News that liquid milk suppliers have reduced by 3% in the 2023/2024 period will come as no great surprise to those in the sector and matches the reductions seen in previous years.

The fact that farmers are opting to get out of liquid milk, either to specialise in manufacturing milk or to exit dairy production altogether is a reflection of the bigger workload, higher costs and in general, lower profitability in liquid milk.

The reality is that younger generations of farmers don’t want to or don’t feel the need to have to milk cows 365 days a year and calve cows in spring and autumn. The added complications, cost and workload with split calving systems is significant. A lot boils down to the out-of-season bonuses for liquid milk being insufficient to meet the extra costs and workload. Inflation has eaten into the value of the bonuses over the last 30 years and even though there have been increases, they haven’t kept pace with inflation.

The last few years has seen liquid milk deliver better returns for processors. If locally sourced fresh milk is to remain on the shop shelves, the incentives for producers will have to increase.