For the fourth month in a row, Tirlán/Fivemiletown leads our main milk league analysis of prices paid to suppliers producing 750,000l annually of average quality milk.

The co-op paid a leading price of 44.15p/l for milk produced in April, keeping it marginally ahead of Aurivo in second.

All processors held base price when compared to March 2025, however, there are some changes in prices paid due to slightly lower milk quality, as well as new pricing arrangements at Dale Farm and Leprino Foods.

Our calculations are based on the NI average for milk quality recorded by DAERA in the same month in 2024, when butterfat averaged 4.27%, with protein at 3.28%, a TBC of 17 and SCC at 180.

When compared to March 2025, butterfat is up 0.01%, but protein is down 0.01%, so generally it has a slightly downward impact on prices.

Leprino

Behind the top two, Leprino Foods is up to third and is the only processor to pay a higher price for milk in April than in March.

That is due to its new pricing model, which most suppliers decided to switch to from 1 April 2025 (there is the option of waiting until 1 October).

Under the new model, there is a significant increase in the value of milk solids, with each 0.01% change in butterfat above a base of 3.93% valued at 0.035p/l.

Each 0.01% change in protein above a base of 3.23% is valued at 0.065p/l.

The company was also the last still to pay for lactose, but this has been dropped in the new payment model.

However, the new system doubles the bonus paid for milk under a SCC of 200 to 0.4p/l and increases the mozzarella bonus to 0.75p where butterfat and protein are at least 4.08% and 3.26% respectively, SCC is below 200 and TBC under 25.

Factoring all these changes into our 750,000l league leaves the Leprino price at 43.72p/l. That compares to a price of 42.86p/l using the old payment model.

Dale Farm

The changes implemented at Dale Farm from 1 April 2025, see the value of each 0.01% change in butterfat increased from 0.031p to 0.041p/l and each 0.01% change in protein, increased from 0.048p to 0.067p/l.

At the NI average for milk quality used in our 750,000l calculations, the new increments effectively add 0.4p/l to the Dale Farm price. However, the final price in April is actually down 0.1p/l as a 13th payment of 0.5p/l paid across the last 12 months, was factored into the March analysis.

Behind Dale Farm, Strathroy remains in fifth, with Lakeland bottom for the second month in a row.

Rolling average

Also included as part of our main 750,000l analysis is the average rolling price paid by each processor over the last 12 months. Tirlán continues to lead, with Dale Farm in second and Aurivo in third. The only positional change sees Leprino Foods overtake Strathroy at the foot of the table.

Payout

Shown in Figure 1 is our estimate of the actual pay-out to a 750,000l producer for April milk, using the actual butterfat and protein percentages recorded by each processor. The positions are the same as in our main league analysis.