Doubling of concentrate feeds leads to 38% milk yield increase in North
Teagasc researcher Patrick Gillespie has tracked the North’s phenomenal increase in milk output since 1996, which was achieved with the same national herd size.
The increase has taken place due to an increase of almost 2,000 litres per cow in milk yield, largely driven by a doubling in the level of concentrates used to 2,400kg per cow.
“As a consequence, Northern Ireland milk production is considerably more reliant on concentrate feed than milk production in the Republic of Ireland and more exposed to feed price risk,” said Mr Gillespie.
“The returns generated by both Northern Ireland and dairy farmers in the South are similar on a per hectare basis. Northern Ireland dairy farmers are not generating any additional reward to cover the increased risks associated with their system of milk production.”
Mr Gillespie aired his findings during a seminar hosted by Teagasc in Horse and Jockey, Co Tipperary, on Ireland’s plans to expand milk production during the next five to 10 years.
Teagasc’s researchers said it is important the dairy sector uses appropriate benchmarks to measure performance.
Teagasc will work with dairy farmers to benchmark farm performance and urged farmers to benchmark their farm performance before planning, or indeed undertaking, expansion.
