Annual milking cost figures confirm the past year was one of the toughest in living memory for dairy farmers.
According to the latest costings from Kingshay’s Dairy Manager system, the average conventional Holstein Friesian herd saw its margin over purchased feed (MOPF) fall by £17,775 in the 12 months to March 2013.Despite keeping a few more cows, the average herd produced 40,000 litres less milk and farmers resisted feeding more concentrates with use only up 22kg a cow to compensate, said Kingshay development director Richard Simpson.
Average total purchased feed costs increased by 1.27p/litre, but milk price only went up 0.54p/litre, resulting in MOPF falling 0.73p/litre to 19.7p/litre.
«We had all been hoping for an early spring, but March actually proved to be one of the worst months of the year, with herds producing almost 7,000 litres less than the previous March,» said Mr Simpson.
«Milk output was down 1.9 litres a cow for the month on average, with 21% of herds showing a fall in daily yield of more than four litres. On average less than five litres a cow was produced from forage.»
Despite recent milk price announcements, many farmers were still struggling with higher concentrate costs and a late start to grass growth for grazing and next winter’s silage, he added.
«It will be tempting to cut back on concentrate use or cow numbers. Any such changes will need careful planning to avoid issues with cow fertility and to maintain output at a level to ensure overhead costs can be covered,» said Mr Simpson.
Milking outlook
The latest milk production figures from the Rural Payments Agency show UK wholesale milk deliveries totalled 1,110m litres in April – 8.4% lower than April 2012, when deliveries totalled 1,204m litres.
Due to lower milk production in April, May was likely to start at a low level and be down about 4% on last year, said Nick Holt-Martyn from the Dairy Group.
«Improved weather will see a recovery of sorts, but the spring flush is likely to be shallower, although it may sustain longer than in recent years,» he said.
Milk prices were likely to rise through to the autumn but margins were likely to remain weak on the back of high production costs, he said.
Source: Farmers Weekly