DEAR SIR:

It was very disappointing to see the Irish Farmers Journal recently suggesting that farmers could “protect profit” by taking a break from milk recording.

In fact, this even contradicted an earlier news piece in the same paper, referring to a gross margin gain of €42/cow for milk recording herds!

A recent Teagasc and AHI study showed that herds that were milk recording had gross margins and milk yields that were 11.3% and 13.5% higher, and a bulk tank SCC that was on average 26% lower than those herds that didn’t milk record.

Steady increase

There has been a steady increase in the uptake of milk recording in the last two years; to drop it now would be counter-productive if we’re really trying to protect profit and short-sighted if we are serious about responsible antimicrobial use and addressing antimicrobial resistance.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a genuine global threat. New European Regulations become law in Ireland in January 2022 and will require changes in relation to antimicrobial use to reduce the risk of AMR developing.

One such change is that we will only be able to use dry cow antibiotic to treat cows that have an infection at the end of the lactation.

Without milk recording information, how will we know which cows these are?

As reported in the Irish Farmers Journal recently, significant improvements have been made in udder health in the last decade by Irish farmers, resulting in an annual reduction in the national somatic cell count (SCC).

Recent Teagasc and AHI work shows that this SCC reduction is worth an extra 0.6c/l milk, relative to 2013 SCC levels.

This improvement in udder health has been achieved through hard work, good management practices and informed decisions.

We cannot expect continued progress without milk recording information.

The dairy industry recognises the multiple benefits of milk recording and has been working collectively over the last two years to improve uptake, from one of the lowest bases among any of our competitor countries.

Let’s not throw away this progress; milk recording will allow farmers to be more profitable, and help the fight against antimicrobial resistance.