Irish dairy farmer cashes in with high milk price

According to the Irish government agency Teagasc, the income of dairy farmers in the country will increase by 30% this year to €130.000. The income of other farmers in the country is under pressure. This is due to cost inflation, mainly due to the war in Ukraine. Dairy farmers are also confronted with this, but at the same time the milk price has also risen high. As in the Netherlands, the basic milk prices move around the level of €60 per 100 kilos. In one year, milk prices have risen by about 50%, while production costs are about 10% higher, according to Teagasc. Logically, this gives the income of dairy farmers a significant boost.

Grass ration
This calculation cannot be translated one-on-one to our country. Irish dairy farmers use far more grazing than in the Netherlands. They therefore use considerably less concentrate, about 80% of the ration often consists of fresh grass. The shoe pinches on this point: the higher grain prices have caused compound feed prices to rise considerably, but this cost blow is therefore much less impactful in Ireland.

Milk supply
Incidentally, the higher selling prices do not lead to an increase in production. For the first time since the abolition of the milk quota in 2015, Irish milk production has shown no increase. This is partly an effect of the dry summer months. Between January and August, production was 0,3% below last year's level, according to figures from Eurostat statistics.