Local meetings for dairy farmers with cashflow concerns

January 4, 2024

With the New Year thoughts will turn to the prospect of a tax payment at the end of this month – the result of the much better 22/23 year. Despite recent increases in milk base price, some dairy businesses are still not able to cover the full cost of production and the tax payment represents a significant challenge to cashflow.

CAFRE have organised a series of meetings to provide some advice to farmers on managing the present situation and plan for the future. The panel of speakers will include an accountant, representatives from a bank and Rural Support. A CAFRE Adviser will also look at minimising the larger bills and the mixed merits of maximising milk output.

The end of January tax payment is a focus on many dairy businesses this year. There may be ways of spreading the load and reducing the payment on account if action is taken early.

Lending organisations support normally profitable dairy businesses and will work with them to find the most manageable way to weather this present storm – providing there is a clear plan for recovery that has been mutually agreed.

Rural Support is often associated with mental health support to the farming community but the organisation has a wide range of services including support and mentoring for businesses in difficulty – and it’s a completely confidential service.

CAFRE financial benchmarking has identified a range of production costs and profitability depending on the efficiency of production – regardless of the system used. Feed efficiency is key on a dairy farm as for many businesses feed represents a significant proportion of the milk cheque. Advisers will look at the factors affecting the impact of feeding level on financial margin.

The CAFRE website has an area dedicated to support to dairy businesses giving advice on feeding, business management, preparing and using a cashflow. It can be found at www.cafre.ac.uk/business-support/agriculture/dairy