Milk recording investment can repay ten-fold
There was a 5% increase in 2014 and 10% in 2015. We now have over 50% of our cows being milk recorded.
More and more farmers are appreciating the advantages of milk recording.
Some farmers might be considering dropping out this year but this would not generally be a wise decision. From the point of view of improving the quality of our national dairy herd it is desirable to have at least 70% of our cows milk recorded.
According to analysis by Don Crowley of Teagasc, herds with milk recording and in a discussion group or HerdPlus have seen €184 higher output per cow.
A major barrier to milk recording in the past was the cost of meters and jars.
This is now being gradually overcome with electronic meters which are being shared out to farmers by their Recording Society.
Data from milk recording provides huge financial benefits as it enables farmers to select the best cows for breeding replacements.
Data from milk recording has shown that on average, cows bred from AI were well over €100 per lactation more profitable than those bred from good stock bulls.
With the new very high EBI bulls the benefits are much greater. As regards fertility there is ample proof that fertility to AI is as good as natural service if heat detection and AI is properly carried out.
Data from ICBF proves that there is as many heifer calves as bulls from dairy AI. A stock bull may be less trouble but will generally be as costly as AI, as well as the danger element.
The obvious and immediate advantage of milk recording is that it shows each individual cow’s milk yield, milk composition and SCC. Milk recording is the only means by which proper control can be kept on SCC. Casual testing for SCC will cost almost as much and is not very effective for controlling problems.
Recording societies and pedigree breeders are now closely linked up to the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF). Farmers using the milk recording service can participate in “Herd Plus” by sending details of animal events to the ICBF throughout the year.
In return they receive not only milk recording data, but also information on fertility, health and other data that is used to determine an Economic Breeding Index (EBI) for individual cows and herds.
This information is critical for breeding and culling purposes. In the future, as more and more information becomes available from the ICBF regarding sires and cows it will be possible for farmers to make more scientific breeding decisions for their herds. Different farmers will have different priorities and they will be able to select animals to suit their own requirements.
Other advantages of milk recording include much higher prices for stock in the event of being depopulated, higher prices for surplus stock and the opportunity to breed from your best cows and comprehensive mastitis reports.
Farmers who make optimum use of milk recording can get a ten fold return on their investment.
Milk recording will also facilitate participation in herd health schemes.
Farmers who are not familiar with the end of year analysis should discuss it with their recording society and Teagasc in order to get the full benefit from recording.
Unfortunately a lot of farmers do not make full use of their recording reports, which can be very valuable.
The first step in milk recording is to contact your local recording society. This is very urgent now.
Cost of Milk Recording
Different types of manual milk recording schemes are being offered to farmers.
The A4 (4-week recording) costs €19 per cow. A5 (10 visits) costs €16 per cow.
The cost of A6 is €13.50 per cow and the A8 scheme (four visits) is €11.50 per cow. There is also an A7 scheme which provides five visits, costing €12.50 per cow. There is a herd fee of €60 for all systems.
Relatively cheap meters are available from the recording societies for farmers who haven’t recording jars or other recording systems. These meters should be disconnected from your milking system after recordings as they have a bad effect on vacuum levels.
