This Focus on milk quality and milking equipment is heavily geared towards reducing the work in milking. We visit a high-performing dairy farm in Antrim which has gone down the robot road. While not a system for everyone, the fact that the cows are housed all year round on this farm does make the operation of the robots that bit easier.

The speed of progress in technology is astounding. While the increased competition in the market is not necessarily driving down prices, it is increasing the speed of technological improvement. All of this is being reflected in shorter attachment times and lower running costs, meaning more cows can be milked every day and more milk harvested per hour.

When it comes to future milking technology, you would have to say that it lies in robotics. For the typical Irish dairy farmer though, the adaptation of a robotic arm on to a batch milking facility such as a walk-through stall setup or a rotary is probably more advantageous in the long term than the voluntary system of milking as currently practiced by most automatic milking systems.

William Conlon visits an internal rotary parlour in Roscommon. Not nearly as popular as external rotaries, the Gunn family opted for the internal rotary as it allows them to see more cows being milked, which they think helps them to manage the herd better.

We also have a look at a milking facility in New Zealand. One thing that always stands out from visits to New Zealand farms is the standard of hygiene. The milking parlours, like the one featured, are always very well designed and spotless.

Time and money is spent at the start on making the farms labour-efficient and pleasant places to work.

Milk quality, particularly avoiding residues in milk, continues to present problems at processing level. We speak to David Gleeson from Moorepark on how to make the move to chlorine-free detergents.