Inside Milk
Peak milk production good for bronze
The peak in the Dutch milk supply (2018) is sufficient for bronze. The market was counting on more milk, but was overtaken by the developments. So far, milk production has been quite unpredictable and it looks like it will stay that way for the rest of the months.
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Dutch dairy cows managed to produce 1.237.483 tons of milk in May. It is a plus of 6% compared to May 2015, but 1,5% less than in May 2017. It gives the highest point in milk supply a bronze medal, because the absolute record was set in 2016; the collection then amounted to 1,26 million tons of milk.
Disappointing levels
It is the levels that are disappointing. For example, May yields an average fat percentage of 4,26%. This in combination with less milk, translates into 52.685 tons of fat. That is a minus of 2,1%, compared to 1 year earlier.
1,5
percent
The market has been talking about lower levels for some time. Yet in the past, the figures often contradicted this. This time the observation from the market is confirmed by the figures. It is not clear what causes the lower levels. For example, periods of higher temperatures have occurred, but the quality of gras also disappointing.
Every month the decline decreases a little further. It produces a total of 5,98 million tons of milk until May, a decrease of just under 1,4% (compared to 1 year earlier). In tonnes this amounts to 83.026 tonnes of milk, which is considerably less milk.
Whimsical weather
It remains difficult to estimate what the supply will look like in the coming months. On the one hand, the weather proves to be particularly erratic, which affects both the quality of the roughage and the condition of the cow. The enthusiasm for additional feeding (and thus, for example, increasing levels) appears to be slightly less, which is also reflected in a quiet feed business.
Being another factor the phosphate rights. It is not clear what percentage of dairy farmers have their affairs in order and what percentage of their rights are not yet in balance with the phosphate production of the dairy herd. The highest achievable is in any case a stable milk supply, perhaps with a smaller backlog in June, but after that it will be exciting. Who chooses a fine, who gets rid of cows and who buys rights?
The record in milk supply was achieved in 2016, but production has been declining since then.