Milk Price- Please read Mod note in post #1

farmer lad wrote: »

Are we bottom of the milk league so as usual?:(:rolleyes:

Not "as usual" I would suggest. Dairygold seemed to hit a "sweet spot" through 2014 in terms of milk price and we're up there in the midst of the west cork coops. ...in one case passing out one of them if I can recall. Of course you had to take into account the 1c/l revolving fund and share up deducted from after tax money, but outside of that which was being used for expansion facilities, I would argue they did alright on milk price.
Step into 2015 and the beginning of this expansion and the putting in place of the "pharmaceutical standard" processing facilities, and one would have to ask the question, is it starting to unravel for the coop. They have embarked on a plan which in my calculation at the time was going to add €1500 debt to every existing cow in Dairygold. They will be producing a commodity product through a pharmaceutical plant, and will they make any extra margin on it. The farmers contribution, postponed at the present moment (but will be doubled to make back the lost time) coupled with the enormous spend on facilities will really test Dairygolds ability to pay a competitive milk price over the next few years. Well done to them if I'm completely wrong on this, but sometimes ego can take business to places it should never go. The board came under enormous pressure to hold milk.price this month, from a number of different angles, and it will be very interesting how this project plays out over the next few years.

august

28.89c /ltr

bf 4.15 p 3.58 thought solids were higher but yields were good


on a side note got letter saying we are getting the one of the 2014 Cellcheck Awards for 2014 , hope fully the plaque is big enough to cover the hole in the dairy wall

Cow Porter wrote: »

Well done! Can we ask what your avg scc is for the year

not 100% sure but approx. scc 21 tbc 8

scc not as good this year, tbc the same

kowtow wrote: »

I note that we are putting more product into intervention now as well - 750 odd tonnes to add to the 250 odd earlier in the month.

value products might have to keep pace for the index to remain on track...)
As an industry we should probably try to focus a bit harder on that index and encourage those who produce it, as price planning tools go it might be the best thing we have at the moment.

the product going into intervention i thought was more of a political move the first time, who put the product from ireland into intervention was it ornua? not a good sign for next few months if we are!!

Ornua price index - (i preferred irish dairy board to be honest thought the marketing name change was a waste of good money similar to that in eircom at the moment, time will tell if it actual help them boost sales as the said foreign companies thought they were dealing with a gov agency
out of interest what does the marketing name change cost per litre?

Ornua pi is based on the products they sell so to use it as our complete index would be incorrect its a solid starting ground the principal is good but to use it is similar to using the gdt(the dumping ground) as our guide, unless they broaden the range of products to include all products derived from our milk not just the ones they sell to give its hard to place reliance on it as a full index maybe split them out into classes/products, tell us what % each coop supplied each month this is added to our coop/processor product mix

different coops supply different quantities to ornua so some are more reliant than others, would supplier be happy to get ornua pi and there coop selling a higher value product or have a better product mix

the usa used something similar pi in there system, we could have different classes for different product we could use this if broadened and get a weekly/monthly (preferable weekly as keeps everyone up to date and no a months wait in information) weighted average or have specialsed producers who supply a certain class

The price this year is no worse then what i heard forecast last autumn and at that the price held up reasonable well for the peak months and the weather was reasonable as well .If the price can hold for another month we might be over the worst of it me thinks but it might be past peak next year before any improvement this is the big crux

Fair point Silkcut, farming will always been a boom and bust business in my view, dairying went through its very positive phase leading up to the end of quotas, lads who borrowed several hundred grand, 4k+ per cow etc, off wing and pray business plans and 35c/l milk prices will definitely find it very hard over the next few years. I think the only thing that is given is we'll all go through a very lean stage at some time, and we should always be prepared for this and have a backup plan/rainy day fund etc.

jaymla627 wrote: »

The real pull will come on the majority of lads next spring, alot of merchant debt is going to be carried into next year, and if co-ops get heavy handed deducting from milk cheques cash - flows are going to be very shaky for dairy operations with no other cash streams

Very true and it's happening already,only for extra volume of milk most lads seem to be pumping out we'd be there now ,just looking at last few months milk statements here anyway a lot more milk and solids been produced but end figure been lodged to account is smaller each month and getting smaller .ive been plugging away at bills every month and thankfully all are well under control .a lot of fr,white head And Bb cattle here which have come through summer in great knick ,will sell some before winter but keep as many as I have space for and sell through February and March ..cattle trade will be very strong I reckon for first few months of next year .these will (hopefully)allow me to get some good cash deals for fertiliser,vaccines and milk powder without dipping into milk cheque too early in spring .ive noticed reps a bit more anxious over last mo th or so to collect money too......

Dawggone wrote: »

That's bound to pass Mahoney.

It's a bit disconcerting considering such a high price last season.

Think they know the first 6 months of next year on dairy farms anyway will be slow as regards taking in money so there trying to get lads to pay as much as possible before year end

Dawggone wrote: »

That's bound to pass Mahoney.

It's a bit disconcerting considering such a high price last season.

know of a few cases where sfp are paid directly to banks towards loans taken out for dairy expansion, considerable amounts too, wouldnt like to be trying to collect money of these guys on the assumption said lads above will clear up their accounts when the sfp cheque comes in

Dawggone wrote: »

That's a €6mil question.
Maybe it's time farmer unions put on some political pressure on to try and break the fert monopolies...

Fanciful thinking I'm afraid Dawg, we can't even sort out supermarket/meat factory shenanigans here, never mind taking on a global cartel of fertiliser price fixers!