6 minute read
CONFERENCE
Sustainable management of inputs and people was the key message of the 2022 Positive Farmers Conference, Cork. Anna Bowen reports.
Impact of changing milking intervals
Changing milking intervals may have positive impacts on farm management and minimal effects on productivity, according to recent research from New Zealand.
Dr Paul Edwards, senior scientist at DairyNZ, explained he had led a trial at Lincoln University in New Zealand where the dairy herd was split into full-time twice-a-day milking, full-time three milkings in two days (three-in-two) and part-season three-in-two milking.
He said the trial showed that full time three-in-two milking resulted in 5% less milk solids than traditional twice-a-day milking.
However, he stressed that the drop in production could be offset by investing the time saved.
He asked: “What are you doing with that extra time? If you are spending 25% less time milking, is that time being spent on better farm management which balances out the loss of production or does it help staff have more time off and do a better job when working?”
Further trials looked at varying intervals between milkings in three-in-two systems and found no significant difference in milk solid production, although protein production decreased and fat increased with a longer interval between milkings.
Dr Edwards and his team have also investigated the sleeping patterns of people working on twice-a-day and three-in-two farms. The trials started recording data before calving.
He said: “After the third week of calving, people on three-in-two milking farms got an average of 27 minutes more sleep per night.
DR PAUL EDWARDS
What is the right stocking rate?
JDifferent approaches to managing stocking rates were explored by dairy farmers Barry Bateman and Mike Birmingham, together with Teagasc research officer Dr Brendan Horan.
Mr Bateman explained he had run high stocking rates to facilitate stocking additional units.
By contract rearing heifers and consolidating on one block, Mr Bateman said he had avoided the increased fuel and labour demands of running off-lying ground.
He explained his 211-cow spring calving herd was managed on 75 hectares (185 acres), utilising 13 tonnes of dry matter (DM)/ha (5.3t DM/acre). The stocking rate had ranged from 1.8 to three livestock units/ha (0.7-1.2 livestock units/acre).
He said: “We will average 2.7 cows/ha to comply with regulations, but in the past we have farmed a higher and lighter stocking rate.
“I enjoy the simple system that we have and financially there is never been a return for stocking heavier than this.”
He added that a lighter stocking rate was not necessarily easier to manage.
He said: “When you have a farm which grows a lot of grass, it can be difficult at a lower stocking rate.”
For Mr Birmingham, an easier life was a key driver for his stocking rate. His 37ha (91-acre) farm is stocked with 96 cows.
He said: “For the past few years we have been stocked at 2.6 cows/ha. This is a lifestyle stocking rate which gives us time to do things such as watch my daughter’s sports matches and attend discussion group meetings.”
Mr Birmingham said he measured grass twice a week through summer and focused on improving swards through incorporating clover, achieving optimal soil indices and reducing nitrogen applications.
Spreading
He said that in 2023 he aims to spread less than 200kg N/ha (81kg N/acre) and has already changed his approach to application based on clover content.
Dr Horan commended both farmers. He said: “These farms have done well by matching grass to demand and a really tight calving pattern. Stocking rate is a great tool for increasing productivity and profitability of dairy farming.”
However, he added there were limits to this.
Dr Horan said: “You can still increase productivity once past the ideal stocking rate, which is where the risk is that profitability does not increase with productivity.
“Higher stocking rates are easier to manage in most cases and can improve pasture quality right through to the mid-season and minimise that drop in sward quality.
“One of the challenges at farm level is that traditionally higher stocking rate has a negative environmental effect.”
In response to this, he said he had seen more farmers embracing clover, especially in light of high fuel and fertiliser prices.
A change in milking intervals could have a positive impact on staff well-being and cow performance.
“It might not seem a lot, but when people are ge ing ve hours of sleep a night, it is quite signi cant.
Routines
“Milking exibly can help people t work with routines such as school drop-o s. ree-in-two is a fortnightly schedule which does mean you do not know by the day of the week how many milkings you have, you need to know the week too, which can drive people crazy.”
Dr Edwards concluded by reminding delegates that changing milking frequency needed to be accompanied by other changes, such as allocating dry ma er on a 48-hour rather than 24-hour routine, in order to meet farm objectives.
Value of the EBI
JThe Economic Breeding Index (EBI) is a valuable tool for dairy farmers but has room for improvement, according to Prof Donagh Berry, research officer at Teagasc.
He said: “I can unequivocally say that no index in the world has been scrutinised scientifically as much as the EBI.”
He added that research had shown that for every unit increase in EBI, net margin increased by €2 per lactation (£1.70/lactation).
Despite some industry questioning of their value, Prof Berry said he was confident in the benefits of genomic bulls.
He said: “Every time we look at it there does not appear to be any systematic issues with genomic evaluation. Some bulls drop and some bulls increase.
“I went back to the year 2014 and broke the animals available down into three groups: genomic bulls; non-genotyped bulls such as stock bulls; and proven bulls. I followed them for the next seven years and only retained animals which had more than 100 progeny in 2022.”
He added that the changes were impacted by a base change in evaluations in 2016 which recalibrated all animals and said there was variability in individual animals, with some genomic bulls plummeting in value. Proven bulls, by their nature, showed half the movement as genomic bulls.
Prof Berry said EBI as an evaluation held its value when checked against anticipated future trends in fixed cow numbers and greenhouse gas emissions, nitrogen restrictions and higher costs.
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