Scottish Dairy Hub

Make Milk the Number one choice

By Stuart Martin, Scottish Dairy Hub Manager

The promotion of milk and dairy products with consumers will come to a crescendo on June 1st on World Milk Day.

In 2001, World Milk Day was established by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations to recognize the importance of milk as a global food, and to celebrate the dairy sector. Each year since, the benefits of milk and dairy products have been actively promoted around the world.

The 2021 World Milk Day campaign was a huge success and through all the support and efforts #WorldMilkDay created 1.38 billion impressions, the global campaign (including #EnjoyDairy plus 17 translations and local hashtags) reached 369 million impressions, with 199,295 posts using the hashtag #WorldMilkDay

The 2022 World Milk Day theme will highlight the work being done to accelerate climate action and help reduce the sector’s impact on the planet and aim to raise awareness of the messaging and action towards Dairy Net Zero.

This is a great opportunity for us all to get positively involved, not only this year, but in the future. How you can do this can be found at https:// worldmilkday.org/

We all know that milk and dairy products, such as cheese and yoghurt, are great sources of protein and calcium, and they can form part of a healthy, balanced diet, so it is important we all use this initiative to shout about these positivities from the roof tops. Data released earlier this year highlighted supermarket sales of all dairy products remain higher than they were pre-pandemic, with an extra 302 million litres of milk bought last year compared to 2019.

For all year-round positive messaging, I would also urge all users on twitter to follow @ dairyuk who put so many upbeat tweets out about the benefits of consuming dairy products. A lot of the information can be found on the Dairy UK website which is an excellent resource in featuring the key benefits of dairy and presenting the industry in a positive light.

Happy World Milk Day

The SCOTTISH DAIRY HUB offers dairy farmers and service providers a free signposting service connecting the dairy sector throughout Scotland. Visit our website to view all the latest information on our noticeboard and events page

www.scottishdairyhub.org.uk Tel: 03454 755110 Mob: 07500 766083 Email: lnfo@scottishdairyhub.org.uk

increases in butterfat and protein is absolutely essential, while breeding from high-solids cows is also a good idea, provided they are correct conformationally and you know the quality of the milk they produce.

“At 68% heritability, Fat and Protein percentages are the two most heritable traits you can select for,” Andrew explains. “If you are paid for components in your milk contract, you should be looking to high fat and protein bulls in your breeding decisions, and we are delighted to have a phenomenal range of bulls that offer just that.”

How calving at 22-months-old is saving a Cheshire dairy herd £270 a heifer

Dairy farmers can help save costs on their farm by bringing down their age at first calving by measuring, monitoring and acting on data, visitors to a recent Women in Dairy meeting in Cheshire heard.

Karen Halton of Halton Farms, Dairy Industry Woman of the Year 2020, explained how a change in focus on their farm to calve 90% of heifers at 22 months had resulted in a saving of £270 a heifer.

Two years ago, the farm was averaging heifers calving at 22 months. But when Karen and her vet Mark Hickinson of Sandstone Vets looked at the range, some were calving at 20 months and others at 27 months.

This changed how the farm used data, focusing on ranges rather than averages. Karen said: “Using averages didn’t feel like truthful data. So, over the last 1.5 years, we have backed off a bit, and now we have nothing calving outside of 24 months. We now aim to have 90% of heifers calving by 22 months.”

Kath Aplin, from WID national sponsor Boehringer, says it is important that farmers start by setting targets that are achievable and relevant to their individual farm situation. “Set yourself a timeframe in which to achieve these targets. You’ve got to start with your cow’s mature body weight and work backwards. You’ve then got to