The Irish Milk Quality Co-operative Society Ltd (IMQCS) has changed its name to Milk Quality Ireland Co-operative Society Ltd following a decision by its committee of management.

Milk Quality Ireland is a collaborative body with a remit in the area of dairy farm infrastructure, which includes representatives from the Irish Co-operative Organisation Society (ICOS), the dairy co-ops, Teagasc, milking machine manufacturers and milking machine technicians.

It was established 30 years ago in 1989 to improve milk quality standards in Ireland, to provide suitable training and certification programmes in milking machine testing and installation and to strive to ensure that Irish milking machine installation and testing standards equate with best international practice.

Milk Quality Ireland also maintains a register of certified milking machine technicians, with 263 technicians currently on the Milk Quality Ireland register.

Milk Quality Ireland will continue this important work with a renewed focus on helping the dairy industry and farmers to meet significant new demands

The chair of Milk Quality Ireland Jerry Long said: “I’m extremely pleased to announce the unveiling of Milk Quality Ireland. In recent years, we have focused on broader areas of milk quality, as well as providing training and certification of milking machine technicians.

“Milk Quality Ireland will continue this important work with a renewed focus on helping the dairy industry and farmers to meet significant new demands in relation to milk quality.

“These new demands relate to the adoption of non-chlorine cleaning protocols for milking equipment and bulk milk tanks, which will require changes to existing practices at farm level in order to respond to market requirements.

The body will also play a vital role in ensuring that there are sustainable career pathways and fit for purpose educational programmes for the service providers

“Furthermore, the transition to selective dry cow therapy will be an important issue for Milk Quality Ireland, as new legislation will prohibit the blanket use of antibiotics on dairy farms by 2022. This transition will require careful management including the need to scale up the level of milk recording across the national herd,” he said.

He also said that the body will also play a vital role in ensuring that there are sustainable career pathways and fit for purpose educational programmes for the service providers that Irish dairy farmers depend upon and help to underpin the industry’s high-quality standards.

Read more

Performance drop in dairy cows fed field beans

Farmer fury over milk price cuts