Dairy farmers who are not milk recording their herds could be missing out on €184 higher output per cow, according to Don Crowley of Teagasc.

In a recent presentation, Crowley outlined the potential of milk recording and an explanation of the practice.

The difference in milk value between herds milk recording, in discussion groups and/or HerdPlus and herds not milk recording, is shown in a slide from the presentation below.

It shows that herds that were milk recording and in a discussion group and/or HerdPlus seen €184 higher output per cow.

The image also shows that herds that were milk recording and in a discussion group and/or Herdplus had a higher milk value compared to herds that had never milk recorded.

Furthermore, for a 70 cow herd, that’s the equivalent of a higher output of €12,880.
Milk Recording

Source: ICBF

Between 2010 and 2014 there was an increase in the number of dairy farmers milk recording their herds.

The increase has come on the back of a joint initiative between the Milk Recording Organisations and ICBF and supported by Teagasc.

According to ICBF data, in 2010 there was 5,933 herds milk recording. This increased to 6,552 herds in 2014.

The initiative targeted 3,500 herds highlighting the gains which can be achieve from milk recording and it also offered these herds one year’s free membership to HerdPlus.

However, the ICBF has said that there is still huge scope for improvement, as the number of cow’s milk recorded still only represents about 53% of total dairy cows (2014 figure) compared with a figure of 67% in New Zealand.