Dairy farmer survey puts ideal cow weight at 580kg

A major survey of almost 1,200 dairy farmers has shown that their preferred mature cow weight is 580kg.

This is 45kg heavier than the ICBF’s recently published 2026 Dairy Cow Weighing Programme, where 19,046 cows across 95 participating herds averaged 535kg.

Headed by Farranfore dairy farmer Con O’Mahony, a team of 20 surveyors from Rerouted Results, an agricultural research company, conducted in-person interviews with 1,170 dairy farmers across Cork, Waterford, Kilkenny, Carlow and Wexford.

The team’s findings suggest that dairy farmers see the ideal cow as larger than the current farm average.

O’Mahony said that while every dairy farmer has an opinion on cow type and size, this is the first time those preferences are mapped.

“The data got interesting,” he said. “There has been a huge focus on breeding efficient cows and controlling mature liveweight.

“What our survey tells us is that farmers themselves still see the ideal cow as somewhat larger than the average cow being weighed today.”

The survey, conducted between late May and late August, also found that nine out of 10 farms with 160 cows or more lease land, against just over half (54%) of farms under 80 cows.

A total of 74% of farmers with 80-119 cows leased land and 80% of those with 120-159 cows did.

Leased land made up 35% of the area farmed by dairy farmers with 160 cows or more.

“Almost nine in 10 of the larger farms we surveyed are leasing land and for the typical farmer in that group it accounts for around a third of the total area being farmed,” O’Mahony said.

“Leased land has effectively become part of the infrastructure supporting many of these larger dairy businesses. That also creates a vulnerability.

“If the economics of leasing change, tax incentives change, competition for land increases or environmental rules require farms to carry more land for the same number of cows, the consequences won’t be felt equally across the industry.

“The businesses that have grown most dependent on leased acres potentially have the greatest exposure to those changes.”

One in nine dairy farmers pay for help with their Bord Bia paperwork, according to the Rerouted Results survey.

When asked about the stress associated with their most recent audit, the farmers surveyed gave it an average score of 5.6 out of 10, while 32% gave it a stress score of eight or higher. Survey lead Con O’Mahony said his team found that once a farmer paid to have someone help with audit paperwork, their stress score dropped.

“Farm compliance has effectively become its own small industry,” he said.

“The farmers weren’t telling us they objected to producing a quality-assured product. The issue coming back was the time and administrative burden involved in proving it.

“When more than one in 10 farmers is prepared to pay somebody else to help deal with that paperwork, there is clearly a pain point.”