Improving milk from forage from the 60 Holstein and Fleckvieh cows on the Gareth McAdam’s farm is key for him to produce milk as economically as possible.

A dispersed farm layout, as well as installation of a Lely Astronaut A4 robotic parlour 18 months ago, has made Gareth use a zero-grazing system to maximise milk from grass.

Harold Stevenson from McLarnon Feeds gave visitors a rundown of two of the most efficient cows on the farm to show what Gareth is ideally looking for in his herd.

Cow 27 is a Holstein cow that was purchased a few days after she calved in late April this year. She is in her second lactation and has produced 5,900 litres in 157 days in milk, with 3,100 litres produced from grass. She has averaged almost 37 litres from 3.9 milkings per day and received 1.35t of dairy nuts this lactation. Condition score is 2.5 and she is due to calf on 30 March with a calving interval of 337 days.

Cow 26 is a Fleckvieh cow that was imported from Austria in 2012. She is in her fourth lactation and has produced 8,900 litres in 201 days in milk, with 4,000 litres being produced from grass. On average she has produced 44 litres from 4.4 milkings per day and received 2.5t of dairy nuts this lactation. Condition score is 3.25 and she is due to calf on 4 March with a calving interval of 355 days.

Full coverage of the event is in next week’s Northern edition of the Irish Farmers Journal.