Tirlán/Fivemiletown is back at the top of the NI milk league, after paying a leading price of 37.11p/l to suppliers for milk produced in November.

It is the fifth time Tirlán has led our milk league in 2025, with the co-op also out in front during the first four months of the year.

November is the first month this year when all the prices paid to a typical 750,000l producer have dipped below 40p/l.

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In the case of Tirlán, it actually implemented the lowest cut to base price of any processor in November, taking it back 2.5p/l to a starting point of 29.9p/l, before a 3p winter bonus is added in.

Those November prices are calculated at the NI average for milk solids, recorded by DAERA in the same month in 2024. Back then, butterfat averaged 4.37%, with protein at 3.42%. SCC was 175, with TBC at 20.

With monthly litres on the rise, butterfat and protein are down by 0.05 and 0.06 percentage points respectively when compared to October, however, November is still one of the best months of the year for milk solids.

Second

Having led in two of the last three months, Dale Farm drops to a close second, with a final price of 36.96p/l.

NI’s largest dairy co-op reduced its base price by 3p/l, taking it to 30.3p/l, before a 2p winter bonus and 1p support payment are included.

Also factored into the Dale Farm price is the co-op’s milk production realignment scheme, which paid out an average of 0.68p/l to suppliers in November.

Winter bonuses

Both Lakeland Dairies and Strathroy were at the bottom of the league in October, as they are the only two processors who do not include a winter bonus in that month. Both pay 3p/l November through to February.

With that bonus included, the two processors have moved into third and fourth positions respectively.

In the case of Strathroy, it took 3p off base price so its starting point was effectively unchanged from last month. Lakeland dropped base price by 3.5p taking it to 28.8p/l.

However, the co-op has announced a 13th payment of 0.25p/l on all litres produced in 2025, to be included with the December milk cheque. That 0.25p payment has been factored into all our analyses.

At the bottom of the table, both Aurivo and Leprino Foods cut base price by 3.5p/l, leaving their base prices at 29.5 and 28p/l respectively. Both pay a 3p/l winter bonus in November.

Rolling average

Also shown in our main milk league analysis is the rolling average price paid by each processor to a 750,000l producer between December 2024 and November 2025. Tirlán remains in the lead, ahead of Dale Farm and Aurivo. Those 12-month averages are all still above 40p/l, but are down by around 1p/l when compared to October.

Payout

Shown in Figure 1 is our estimate of the actual payout made to a typical 750,000l producer for November milk, based on the actual butterfat and protein recorded by each processor.

High solids mean Tirlán is able to consolidate its position as paying the highest milk price per litre in November. Aurivo also has very high solids, which takes it up to third place in terms of the payout made to suppliers.