Farmer Focus: Family getaway no escape from milk price drop
Eurig Jenkins © Richard Stanton With the clocks turned back, the weather has turned wet here in west Wales.
We’re hoping to do some on/off grazing till mid-November and are aiming at closing farm cover of anything above 2,000kg dry matter/ha.
October milk production was up 3 litres a cow (unintentionally, it just happened), and cow milking numbers will stand at about 405 till mid-November.
See also:Â Advice on closing paddocks for winter
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During school half-term, I managed a 12-person family holiday to Egypt for a week, where I saw no cows, grass or agricultural machinery.
The amount of bling (lights) on their lorries has convinced my 15-year-old that maybe we should adopt their enthusiasm on our kit.
All was going well with the all-inclusive package, with beer and cocktails at the pool bar consumed just to keep us rehydrated.
This all came to an abrupt end as I casually checked my emails from First Milk and read their announcement of a 6p/litre milk price drop for December.
To add this to the earlier drop of 2p/litre already received this autumn, we are now 8p/litre down, with no guarantee that more deductions will not come.
It came as no real surprise, but when you multiply it to our annual volume, it equates to a serious amount of money, and this scary realisation produced a nasty lump in my throat.
We have some expenditure already planned and, at the moment, I plan on sticking with them.
However, all other expense will have to be fully justified for a low milk price season of 2026.
On a more positive note, our reseeded fields have filled out nicely. With two grazings this autumn in dry weather, and a good cover going into winter, they should perform well next year with a good establishment.
The only mistake I made was miscalculating the amount of surface water that would gather behind the new raised cow track.
The water has created a pond in the field, but hopefully, the new drainage pipe, which now runs beneath the cow track, will resolve this issue.Â
We’ve done some routine foot trimming and been busy in the workshop. All machinery has been washed, serviced, greased and oil coated again (it seems to come round more quickly every year).
We have also seen the John Deere 6930 depart down the drive for the last time and await its replacement on 1 March 2026.