Early milk recording for health and profit gains

Dairy Specialist Stuart Childs joins Emma-Louise Coffey to discuss the benefits to dairy cow health and overall farm profits through milk recording. Stuart explains that the level of milk recording remains low, with 35% of herds representing 50% of dairy cows nationally. Teagasc recommends milk recording within 60 days of calving in order to detect early infection as well as calculate cure rate and new infection rate following the dry period. Stuart recommends that farmers complete 6 milk recordings per year at a cost of approximately €12 per cow. He also describes the financial benefits to milk recording, explaining that research has shown that milk recorded cows produce 400 litres more milk given additional profit of €120 per cow. For more information:https://www.teagasc.ie/media/website/publications/2020/Dairy-February-2020-web.pdf For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast go to the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/