The milk production system promoted in Ireland must be revisited

Why are producers being pushed to get grazing when it is plain to see that in current conditions, this is damaging fields significantly, asks ruminant nutritionist Brian Reidy.

In current conditions, getting cows out too early is damaging fields significantly, warns ruminant nutritionist Brian Reidy.

Forgive me for checking, but isn’t it cows that produce the milk that dairy farmers sell to their processors? One would think from looking at social media and some press that it was grass that performed all of the magic.

So, why are milk yields way back this spring? It is simply because the cows producing it have not been supplied with sufficient energy. Milk production is a process of converting energy from the feed consumed by the cow into milk. If she doesn’t consume the energy, then she won’t produce the milk.