Sadly, the widely predicted fall in the wholesale price that farmers receive for their milk has now become a reality... and this is happening across the board for future payments.
On the 1st of March, the Farmers Weekly published the following information on standard 4.2% butterfat, 3.4% protein milk: Barbers Cheesemakers has a price cut of 3.9p/litre, Freshways and First Milk cut by 3.0 p/litre and Arla drops 3.5 p/litre, with the final prices now ranging from 41 to 44.95 pence per litre.
Muller (working with 4.0% butterfat and 3.3% protein) will have dropped 5.5 p/litre since January and their price will be 42.5 p/litre for April.
And so it goes on...
Batch pasteurised milk is still in high demand throughout the UK - milk from the award-winning Wee Isles Dairy in Scotland retails at between £2 and £2.60 per litre and after a pretty comprehensive search, we could find no batch pasteurised milk in the UK that was priced at less than £1.15. The average price appears to be about £1.60 or so, so this still gives the farmer an additional 0.70 to £1.15 per litre...
Sales of say 100 litres per day typically gives an extra £90 a day, £630 a week or £32,760 for the year.
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