10m to 12m litres.