Short-term once a day (OAD) milking “is an option on all farms at early lactation”, according to Teagasc senior research officer Emer Kennedy.

This is backed up by a study last year finding no difference in yields between cows milked once a day for two weeks at the start of lactation and those milked twice a day from the start.

Kennedy was speaking at the Teagasc once a day milking conference in the Horse and Jockey Hotel, Thurles, Co. Tipperary today, Wednesday, January 15.

Commenting on the development of the Irish dairy sector in recent years, Kennedy noted that there is a higher labour input required – and particularly in the spring.

L-R: Eimear Kennedy, Teagasc Moorepark; Keith Davis, Lydney Park farm manager; Donal Mullane, Teagasc regional manager Tipperary; Patrick Gowing, Teagasc Moorepark; and Brian Hilliard, Teagasc Dungarvan. Image source: O’Gorman Photography

“We need to look for possible solutions – and one possible solution is once a day milking. This can be short-term once a day milking or full-time once a day milking.

“In systems where milk productions per cow is not the focus, once a day milking on a full-time basis may be a viable alternative,” she said.

However, we believe that once a day milking has a role to play on many farms throughout the country, because short-term once a day milking can help alleviate those labour shortages – particularly during the busy spring calving period.

The research officer provided attendees of the conference an update of a research programme on OAD, which included studies in Teagasc Moorepark in both 2018 and 2019, and is expected to run for “the next number of years”.

In 2019, Teagasc conducted an experiment on 85 cows, comprised of five 17-cow groups: a full-time once a day herd; a full-time twice a day herd; and three short-term once a day treatment groups of two, four and six weeks. This examined immediate and total lactation performance.

Commenting on the results of this, Kennedy said:

Looking at the production performance of the first six weeks…if we compare the full-time twice a day to the once a day for two weeks, there’s absolutely no difference between those two treatments.

“If we compare the cows that were milked once a day for four and six weeks, and the full time once a day, what we did see was there was a reduction of 12% in their milk solids compared to the twice a day cows.”

Measuring the milking performance after the first 10 weeks of lactation, Kennedy noted that again there was no difference between the twice a day cows and the cows on once a day treatment for two weeks.

However, she noted: “Milking cows once a day for four weeks and six weeks at the start of lactation reduced milk yield by 14% in comparison with twice a day, and milk solids were reduced by 8%.”

Continuing, she said:

If you were to compare the full-time once a day to the full-time twice a day, we noticed a 22% reduction in milk yield and a 15% reduction in milk solids after the first 10 weeks.

“Overall, we had a 29% reduction in milk yield in the once a day cows compared to the twice a day cows,” she said, but highlighted the actual values of milk produced per cows.

“They were quite high yielding. The twice a day cows yielded over 6,000kg and the once a day cows were yielding almost 4,500kg,” Kennedy said.

“In terms of milk solids, we can see that the twice a day cows had a very good production of 511kg of milk solids and the once a day cows – which is still really good – had about 400kg of milk solids.

“So, all in all, it was about 23% reduction in milk solids yield for the once a day cows compared to the twice a day cows,” the researcher concluded.