June 2021 Dairy Newsletter

Milk Price

The base milk price for the month of May has increased by 1.0 cent per litre – bringing the price to 36.29 cents per litre (164.97 cents per gallon) at 3.60% butterfat and 3.30% protein, including the Summer Somatic Cell Count (SCC) bonus of 0.5 cpl and VAT at 5.6%.

The average price paid for the month is 38.81 cents per litre. This is based on the average butterfat of 3.92% and protein of 3.45%, including Summer SCC bonus and VAT at 5.6%.

Chairman & Vice-Chairman

At a recent meeting of the Board of Directors Mr. Donal McCarthy, Gurteenakilla, Ballydehob and Mr. Raymond Collins, Knockavoher, Leap were elected as Chairman and Vice–Chairman respectively.

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

Carbery Quality Milk Virtual Farm Walk

A virtual farm walk will be held with Tadhg Hurley, 2020 Carbery Milk Quality Awards overall winner. The farm tour takes place on the evening of Wednesday July 14th, 2021.

The webinar will be available to view online – login details to view the event will be text out closer to the farm tour date.

Mid-Season SCC Management

For best results when cluster dipping: dip the cluster several times and shake off any excess solution before attaching to the next cow. Make up a fresh solution after every 8 cows.

Dipping the cluster in peracetic acid will kill the mastitis bugs on the cluster so that they cannot be passed on to the next cow.

If your bulk tank somatic cell count is starting to creep up slightly - don’t ignore it. It is likely to be because the number of infected quarters in your herd is starting to increase, which in turn can lead to more and more infected quarters.

What To Do?

1. High cows must be identified and marked. These cows are often sub-clinical (high SCC but no clots or change in the milk). Use milk recording/ send individual samples to Carbery or use the Californian milk test (CMT) to identify high cows.
2. Stop the spread. Infected cows can pass the infection on to the next 8 cows that the cluster will go on to. To avoid this the high cows must be either milked last or dip the cluster in peracetic acid after milking any high cow.
3. Discuss a treatment plan with your vet.
4. Remove the source of infection, consider shutting down the problem quarter by stopping milking it, this can take 2-3weeks for sub-clinical cases, do NOT use a dry cow tube. If a cow has re-occurring cases of clinical mastitis shutting the quarter is more difficult and requires more care.

Drinagh Top 30 Milk Suppliers 2020

The table below contains the top 30 Drinagh milk suppliers for 2020 based on milk quality, listed in alphabetical order.

On behalf of everyone in Drinagh, we extend our sincere congratulations on their remarkable achievement of consistently producing top quality milk.

Milk Quality takes into account Total Bacteria Count (TBC), Somatic Cell Count (SCC), Butterfat and Protein.

The top three milk suppliers nominated for the 2021 Carbery Milk Quality Awards by Drinagh are:

• David Kingston, Curraghnaloughra, Drinagh.
• Elizabeth, David & Ian Warner, Upper Curraghlickey, Drinagh.
• John Collins, Caheragh North, Drimoleague.

Reminders

• Carbery Quality Milk Virtual Farm Walk July 14th, 2021
• Drinagh Top 30 Milk Suppliers for 2020 announced