First Milk producers expecting to receive their milk cheque on January 12th will not be paid untill January 26th with all payments deferred two weeks from then.

It’s the latest blow to dairy farmers following First Milk dropping their milk price earlier in the week and ASDA’s cut price milk sales to consumers, all reported by Farming Online.

Sir Jim Paice, Chairman of First Milk said: “While our lenders have been supportive as we’ve dealt with this volatility, with the added uncertainty of the imminent EU quote removal, the Board has taken the decision to re-build the fundamentals of the business ahead of the spring flush.”

The business said this latest announcement is to ‘build a stronger platform’ and to rebuild the business following big losses early last year when world dairy markets fell fifty percent.
Sir Jim did say the board would put the following measures into place:
Reverse 1.1 pence per litre of the February milk price reductions for the manufacturing and liquid pools

• Increase members capital investment from 0.5 to 2 pence per litre for milk supplied from December 2014 to August 2015
• Increased members capital investment from 5 to 7 pence per litre (ppl)

He added: “We are a business owned by dairy farmers. The board are acutely aware of the difficultures this current extreme volatility is causing First Milk members and the UK dairy industry.”
“We don’t know how long this current market downturn will last, and we are aware that hundreds of UK dairy farmers are unlikely to find a home for their milk this spring.”