The prices paid to dairy farmers in NI for milk produced in March are lower across the board, with the average price falling by over 2p/l when compared to February.

The reduction is mainly on the back of winter bonuses, which apply in February, but not in March. Tirlán / Fivemiletown, Aurivo, Lakeland Dairies and Strathroy all decided to hold base price unchanged, but with their winter bonuses dropping off, their final prices paid are down.

Dale Farm does not pay a winter bonus in February but did support milk price that month by 3p/l, with that support payment not applying in March. That leaves Leprino Foods, who also does not pay winter bonuses into the new year. It reduced starting price in March by 1.5p/l to 40.75p/l.

The various price moves have led to some positional changes in our league, however, Tirlán remains out in front for the third month in a row, with a final price of 44.20p/l paid to a 750,000 litre supplier on alternate day collection.

Our main milk league analysis is calculated at the milk qualities recorded by DAERA for the same month in 2024, when butterfat averaged 4.26%, with protein at 3.29%, lactose of 4.81%, TBC 21 and SCC of 176. Both butterfat and protein percentages are up slightly on February.

The only other processor to pay over 44p/l for March milk was Aurivo, with Dale Farm 0.6p/l behind Tirlán on a final price of 43.60p/l.

Included within that Dale Farm March price is an additional 0.5p/l, after the co-op confirmed it would pay a 13th payment of 0.5p across all litres produced from April 2024 through to March 2025.

Bottom half

Behind the top three, Leprino Foods has moved up from last place in the previous league to fourth, with a final price of 42.86p/l. Strathroy is down one place to fifth, while Lakeland Dairies has dropped to the bottom of the league for March.

Alongside those March prices is the rolling average price paid by each processor over the last 12-months.

Rising prices over the last 12 months mean these rolling averages are all up when compared to the previous league.

Tirlán remains out in front, however, Dale Farm has moved to within 0.5p/l due to its 13th payment paid on all litres from April 2024.

Aurivo slips to third, while Lakeland drops to fourth. At the bottom of the league, Leprino overtakes Strathroy for fifth.

Pay-out

Shown in Figure 1 is an estimate of the pay-out by each processor to a 750,000l supplier in March, based on the actual solids produced by farmer suppliers. With the best solids and the highest price per litre, Tirlán is out in front.

All positions are the same as in our main analysis.