Dairy farms already going over milk quota

WITH some Irish dairy farmers having already exceeded their milk quota limit after only one month of the production year, IFA President John Bryan has warned them to live within their allowed milk supply.

By July, many suppliers to the big Glanbia and Dairygold Co-ops will have exceeded their annual quotas and will receive no further payments for milk, according to Bryan.

“Don’t play Russian roulette with your livelihoods,” he warned dairy farmers when he opened the Emerald Expo dairy show in Kilkenny last Saturday. He urged them to take the opportunity offered by increasing dairy cow numbers, and to upgrade their herds in preparation for the end of EU milk quotas in 2015.