Farmers who supply Muller are being offered an additional payment worth half a pence per litre if they commit to three animal health initiatives.
Müller Direct farmers who commit to initiatives designed to continually improve herd health andwelfare standards are to be offered the additional payment.
The Müller Direct Premium 2019 will be introduced on January 1st, 2019, with payment based on involvement by farmers in three herd health initiatives.
These are the Müller Direct Farm Insight Programme, Antibiotic Programme and National Johne’s Management Plan.
The premium would be worth £10,000 to a 2 million litre per annum producer and will be paid in a lump sum in January 2020 to Müller Direct farmers who qualify.
‘Sharing best practice’
Rob Hutchison, Milk Supply Director said the dairy company wants to create “better and more sustainable businesses”.
“We know that Müller Direct farmers are deeply committed to the health of their herds. Many have already taken important steps to address the unnecessary use of antibiotics, manage Johne’s and look for ways to improve overall health and welfare,” Mr Hutchinson said.
“We are confident that the benefits of participating, in terms of potential improvements in herd health and welfare coupled with the value of benchmarking and sharing best practice, will be significant.”
He added: “For Müller the aggregated, anonymised data from the herd health initiatives will provide evidence of improved herd health and welfare in our direct farm pool which we will be able to share with our customers who have no direct relationship with farmers.”
Volatility
The Premium is the latest in a series of moves by Müller which are designed to increase farmers’ ability to withstand increasingly volatile global dairy markets.
Other measures include the introduction of a fixed price contract option and opportunities for farmers to access dairy futures markets.
Müller will be discussing the Müller Direct Premium 2019 and the details of the three herd health initiatives at a series of meetings for Müller Direct supplying farmers over the next few weeks.
