Have you started milk recording yet?

This year, 2022, will see changes to regulations around antibiotic use, making milk recording all that more important to dairy farmers.

Milk production on spring-calving herds has begun for 2022, with calving well underway on the vast majority of dairy farms.

Milk recording

On most farms where milk recording is carried out it has become an invaluable tool to monitor performance and control cell counts.

Speaking to Agriland recently, Dr. Joe Patton head of knowledge transfer with Teagasc, noted that milk recording is a major technology that has seen an improvement in uptake. But, there is still room for further uptake.

Dr. Patton also noted that technology like milk recording can help farmers to make better management decisions.

There is still a large number of farms that have yet to start recording cows and with the changes to blanket dry cow therapy approaching, the information obtained by milk recording will be invaluable.

Under the new regulations, milk recording data will be required to show that antibiotics are needed for cows at the drying-off stage.

When should I start?

It is recommend that you complete up to six recordings in a lactation. The first should be completed 30 days after calving has begun and the second about 30 days after this.

This will allow you to determine how successful your dry cow therapy was and figure out if changes may be required.

Doing the two close together means you are getting data on cows quite soon after calving, meaning you have the most up-to-date information available.

Two more recordings should be completed in mid-lactation to monitor cows as the lactation progresses. The final two recordings should take place prior to drying off.

The final two recordings will help to determine what will happen the cow at drying off and give you an idea of cell counts ahead of the first recording the following lactation.