While it’s not something that’s widely practiced in Ireland, flexible milking is common practice in some other countries, New Zealand being the main example.

Essentially, flexible milking means the farm moving from milking twice a day (TAD) to a different routine at some point in the year.

This typically plays out as a switch to either once-a-day milking (OAD) or ten milkings every seven days for some part of the lactation.

In New Zealand, the percentage of farms milking cows TAD all-year-round is as low as 40%. This is according to Conor Hogan, people research officer at Teagasc Moorepark.

The other 60% of farms are practicing some form of flexible milking for at least part of the season.

Once-a-day

OAD milking is the most self-explanatory. There are already farms in Ireland who milk OAD from July or August on and have been doing so for years.

The big advantage is the time saved. With most milkings taking in the region of two and a half to four hours, OAD milking means farmers benefit from a much lighter workload in the latter half of the year.

Energy costs are also a big saving, with the daily requirement for electricity at milking cut by close to half.

In terms of feeding, cows will still eat close to full allocations with the reductions in intake observed at a very small 2% in a Dairy NZ, New Zealand study.

That study was run across one herd, with half of the cows milked TAD for the full-year and the other half milked TAD until mid-lactation before moving to OAD in the second half of the year.

The reduction in milk solids for the herd milking OAD over the half year period was 13%. This worked out to a total drop of 5% milk solids over the entire season.

This smaller full season impact is because the cows had already delivered two-thirds of their annual output by the time the changeover happened.

The benefits of the OAD system were seven less milkings per week for almost five months, an extra 0.25 BCS per cow on average at dry-off and the 2% saving in feed.

Ten in seven

The practice of ten in seven milking is also very popular in New Zealand. The impact of this routine is not as severe in terms of milk output while still taking four milkings per week off the rota.

The big advantage of ten in seven is that there are only two milkings at the weekend, one on Saturday and one on Sunday.

The time split can vary with a common option being a 10-19-19 interval. That means 10 hours between the first and second milking, with 19 hours between each of the next two milkings.

To make the rota work, the Saturday and Sunday intervals must be slightly longer to fit the schedule as can be seen in Table 1 below.

Weekly intervals: 10 + 19 + 19 + 10 + 19 + 19 + 10 + 19 + 21 + 22 = 168 hours (exactly 10 milkings per 7 days)

A Teagasc study found the difference in total milk solids output using the ten in seven system for half the lactation, resulted in just 3% less milk solids across the season.

SCC

A common question or concern from farmers in relation to changing milking intervals is around cell count issues.

Conor Hogan said at a recent research insights day in Moorepark that cell count does rise when milking frequency changes, particularly for farms moving to OAD.

The change is relatively small in most cases but it’s something to be aware of, especially on those farms who may already have a cell count issue.

On the average farm with a normal cell count below 120,000, changing milking frequency shouldn’t cause serious problems.

If there is still hesitancy, the problem cows or repeat offenders can be dried off or culled from the herd to lower the risk.

Grass

As the interval between milkings change, getting grass allocation right takes a bit of extra management.

OAD milking is straightforward in this regard. The herd should be offered their normal 24-hour allocation in one go. If paddocks are set up for 36-hour grazings cows will need a move during the second day.

In the ten and seven option, the easiest way to manage grass is to give cows an extra move on the day they are milked once.

The alternative is to calculate the demand based on the length of time the cows will be in the paddock and use a strip wire to manage areas.

When cows have the longer interval, they should be offered close to double the area of the first interval.

Comment

Flexible milking is not something the dairy industry in Ireland has embraced but as farms get bigger and staff become harder to source, it’s an area we will have to start looking at.

It provides a major labour saving, an improved work-life balance and when it's done well can reduce costs, without having a major impact on profitability.

Thinking realistically, 2026 has been a tough year in terms of cashflow for many farms. For those who are struggling and can’t afford to lose out on any milk, it may not be the right year to try flexible milking but it’s certainly something to keep in mind for the future.