The positive news is that Kerry found the reserves to push payment up for May milk supply and this lifted them to the lofty heights towards the top of division two. It’s a long time since Kerry reached such a price relative to the other players – what can we expect when they get to Croke Park?

Dairygold held price, keeping them in the game towards top of division two also. The west Cork co-ops reduced April price by 0.14c/kg MS for May but still remain top of the league.

Unfortunately, the rest settle either side of €4/kg MS (shy of 29c/l ex-VAT at 3.3% protein and 3.6% fat). Lakeland dropped a top-up of 1.5c/l, LacPatrick dropped a top-up also of 1.75c/l to drop them into division three, while both Tipperary and Glanbia also cut milk price to the farmer for May and hence both are also firmly rooted in division three.

So what does it mean? The average price for the table is €4.23kg MS, which is equivalent to 30.15c/l at 3.3% protein and 3.6% fat ex-VAT.

Weighted for volumes per processor, the average is probably closer to €4.10, so in effect it’s closer to 29c/l ex-VAT.

That price is low relative to what the market is returning but also relative to the cost at farm level given the increased feed levels required to keep feed in front of cows. There was big disappointment at farm level to see the May price cuts as the market for butter has continued to climb for the last eight weeks.

It also means for the May milk cheque there is now a difference of €2,800 between the top and bottom of the league when we compare them all at the same milk solids.

For one-month supply with cows at peak that is a very significant difference. Put that on to the €2,400 difference from last month and it means a farmer supplying a processor in division three compared to division one is down over €5,000 or €50 per cow for the average Irish herd over the last two months.