June 2019 Newsletter

Milk Price

The milk price for the month of May is unchanged at 33.07 cents per litre (150.34 cents per gallon) at 3.60% butterfat and 3.30% protein, including Summer Somatic Cell Count (SCC) bonus of 0.5 cpl and VAT at 5.4%.

The average price paid for the month is 34.64 cents per litre. This is based on the average butterfat of 3.76% and protein of 3.44%, including SCC bonus and VAT.

Drinagh Milk & Trading Bonus

Feed, fertilizer and milk bonuses already announced are being paid in this month’s accounts. The bonus is €10.00 per tonne of fertilizer and €15.00 per tonne of feed purchased in 2018.

The Milk bonus of 0.5 cents per litre on 2018 milk supplies where purchases from the Society were greater than 7.0 cents per litre and 0.25 cents per litre bonus applied where purchases were less than 7.0 cents and greater than 5.0 cents per litre is also paid this month.

The milk bonus is paid based on kgs of milk solids supplied. For the full bonus, this equates to 5.176 cents per kilo of fat and 7.764 cents per kilo of protein.

This brings the total bonuses paid this month by the Society to €2,316,396.

Chairman & Vice-Chairman

At a recent meeting of the Board of Directors Mr. TJ Sullivan, Urhan Cross, Eyeries and Mr. Jerome O’Mahony, Derryduff, Drimoleague were re-elected as Chairman and Vice–Chairman respectively.

We congratulate them in their appointments and wish them well in their terms of office.

Chlorine Free Notice

Last year, the board of Ornua agreed on a full removal of chlorine-based products by the end of 2020.

Carbery has also committed to this goal. The first step in this process will be through phasing out chlorine products in bulk tank cleaning from July 1st, 2019.
See management notes for more details.

Moorepark Open Day 2019

Teagasc Moorepark ‘19 will be a day not to be missed by anyone with an interest in the Irish dairy industry. The Open Day takes place on Wednesday July 3rd and runs from 8.30am to 5.00pm. All are welcome to attend.

Shinagh Estates Limited (SEL) invites applications for a share farmer on their 90 cow dairy unit in Gurteen, Bandon. SEL also owns the Shinagh Dairy Farm which operates in conjunction with Teagasc as a demonstration farm.

The successful applicant will have the opportunity to share farm on a modern purpose- built dairy unit. He/she will have responsibility for the operation of the farm and the profits and costs will be shared with the owners in line with the terms of a share farming agreement.

Anyone interested should submit a detailed CV to Gus O’Brien, Shinagh Estates Limited, Shinagh, Bandon, as the first phase of the selection process. Closing date for applications is Fri 5th July, 2019.

Carbery Milk Quality and Sustainability Awards

At the recent Carbery Milk Quality and Sustainability Awards, the Drinagh Co-Op Milk Quality Award winner was:

William and Dan Joe O’Donovan, Minanes, Drinagh.

Drinagh Co-Op Milk Quality runners up were:

Michael and Ann Hurley, Gortdromagh, Bantry.

and

Dan and Catherine McCarthy, Lissane, Drimoleague

The Drinagh recipient of the Carbery Sustainability Award was:

John and Rita Young, Curraghlickey, Drinagh

The overall Carbery Winner was Bandon Co-Op milk supplier, Nigel Daunt, Innishannon. A farm walk will be held on the overall winner’s farm this summer, with a date to be confirmed shortly. On behalf of everyone in Drinagh, we extend our sincere congratulations to all the finalists on their remarkable achievement of consistently producing top quality milk.

The following are the top 30 Drinagh milk suppliers for 2018 based on milk quality, listed in alphabetical order:

REMINDER

• Drinagh Milk and trading bonuses paid this month
• Teagasc Land Drainage Event On the farm of Martin Buckley, Scart, Bantry Wednesday 26^th June at 12pm