Aurivo and Teagasc join forces to launch dairy development initiative

Efficiency in breeding, fertility, and grass management will be vital to dairy expansion, Aurivo Co-op and Teagasc have told farmers in the west and north-west of Ireland.

Aurivo and Teagasc have joined forces in a new Farm Focus initiative aimed at enhancing output and profitability of milk production on farms in Aurivo’s region. The co-op covers Connacht and Donegal Creameries’ milk and retail stores in Donegal. The initiative is to be led by Dr Roberta McDonald, farm profitability programme manager with Aurivo.

John Daly, general manager with Aurivo, said the joint initiative will use all advisory and communications resources to ensure that farmers can avail of the most profitable technologies. He said Teagasc’s research on its Ballyhaise dairy farm will be highly relevant to the programme.

“The key messages on breeding, fertility, grass dry matter and high milk solids output that have combined to give the Ballyhaise farm an average profit of €800/cow over the past three years are targets to which dairy farmers in our region should aspire,” said Mr Daly.

A key part of the programme will involve the establishment of Focus Farms which will be used to demonstrate the application of proven research and to benchmark best practice on efficient milk production.