The milk statement arrives and the price is different again
Every month the milk buyer sends a statement. It shows each collection, or a monthly total, with litres, butterfat and protein percentages, the base price, adjustments for constituents, hygiene and cell count bands, seasonality, volume or collection charges, levies and any other deductions. The price per litre at the bottom is different from last month, and the reasons are spread through the statement.
You know roughly what to expect. But checking whether each element follows from your contract, and whether the litres match what left the tank, means sitting with the statement, the price schedule, and the collection records, and working through it line by line.
Why milk statements are hard to check
A milk statement is a calculation, and the inputs sit in different places.
- Collection volumes are measured by the tanker, and your own tank readings or parlour records may differ.
- Constituent and hygiene results come from samples tested by a lab and published on the buyer's portal.
- The price schedule changes with announcements, and each announcement changes one or two elements.
- Seasonality, volume and profile adjustments depend on the pattern of supply, not just the month's litres.
- Deductions for levies, services or purchases from the buyer arrive on the same statement.
On top of that, some contracts have bands and thresholds, where a small change in a result moves the whole month into a different price band. The rules are between you and your buyer, and we do not interpret them, but the arithmetic behind a statement is the kind of thing a system can check reliably.
What an unchecked statement costs a dairy farm
Milk income is the core of a dairy farm's cash flow, and errors, when they happen, repeat every month until someone spots them. A price announcement applied late, a collection missing from the statement, or a band applied from the wrong result are all possible in any large scale process.
There is more to lose than money. Monthly results, laid side by side, tell you how constituents and cell counts are moving through the year. When they only exist as a line on a PDF each month, that picture is harder to see. Your vet and nutritionist will ask for exactly those numbers.
A milk statement checker, month by month
What we build is a checker that recalculates each statement from your contract schedule and your own records.
- The price schedule and adjustment rules from your contract and each price announcement are recorded once, with the date they apply from. You confirm them from the buyer's documents.
- Statements and sample results are downloaded from the buyer's portal where it allows, or forwarded as PDFs, and read automatically.
- Each collection is matched against your own records: tank readings, parlour software totals or a simple daily entry, so missing or duplicated collections stand out.
- The statement is recalculated from the schedule and the results, element by element, and differences are listed with the working.
- A monthly view shows litres, constituents, hygiene and cell count results and the price per litre broken into its parts, month after month.
- The payment is matched to the bank, and the statement can be posted to Xero, QuickBooks or Sage with income and deductions split properly.
| Statement element | What the checker uses |
|---|---|
| Litres | Collection records, set against your tank or parlour figures |
| Constituent adjustments | Published results and the schedule in force |
| Hygiene and cell count bands | Results against the bands in your contract |
| Seasonality and profile | The rule you confirm from your contract |
| Deductions | Your list of expected levies and charges |
Month end with a checked statement
The statement lands on the buyer's portal. Overnight it is downloaded, read and recalculated. In the morning you see a summary: litres match your tank readings within the usual difference, constituents match the published results, and the price per litre matches the schedule, except one deduction you did not expect. You ask the buyer about it with the line in front of you.
When the vet or nutritionist visits, the year's constituent and cell count trend is on one page.
Is your milk statement a monthly mystery?
- You check the total price per litre but not each element.
- Price announcements are hard to trace through to the statement.
- Your tank or parlour figures and the collected litres are never compared.
- Monthly results are not kept side by side anywhere.
- Deductions appear that you are not sure about.