How is the price of a pint of milk calculated?
Harry Williams is a farmer from Ballybrew near Enniskerry in County Wicklow, with a herd of 17 cows. One of his cows produces an over average 800-850 gallons of milk a year. It is difficult to calculate how much it costs him to produce a pint of milk.
Harry Williams works 365 days a year. During this time, he must grow and fertilise grass, buy his herd and replacements, put up buildings, buy winter feed and animal medicines, and pay the vet.
All this in addition to rates, electricity bills, machinery repairs, transportation costs and labour.
Harry Williams has a guaranteed quota of 40 gallons a day with the dairy. He receives approximately 2 new pence per pint. With costs escalating he needs this figure to rise to 2.5 pence per pint limited to what he can produce, the only way to get this 0.5 pence is by a price increase.
The Hughes Brothers dairy in Rathfarnham receives 40 gallons of milk per day. Michael O'Halloran explains they get 4 new pence for every pint of milk. The Department of Industry and Commerce controls this price, and the Department of Agriculture sets the price at which the dairy buys the milk.
Within the narrow margin the dairy collects the milk, free from the producer's premises, processes, bottles it and delivers it to the consumer's doorstep.
Michael O’Halloran believes that at just over 4 pence a pint, milk is a very cheap consumer product and is,
One of the very few that came down in price after decimalisation.
A housewife agrees it is very cheap at that price.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 7 May 1971. The reporter is John Ross.
