Munster Bovine has performed milk recording on 500,000 cows so far in 2021, the agricultural services provider has said.
After collaborating with the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) to find which farm the 500,000th recording was on, it was found that it took place on the farm of a Munster Bovine AI technician.
Micheál Durack, from Mountshannon, Co. Clare, has worked for Munster Bovine for 14 years. His dairy farm is located on the shores of Lough Derg, where he is currently milking 94 cows.
Durack has been milk recording for 10 years with Munster Bovine. A manual milk recorder customer, he records four times a year, and says he finds the information “hugely beneficial”.
“Of all the things that we do here on our farm, milk recording is a really essential activity and something that we wouldn’t stop,” Durack said.
The Clare farmer added: “We’re delighted that the Durack farm is part of this great milestone of more than half-a-million cows recorded by Munster Bovine and we wish all the milk recording team every success going forward.”
Munster Bovine says that there has been an 18% increase in the number of cows being milk recorded since 2019 across Munster and Co. Galway.
The company also said it was “heartening to see the commitment which the co-ops have given to their sustainability initiatives which has played a huge part in growing the number of cows being milk recorded”.
Mary O’Keefe, herd management manager with Munster Bovine, said: “2020 was a very challenging year for the entire milk recording team with service stoppages and restarts owing to the Covid-19 pandemic.”
She added: “There is no doubt that we see a greater appreciation for milk recording information at farm level. We hear it time and time again from our farmer customers how invaluable the service is to them.”
O’Keeffe concluded: “Looking at the challenges facing herd owners in the next few years in relation to reducing antibiotic use on farm, the need to milk more efficient cows from a carbon viewpoint, and ensuring a healthier herd going forward, milk recording is absolutely key to addressing these challenges.”