The last milk year was a positive one for dairy producers, with continued improvements in cow health and growing momentum in the organic milk sector, according to the latest Kingshay Dairy Costings report.

Although the dreadful weather over the summer of 2024 saw yields from forage drop sharply, the reasonably high milk price and lower feed costs meant margins remained firm. In fact, given the most favourable milk price: feed price ratio since 2001, the average margin over purchased feed (MOPF) was the strongest for a very long time, bar the milk spikes of 2022.

All reported health indicators saw year-on-year improvements. Mastitis dropped to 24 cases per 100 cows (down by two), and lameness from 37 to 34 cases per 100 cows. However, fertility last year saw a bit of a slide, most likely due to the poor-quality forage. Calving intervals extended by a day to 394 days, and days to first service crept up by two days to 72.

The age of cows at exit is steadily declining, but the proportion of selected versus forced culls has increased again, year-on-year. And given the higher milk prices, the cost of poor fertility and health increased, both on a per-case and per-herd basis.  

"This year housing-focused, all-year-round calving herds had the highest MOPF per cow at £2,937/cow, and the highest margin per litre was achieved by the low to moderate-yielding organic herds, at 41.15ppl," says Emma Puddy, farm services specialist at Kingshay. "When it comes to MOPF, we are still seeing large ranges, even within the same production systems, where groups of herds have similar goals." Drawing on data from 1,064 conventional herds and 98 organic herds, the report showed a wide variation between the top and bottom quartile within each production system.

Organic herds made a strong showing after a difficult few years, with the milk price reaching a record high of 53.17ppl in March 2025. Milk from forage remains a key strength, with 44% of milk derived from forage compared to below 30% for conventional producers.

"It seems milk from forage is still very strongly linked to MOPF, with conventional herds in the top 10% for milk from forage achieving a margin that was 20% higher per cow and 14% higher per litre," says Mrs Puddy.

"The best way for a farm business to see where they are successful and where they could improve is by putting their figures side-by-side with other producers in similar systems. We hope that by publishing this report we can help farmers to do exactly that, and to find ways to continue the positive trends we've seen."

The full report can be downloaded at www.kingshay.co.uk.