April 2015 Newsletter

Milk Price

The milk price for the month of March is the same as last month – 31.60 cents per litre (143.66 cents per gallon) at 3.60% butterfat and 3.30% protein, including a bonus of 0.5 cents per litre for a Summer Somatic Cell Count of less than 200,000 and including VAT at 5.2%.

The average price paid for the month at a butterfat of 4.02% and protein of 3.17%, including SCC, SDAS bonuses and VAT is 32.69 cents per litre.

Milk Supply

The milk supply for the month of March was 11,871,548 litres (2,611,370 gallons) with an average butterfat of 4.02% and an average protein of 3.17%.

This represents a decrease of 584,807 litres (128,687 gallons) on butterfat adjusted supply compared to March 2014.

The Co-Op was 4.71% over quota at the end of the 2014 / 2015 quota year. This equates to 6,974,253 litres over quota. At a Super Levy rate of 28.6565 cents per litre this results in an estimated Super Levy bill of €1,998,577.

Flexi Milk Allocations

To reflect our final quota position, Category 1 suppliers less than 350,000 litres (76,990 glns) have been allocated 13,500 litres of flexi from within the Co-Op.

Producers in Category 2 over 350,000 litres have been allocated 11,000 litres of flexi milk. These are indicative figures only.

Super levy at a rate of 5.00 cents per litre is charged on adjusted supply above these allocations

2014 Bonus

At a recent Board meeting the bonuses for 2014 were approved. The Board agreed to pay 0.5 cents per litre on milk supplied in 2014 where purchases from the Society were greater than 7.0 cents per litre and 0.25 cents per litre where purchases were less than 7.0 cents per litre and greater than 5.0 cents per litre. No bonus is paid where purchases are less than 5.0 cents per litre.

A bonus of €5.00 per tonne of fertilizer and €5.00 per tonne of compounded ruminant feed purchased in 2014 was approved and a bonus of €2.50 on pig feeds and straights.

Carbery Shares

The Board of Carbery has announced a trading window for shareholders who wish to trade their shares from the 1^st May 2015 to 31^st May 2015.

The most recent valuation has put an indicitative value of €2.21 cents on each share.

All Carbery shareholders will shortly receive correspondence from Carbery in relation to the scheme.

Spring Dairy Farm Walk

Dairy Farming without Quotas

Farm Walk Thursday, 23^rd April @ 2.00pm

On the farm of

Aidan & Emmy Mc Carthy

Airhill, Schull

Topics include

• 2014 Profit and Herd Performance
• Preparing for breeding and AI bulls
• Matching cow numbersto available land
• Renting ground – how much to pay
• All Welcome to attend

Trichloromethane (TCM)

Currently there are a number of quite strict export regulations in place for TCM levels in dairy products.

The involvement of excess chlorine/chlorine containing detergent in the cleaning procedure of the milking system or bulk tank can result in a TCM (chloroform) residue in milk.

This cleaning can have a negative effect on dairy products manufactured from milk and can affect their export volume and price. Therefore cleaning and disinfection of the milking system must be carried out while ensuring the absence of TCM residue in milk.

In order to ensure Irish Dairy Products are at the forefront of the dairy market a TCM level of 0.03 mg/kg or less is now necessary.

Minimising TCM Levels

• Sufficient pre-rinsing is necessary to remove all traces of milk, such that milk will not interact with the active chlorine in the cleaning and disinfection solvent, thus minimising TCM formation.
• Ensure only the recommended level of chlorine is to be used. All cleaning solvents should be purchased from reputable suppliers.
• Storage between and re-use of solvents over a number of milkings should not occur.
• Sufficient post-rinsing is necessary to remove all traces of the cleaning and disinfection solvent.

Cleaning Procedure

• Any remaining milk in the plant must be drained from milk tubes and pipelines.
• Plant must then be rinsed with fresh water until the rinse water runs clear.
• The main wash must use a reputable detergent at the correct temperature and concentration for the recommended time period.
• The second rinsing must flush the system with fresh water until all remaining traces of detergent have disappeared. Again the rinse water should run clear.

Rinse! Rinse! Rinse!