Record low milk production in November
Milk production hit another record low in November, with just 972m litres delivered to dairies, according to the latest data from the Rural Payments Agency.
That was 21.1m litres less than in October, and 63.2m litres less than the same time last year. Cumulative production for the year to date was 8.78bn litres – 239m litres below last year. Butterfat remained high, at 4.2% for the month and 4.02%, cumulatively.
The wet summer meant dairy farmers were struggling with poor quality forage and high concentrate feed prices, said a report by DairyCo.
“Estimated milk production for the 2012-13 milk year has been revised down by 4.8% to 12.9bn litres. This is based on the assumption that milk production will average 33.6m litres a day for the remainder of the milk year [until 31 March] – a reduction of 7.3% on previous year levels and the lowest recorded for over 15 years,” said the report.
Although the normal seasonal flush should boost production in the spring, supplies were still likely to remain tight, it added. “With demand from buyers not expected to change, competition for scarce milk supplies should support farmgate prices.”