The Irish Milk Quality Co-operative Society (IMQCS) has taken on a new name, as well has a “remit in the area of dairy farm infrastructure”.
Milk Quality Ireland Co-operative Society was officially launched last week, and describes itself as a “collaborative body”, made up of representatives of the Irish Co-operative Organisation Society (ICOS); the dairy co-ops; Teagasc; as well as milking machine manufacturers and technicians.
In a statement, Milk Quality Ireland said it would continue to “improve milk quality standards in Ireland” and to ensure milking machines meet the appropriate international standards.
I’m extremely pleased to announce the unveiling of Milk Quality Ireland. In recent years, we have focused on broader areas of milk quality, as well as providing training and certification of milking machine technicians.
“Milk Quality Ireland will continue this important work with a renewed focus on helping the dairy industry and farmers to meet significant new demands in relation to milk quality,” said Jerry Long, chairman of Milk Quality Ireland.
He added: “These new demands relate to the adoption of non-chlorine cleaning protocols for milking equipment and bulk milk tanks, which will require changes to existing practices at farm level in order to respond to market requirements.”
According to Long, the transition to selective dry cow therapy will be one of the more important issues the new organisation faces.
This transition will require careful management, including the need to scale-up the level of milk recording across the national herd.
Concluding his remarks, Long said: “Milk Quality Ireland will also play a vital role in ensuring that there are sustainable career pathways and fit-for-purpose educational programmes for the service providers that Irish dairy farmers depend upon and who help underpin our industry’s high-quality standards.”