In Holland, dairy farmers that through their dairy deliver milk to the supermarket chain Albert Heijn will receive an increase premium of five eurocent per kilogram for the most climate neutral milk range compared to pasture milk.
In Holland in 2019 dairies refused 134 times to receive milk from a farm. Most times this was caused by insufficient animal health (47%), somatic cell count (32%), bacteria count (6%), other milk quality problems (27 percent), general hygiene problems (16%). Source: COKZ.
In Holland the organic milk producers organization Eko Holland has asked its members to temper on voluntary base their milk production because in the current corona period the market does not have space for extra milk.
In Great Britain in April 25 percent of the dairy farms has been asked to limit milk production and from five percent of the dairy farms was (temporary) not picked up milk.
In Ireland at the end of March 2020 of 26164 tested cattle herds had 853 herds or 3.26 percent at least one animal positive tested on bovine Tuberculosis, according the Irish ministry of agriculture.
In Ireland, the organization Dairy Industry Ireland (DII) which is representing the Irish industrial manufacturing dairy base, estimates that current 30 to 35 percent of the Irish farmers milk production is sold through forward contracts.
In Ireland from 2016 to 2019 the number of Jersey calves born increased from 20371 to 41426 head, so more than doubled. However: in 2020 until half April only 34240 Jersey calves where born, a decrease of 17.3 percent, according to the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF).
In Ireland, where by far most dairy cows are spring calving, in the first four weeks of April 1188000 dairy calves were born, 52600 more than in the same period last year.
In Ireland the second biggest dairy cooperative Aurivo with around 1000 milk suppliers supplying nearly 500 million litres of milk per year, has last five years cut carbon emissions by 50 percent or 25000 tonnes per year. Among others this was realized by using woodchips and gas instead of oil for heating milk, using a heat pump to reduce the use of fossil oil.
In Ireland, research of Teagasc shows greenhouse gas emissions of pasturing cattle are lower than the figures the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) uses. According to those figures up to 41 percent of nitrous oxide produced from Irish agriculture comes from urine and dung deposited by grazing animals while according to Teagasc this is only 23 percent.
In Northern-Ireland the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute at Hillsborough states that regional grown field beans can replace half of the imported soya and rape seed in dairy cow diets, up to five kilogram per cow per day. Doing this would reduce the cost of dairy cow rations, and could reduce the carbon footprint of the Northern Irish dairy industry.
In Sweden in 2019 the number of organic certified cattle increased six percent compared to the previous year. At year-end, there were 276440 KRAV-certified organic cattle in Sweden. The figure includes both dairy cows and heifers, calves and bulls raised for meat production.
In Finland during 2019 a number of 11714 raw milk samples were tested for antimicrobial residues. Antimicrobial residues were detected in 55 samples which is 0.5 percent. In 2018 this was 0.2 percent.
In Switzerland the demand for milk this April is expected to be bigger than in other years. To be able to answer the extra demand, the Swiss milk producers organization Mooh has for April lowered the deduction for the volume of milk that is produced more than the volume of the supply contract with 4 Rappen (3.80 eurocent) per kilogram. With some 4100 milk producers, the Mooh cooperative is a leading milk producers organisation in Switzerland. It delivers around 1.5 million kg of milk to its customers on a daily basis.
Swiss butter stocks have become much smaller compared to previous years. Mid-March there were 575 tonnes butter in stock, compared to 2835 tonnes one year before and 3901 two years before. Swiss butter production in 2019 was 40000 tonnes which was five percent less than in 2018. Market experts forecast that mid 2020 Switzerland will have a short of butter and will have to import butter to fill the domestic demand.
In France the umbrella organization of the dairy industry CNIEL will encourage dairy farmers to limit milk production with two to five percent because of the corona crisis. CNIEL will pay them for not delivered milk a price of up to 32 cents per litre. For this CNIEL has made funds available of ten million euro.
The Austrian dairy cooperative Vorarlberg has announced a program in which dairy farms have to decrease their milk production. Because of Covid 19 the dairy has lost most demand from hotels, restaurants and catering.
In Germany in March compared to February the raw material or compound value of milk at farm decreased 3.4 eurocent to 32.1 eurocent per kilogram milk with 4.0 percent fat and 3.4 percent protein (exclusive VAT). This is 1.2 eurocent more than in the same month last year. The highest future price of milk for the next 18 months on the Kieler Börsenmilchwert European Energy Exchange is the price for September and October 2021 at 30.8 eurocent. The lowest future price is the price for May 2020 at 25.4 eurocent. www.ife-ev.de
