Across a total of 87 days this summer, milk output fell further below its expected level than on any equivalent date between 2008 and 2025.
This included every day during July and August as the pattern worsened as the summer progressed.
The Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) say that the extreme heat and drought mixed with an increase in input prices were major factors in the reduction.
Tom Cantillon, Senior Analyst at the ECIU, said: “For months, UK dairy farms produced below a normal summer, and by August the scale of the impact was regularly worse than anything seen in 18 years. The missing £83 million from farmers’ pockets has gone in a year when many were already milking at a loss.”
Grass growth for the season stood at 86% of the 2019-2024 average, with the lost growth to date enough to feed the national cattle herd for two months.
The ECIU warn that with most of a normal season’s growth already over, this gap is unlikely to be closed.
Mr Cantillon added: “The costs don’t stop now that the rain has come. Summers like this will keep getting worse until we cut emissions to net zero and bring the climate back into balance.”
Many farmers have already began feeding winter feed to their cattle, leaving them more expose to hay and silage prices in the colder months.
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