Best Milk Production since 2004/05

UK milk production stood at 13.67 billion litres for the year ending March 2014, this is highest since the 2004/05 milk year, but still well below the UK’s15.3bn litres of quota. Production during the first 5 months (April – August 2013) was lower than the previous year however a good autumn and winter increased production levels. Overall production for the 2013/14 milk year was 5.4% higher than the previous year and 573.3 million litres higher than the average for the previous 5 years (see graph below).  Butterfat levels dropped to 4.06% in March 2014 bringing the milk year average to 4.02%, the same as the five year average.

MILK PRODUCTION  2008-2014 (SOURCE: DEFRA)

Looking forward, in contrast to 2013, we are starting the year strong, with good weather and grass growth coupled with a strong milk price.  With such a strong start to the season we are forecasting production to return to our more ‘normal’ 14 billion litres per annum for 2014/15 but this will still be well below national quota in its last year of operation – milk quotas end on 31st March 2015.