Dairy Chitchat 4, an udder new thread.

Without anymore expansion in milk supply ( I know its probably going to shrink instead) is there close to enough capacity if kerry stopped processing.. considering the new belview plant

Has there been any proposals coming from the Jim Woulfe "investigation"?

The crown jewels is there ingredients business the largest ingredients operator in the world. Milk processing and agri sales are a low margin business and any mistake like there overpriced fertiliser last year is punished.

It will not be closed down however the real play over the next couple of years is not the Kerry processing faculties but the Wyeth baby food plant in Askeaton.

When the existing staff are made redundant it quite possible a new operator could reopen with a cost base 35-40% lower.

Dairygold and Ornua will be running the figures at present. Would a Kerrygold branded baby formula succeed. Dairygold sell mainly milk powder.

Do Kerry group change tack and look at buying the plant to add value to its milk pool. Would a trade player cone in and buy the Kerry milk pool and processing facility aa well as the Wyeth plant.

There us no margin in buying the Kerry plant and closing it.

Kerry have always been dearer for fertiliser and all the other inputs with years and the local manager proclaims he has not 20/ton margin and the same raimeis regards milk supplied .Yet they blamed diminishing milk supply last year for the drop in value of production .They were offered a more then fair price by the co op to buy the processing operation but yet gain they blinked .Might not be worth too much when they can not get enough milk supply to keep both plants in operation

Not sure but it looks a big enough plant. I not sure is it milk powder or liquid milk it uses in the manufacturing process I presume powder

Hard to see where the milk will come from going forward. A lot of lads sick of milking, more lads maxed out with nitrates, no young lads interested, there is a hard core that are in so deep they have to keep going I suppose.

No need to worry. If they were to buy the milk processing it would have to go to a shareholders vote. Not a hope of it getting passed unless they were getting a real bargain.

I'd say the numbers in the hard core group that can't give up are very small. I see a good few men in their 50s talking of giving up milking and most thinking of calf to beef for an easier life.

The big question is will reduced milk supply lead to competition between processors and increased prices or will it be a case of loss of processing efficiency with resulting reduced prices.

Not sure competition between coops will lead to higher prices.

It certainly hasn't in the liquid milk sector where processors cut the margin to the bone to get contracts off supermarkets.

90% of what we produce is exported, all the coops are selling into the same global market, the last thing we need is for them to be cutting each others throats

Never hear much of strathroy now, are they still competitive and keeping going?

Drawing milk from wexford to notrh cant be the most efficent but im only a farmer.

I was half thinking that myself, 2000 a week for walking out of the parlor into a building site. Unless he was site manager or engineer in a past life

One bull would be a big risk. Prid and ai them if short on time, then run a bull. I have had good sucess with prids