Monthly Dairy Costings Overview

The latest July figures for Kingshay herds show milk prices are slowly starting to move upwards, with July 2026 averaging 34.62ppl. While this is a welcome lift compared with previous months, prices remain 21% below July 2025, when they averaged 43.94ppl. Drought conditions affected large parts of the UK, which increased the risk of heat stress, putting added pressure on cow performance, herd management and margins through the summer. Grass growth was severely reduced, grazing cows had less forage available and many farms had to buffer feed or start feeding winter feed stocks, pushing up feed costs.

Milk from forage averaged 8.2 litres/cow/day, the same compared to July 2025, although they are not surprisingly on a steeper downward trajectory than last year.

July 2026 milk yields have remained similar at 26.7 litres/cow/day compared with the same month last year. Concentrate prices averaged £300/tonne for July 2026, 1% lower than the same month last year.

The average margin over purchased feed for the month was £161 per cow, a decrease of 28% compared to the same month last year.

Rolling trends for the year ending July 2026 include:

• Concentrate use per cow remained similar to last year at 3009kg/cow.
• Margin over purchased feed per litre was down 15.5% on last year to 27.75ppl.
• Bulk cell counts decreased to 152 (‘000).
• Yields averaged 8,972 litres per cow, increasing by 3.8% compared to the 12 months ending July 2025.
• Milk from forage was up 14.2% compared to the preceding 12 months to 2,733 litres per cow, providing 31% of total yield.
• Purchased feed costs were 11ppl, a decrease of 5.3% compared to last year, with concentrate prices of £296/tonne compared to £305/tonne in the previous year.
• Milk price was down by 12.9% to 38.75ppl compared to the same month last year.