Superlevy bill now is certain says IFA

GALWAY dairy farmers – like their counterparts across the country – are facing into a serious superlevy situation with Ireland still 6.5% over-quota for the end of November.

Although the figure for the end of last month is an improvement on the mid-October ‘surplus’ of 7.15%, it is massively more than the corresponding over-run percentage of 1.38% for this time last year.

Last week, Minister Simon Coveney, said that he would continue to encourage ‘prudent management measures’ by dairy farmers for the final few months of the quota regime, that ends permanently on March 31 next.

Galway IFA Chairman, Pat Murphy, told The Farming Tribune, that while it was now ‘pretty late in the day’ to be taking corrective measures, one thing dairy farmers should not do was to reduce feeding to the newly calved cows.

“This quota problem is a once-off situation for this dairy year and farmers should ensure that their cows get their normal nutrition levels after calving. The long term productivity and welfare of the cow has to be the priority,” said Pat Murphy.

He said that while there had been very pessimistic predictions about milk prices in 2015, dairy farmers were used to a cyclical pattern as regards the world market situation.

“We would feel very strongly that improvements to the EU’s APS (Aid to Private Storage or intervention) scheme would help the industry to get over the hump next year, and we will be pressing strongly for this to be pursued,” said Pat Murphy.

Farmers who fall into the superlevy ‘trap’ face a penalty of 28.5c/l, a penalty that could run into thousands of euro for farmers who over-produce on a large scale. QQuotas officially end on March 31 next, giving rise to a free market situation.

All the market experts point to a situation post next March when there will be an over-supply of milk on the world market, a situation brought about partly by a glut of cheap grain availability this harvest.

“It will probably will be a year ahead when dairy farmers will have to keep a very close eye on their production and capital costs. Making maximum use of the cheapest feed of all – grass – can be a help in trying to reduce those input costs,” said Pat Murphy.