A new national dairy calf research centre is set to open in early 2025 with infrastructure already in place to allow for significant research at the new facility, Agriland can reveal.
The calf research facility has been developed in conjunction with a number of leading industry partners.
It is understood that initial research trials could focus on key issues relating to calf nutrition and health as well as daily live weight gain, animal husbandry and livestock emissions.
The results of these trials and associated data could play a key role in shaping future policy decisions.
The key industry partners who are involved in the new research centre include:
- ABP Food Group;
- Dairy Research Ireland;
- FBD Insurance;
- JFC Group;
- MSD Animal Health;
- Ornua;
- University College Dublin (UCD).
The new facility which has been kept under wraps until today ( Wednesday, December 18) will be located at the UCD Lyons Farm in Celbridge, Co. Kildare.
It is also understood that the research facility will examine the roll of different types of inputs including milk replacers, concentrates and animal-health products and their impact on the subsequent performance of the calves, with the support of the partners involved.
The official opening of the new state-of-the-art facility is expected to take place in February 2025.
Dairy cow numbers up 42% in decade to 2023 – CSO
The new facility comes at a time when the composition of the national herd has changed significantly over the past decade.
Data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) published on Agriland yesterday (Tuesday, December 17) outlined that the total number of cattle in Ireland in 2023 stood at 7,341,481.
The Farm Structure Survey 2023 report shows that the number of cattle in the country increased by 438,835 (6%) from 2013 to 2023.
Since 2013, the overall number of Irish farms with cattle fell by 8,756 (-8%) to 102,564 farms last year.
In 2023, there were 16,844 farms with dairy cows (2013: 18,145), 61,442 with other cows (2013: 77,205) and 101,597 with other cattle (2013: 110,350).
According to the report, the number of dairy cows in 2023 was 1,646,641, while the number of other cows was 872,148.
In 2013, there had been a similar number of dairy cows to other cows, at 1,163,201 and 1,150,274 respectively.
However, in the 10 years from 2013 to 2023 the number of dairy cows has increased by 483,440 animals (41.6%), while the number of other cows has decreased by 24% or 278,126 animals.
While the national average herd sizes for other cattle was 47, up from 42 in 2013.