Farmers drop 33% of their annual incomes

DAIRY farmer Jerry Casey has become accustomed to struggling at work, he claims.

The Dairygold milk supplier, who is a married father-of-three from Knockarourke, Donoughmore, Co, Cork, farms 86 acres and has a 54,000 gallon quota.

He says the cut in milk price plus inflation and the atrocious weather have led to severe hardship. For the peak milk-producing months, he was getting 13.27c less per gallon for his milk while the average drop for the whole of the year was 12.9c per gallon, he says.