The students were all studying agriculture in the China Agricultural University (CAU). They were here on an exchange that was coordinated by CAU and Alltech. They spent a number of weeks at Kildalton and Ballyhaise, followed by some time on Irish family farms.

Shia Haitao tells us about his time here:

Tell us about why you were in Ireland for the past few months?

Chinese dairy farming is very different from that in Ireland. The majority of dairy farms in China are large-scale farms or co-operative farms, which feed high-concentrate diets. Chinese students have little opportunity to know and experience pasture-based dairy farming.

There is huge demand among Chinese students to intern in Ireland for the opportunity to learn more about its healthy and sustainable dairy farming model. It was an amazing opportunity for us to work and live together with Irish farmers to understand their everyday lifestyle.

What did you do on your placement farm?

I stayed on the farm of Billy and Joanne Buckley, just outside Banteer, Co Cork. The Buckleys manage a herd of 140 Holstein cows. We milked twice daily, at 6:30 in the morning and 17:00 in the evening.

The amount of concentrate offered to the cows was automatically decided by the Dairymaster system according to their milk yield. The average milk yield per cow per year is 8,500 litres, the average butterfat is 4%, and milk protein is 3.57%.

The farm consists of 300 acres. Everyday besides milking, feeding heifers and calves, we also checked the dry cows to see if they were about to calve.

What have you learned?

The internship provided me with a chance to gain practical experience, such as milking in the parlour, making silage, and learning how family farms run with good management, such as grass management, nursing calves and so on. This experience has broadened my horizons and led to a deeper understanding of dairy farming.

Compared with Chinese farms, the Irish have many advantages. Milk solids, such as protein and butterfat, are much higher than in Chinese milk. In addition, Irish farmers keep firm control over diseases in comparison to the Chinese.

Irish farms, however, may also face some challenges, such as labour, land and investment costs in the future.

Do you believe Irish dairy farming is in line, technology wise, within the global dairy context?

Yes. First of all, Irish dairy farms produce milk at low cost because of the high-quality grassland.

Many Irish farmers measure their grassland regularly to determine which paddock cows should graze on and what kind of fertiliser they should use. Consequently, Irish farmers make sure they produce milk in a sustainable way.

Also, Irish dairy farming is environmentally friendly. All the manure is used to fertilise the grassland. It is good for both the environment and the farm. Cows are clean so they can produce milk containing low SCC and TBC.

What is the one thing that you will most remember from your time spent in Ireland?

There are excellent farmer training programmes available to Irish farmers and a farmer must receive a certification in order to be allowed to farm. Chinese dairy farmers do not have these education opportunities.

Most of China’s grassland has not been exploited or managed well, resulting in great resource waste. I believe that China could learn more from Ireland to improve education, land utilisation and the management of grassland.

This interview was facilitated by Alltech

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