TASMANIAN milk production was down 6 per cent compared with January last year, DairyTas executive officer Mark Smith said.
Mr Smith said that milk production was slightly down across the nation due to a combination of the dry weather and localised flooding that affected most milk-producing regions, bringing either too much water or not enough.
``Tasmania has been drying out continually since late spring and that's put the pressure on - cow numbers look fairly similar to last year, but per cow production will be down and that will have an impact on profitability,'' Mr Smith said.
``The North-East may be slightly less affected than some of the areas to the west, like Circular Head and the central areas, but we don't have a regional break-up.
``The North-East probably had a better season, I would think, and could be in a slightly better position (than dairies further west) but I don't think there'd be a lot in it.''
Mr Smith said that dairy farmers faced financial challenges because of the low milk price and increases not being paid as early as producers would like.
``That affects farmers' ability to spend on feed and other things around their farms - they'll be holding back on things where they can and some of that will affect production,'' Mr Smith said.
``Cash flows are down - a lot of farmers are being paid below the cost of production at the moment.''