GB deliveries drop down following Beast from the East 2

By Felicity Rusk

At this point in the season, milk production would typically be increasing towards the spring flush. However in the week ending 13 February, GB daily deliveries dropped back by 1.0% on the previous week to average 33.41 million litres a day.

This latest drop in production is a reflection of the cold weather and snow experienced by much of the UK in what some predicted to be the Beast from the East 2. According to the Met Office, even daytime temperatures were only around 1⁰C, along with strong winds making temperatures feel colder. Reports suggest that temperatures plunged to -23⁰C on the Wednesday night in north-east Scotland, making it the coldest temperature recorded in the UK since 1995.

While the cold snap did impact milk volumes, the losses were nothing compared with the original Beast from the East. Between 28 Feb and 4 Mar 2018, an estimated 17 million litres of milk went uncollected as the snow caused widespread disruption. This time round, some areas of the UK did receive large amounts of snow, but the impact on milk collections was limited.

Evidence suggests that adult dairy cattle can acclimatise to temperatures as low as -15⁰C over a period of time without having to re-direct energy into thermoregulation. However, ‘optimum’ ambient temperatures suggest a lower limit of around 5⁰C. With this cold snap lasting only a number of days, it is likely that cows re-directed energy away from milk production into thermoregulation, and so subsequently milk production declined.

With temperatures recovering in the following week, milk volumes are expected to start to recover.

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