Lack of co-op support forces ICOS to abandon milk-test lab proposal

ICOS has abandoned a centralised milk-testing laboratory proposal because insufficient dairy co-ops agreed to support it.

Milk testing would have been pooled to one central laboratory, which would have tested milk for payment, herd-recording and herd health and management. While a significant number of dairy co-ops pledged support, their combined volume of testing was deemed insufficient to outweigh the considerable restructuring costs to be incurred by individual co-ops.

ICOS president Pat McLoughlin said he was disappointed. “This initiative was intended to reduce costs, support co-operative businesses, and deliver a better service to farmers. ICOS had sourced capital funding for the proposed lab, through grants aid and investment capital. However, we have to take a practical approach to these matters.