Why Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) are important for dairy farms

Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) on dairy farms are as important as ever during the Covid-19 crisis and on this week’s Dairy Edge, Teagasc Specialist Francis Quigley, joins Emma-Louise Coffey to discuss their role and importance. Francis explains that many farmers already have informal SOPs such as a whiteboard in the milking parlour with a list of cows not going into the tank due to antibiotic treatment. Francis recommends that farmers should create a one page instruction for standard tasks to ensure if, for whatever reason, you cannot be on the farm yourself.  A good starting point is a sample SOP on the Teagasc webpage and alter this to suit your own system. Francis also suggests drawing up a list of relevant people who should be on a contact list, namely a family member, the vet, milk machine technician, milk lorry driver, co-op milk advisor, AI technician and merchants. For more information:https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/sops/  For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast go to the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/