The latest Milk Price Tracker - brought to you by Agriland and the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA) - details milk prices from the most significant Irish dairy co-ops for the month of February.

The co-ops within the Milk Price Tracker are ranked from highest to lowest price for base milk price only.

It is important to note that the cent-per-litre (c/L) milk prices shown in the table below are calculated using the widely accepted milk pricing system.

The conversion factor used is 1.03, which means that 1L of milk corresponds to 1.03kg of milk.

It is Agriland and ICMSA policy not to include support payments, bonuses, or additional payments in the calculation of the base milk price.

February Milk Price Tracker

Milk prices held fairly steady this month, with the majority of cooperatives holding the same milk price offered for January supplies.

The only real difference in the month was Strathroy increasing its price by 1c/L to a base price of 35c/L.

Half of the cooperatives are offering above 35c/L base price, with the highest base price on offer sitting at 36.92c/L.

Meanwhile, the other half are all offering a base price of, or below, the 35c/L mark, with the lowest offering sat at 32.75c/L.

The average base price for the month is coming in at 35.29c/L.

Considering that green diesel is still on the rise, fertiliser prices are soaring, advisor fees have gone up, spring grazing is still no easy task, and milk cheques have been hit as flat-rate addition is reduced from 5% to 4.5%, the cost of production is quickly elevating.

It had being estimated to be in or around the 37c/L mark, however it's more than likely over the 40c/L mark this spring.

In a year where 'volatility' is the key phrase, not much seems to be going the way of the dairy farmer.

The only upside seems to be calf sales which are acting as a financial buffer, however even they have seen a slight decline in the last week.

With peak milk production starting to drive on now, dairy farms will be eager for prices to take an upward turn for March and April supplies.

February bonuses and penalties

Further details of bonuses and penalties for the Milk Price Tracker can be found by clicking here.

With regard to the latest Milk Price Tracker for February, the following explanatory notes (all bonus and penalty payments are based on manufacturing milk) apply.

Unconditional bonuses

ArraTipp pays a 2.91c/L(ex VAT) winter bonus payment of which applies to all milk volumes that meet quality criteria;
Aurivo is paying a 3c/L (excl. VAT) early milk payment on February milk supplies;
Boherbue is paying a milk price top up of 2.39c/L for February supplies;
Carbery is paying a 2.39c/L (excl. VAT) to the four West Cork Co-ops. These co-ops paid this as part of their A and B price for January;
Dairygold is paying an Early Calving Bonus of 5c/L (excl. VAT) on all milk that meets a balanced scorecard;
Kerry Dairy Ireland is paying a base price top up of 2.87c/L (excl. VAT) on January supplies - this was paid as part of its A and B price for February;
Lakeland Dairies is paying an unconditional early calving bonus of 1.91c/L (excl. VAT) on February supplies;
Lakeland Dairies is also paying an unconditional input support payment bonus of 1.91c/L (excl. VAT) on February supplies;
North Cork is paying a supplementary 0.91c/L (excl. VAT) on February supplies;
Tirlán pays an seasonality bonus of 5c/L (excl. VAT) for milk supplied in February that meets quality criteria

Conditional bonuses

ArraTipp pays a 0.4c/L (excl. VAT) bonus on all milk with a somatic cell count (SCC) less than 200,000 cells/ml;
ArraTipp pays a 0.712/L (excl. VAT) sustainability bonus;
Aurivo is paying a 0.5c/L (excl. VAT) future milk sustainability bonus;
Aurivo has a milk storage bonus which is available to suppliers with a minimum annual supply of 160,000L that have enough refrigerated storage capacity to cover seven milkings at peak production. The storage bonus of 0.44c/L was taken from the ‘C’ from September 2021. ‘C’ is 3.813;
Aurivo has a 0.21c/L (excl. VAT) protein bonus available for every 0.05% protein achieved, above the co-op average protein %, in an individual month;
Carbery Group pays a bonus of 0.5c/L (excl. VAT) from March to October and a 0.88c/L (excl. VAT) bonus from November to February to suppliers who achieve an SCC of less than 200,000 cells/ml;
In September 2022, Carbery began to pay a sustainability bonus of 0.5c/L to farmers who have committed to Carbery’s futureproof programme. This is 1.25c/L for 2025 and is paid on all milk supplied by farmers who have signed a sustainability pledge and complete three actions. This is paid in January each year;
Dairygold has a maximum bonus attainable by farmers who achieve the minimum requirements for six criteria (total bacteria count (TBC); thermoduric; sediment; SCC; lactose and inhibitors). This cumulatively amounts to 0.4c/L (excl. VAT);
Dairygold has a 1.06c/L grassroots sustainability bonus payment for water quality, protected urea, soil health, education, milk recording, herd health and Sustainable Dairy Assurance Scheme (SDAS);
Kerry Dairy Ireland is paying a sustainability bonus of 1.35c/L (excl. VAT) for a range of measures. This payment was introduced in January 2025. This includes the 0.4c/L (excl. VAT) bonus on all milk with an SCC less than 200,000 cells/ml and 0.1c/L (excl. VAT) for SDAS;
Lakeland Dairies is paying a 0.47c/L (excl. VAT) milk sustainability bonus;
Lakeland Dairies is also paying a 4.5c/L (excl. VAT) out of season bonus if a farmer supplied of 30% of their May 2025 milk in February 2026;
North Cork pays a 0.2c/L (excl. VAT) bonus on all milk with an SCC of less than 200,000 cells/ml;
North Cork pays a 0.135c/L (excl. VAT) bonus if four milk recordings are carried out in the year. It will be paid the following January;
Strathroy pays a 0.25c/L (excl. VAT) bonus on all milk with an SCC of less than 200,000 cells/ml;
Strathroy also pays a 0.25c/L (excl. VAT) bonus on all milk with a TBC of less than 10,000 cells/ml;
Strathroy pays a 0.5c/L (excl. VAT) sustainability bonus, this was introduced in January 2024;
Tirlán is paying a sustainability action payment of 0.47c/L (excl. VAT) .