Hit-and-miss fire brigade vet service no longer adequate for Irish dairy herds
These cost estimates include veterinary expenses, loss of milk, reproductive difficulties and replacements.
UCD research on farms indicates that the average cost of one mastitis case can be as high as €260. This includes lower yields, milk withdrawal, treatment, price penalties and increased culling.
In 2006, UCD investigated problems on an 80 cow dairy herd in Kerry with an SCC of 400,000 to 500,000. There were also some lameness problems on the farm. Details of losses were calculated as €48,400 over a year, including production losses, treatment, discarded milk, culling, penalties and loss of bonuses.
The cost of a case of bad lameness is estimated at €312, including loss of production, infertility and culling. A recent improvement in roadways on the UCD farm gave a huge improvement in the locomotion and reduced lameness.
Health costs are a major drain on dairy farm profits, and vary widely between farms. Many of our top farmers have a preventative herd health plan which can pay for itself many times over. Irish dairy herds are now subject to so many diseases that a hit-and-miss fire brigade vet service is no longer adequate.
Many Irish farmers believe that high milk yields are in conflict with herd health and fertility. But preliminary results indicate that high yields need not significantly reduce fertility or cause other problems, in trials set up in Ireland and other parts of Europe a few years ago to examine the effect of high yields on health and fertility, under conditions of proper nutrition.
