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Cold snap takes heat out of milk production
Tuesday, 20 April 2021
By Chris Gooderham
The cold spell of weather that swept across the country from 5 April has taken milk production back down in line with last year and the milk forecast.
As suspected, the colder weather hampered grass growth during the latest week of our Forage for Knowledge survey. The poorer grazing has then slowed the seasonal lift in volumes. Volumes still rose during the latest week (to 10 April), but only by 0.6%, which is much lower than the normal rise at this time of year.
The 7-day rolling average GB milk production is now just 0.2% above our forecast, having been more than 1.1% above just a week ago. The surplus over last year is now just 0.3%, down from 1.5% on 3 April.
Last week we were concerned about how high milk production was running as we headed for the May peak. However, as expected, the cold weather has given some respite to the industry. The cold spell of weather did continue into the following week (to 17 April), and the lift in milk volumes is expected to be constrained again next week.
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