Taking the decision to phase out his suckler herd to allow him to focus on developing the dairy herd was a big step for Padraig Ryan in 2008. One of the drivers was he had 70 acres of a south facing, relatively dry farm between 400 to 600 feet above sea level and last year he estimates he utilised 11.5t of grass per hectare. I asked Padraig if milk recording made deciding which were his best cows any easier.

“I look at my herd as workers – I’m the boss and if they are not doing the work properly then they must go. I have three good reasons for milk recording: culling poorly performing cows, identifying the best cows to breed replacements from and managing milk quality, particularly somatic cell count,” he says.

“Some people think [milk recording] is expensive. This year, I am milking 46 cows and it costs me €13.50 per cow per year for seven milk recordings, or €621 for the year. In my opinion it’s money well spent, because a cow that is in my herd and not performing is very expensive. I have 70 acres of grazing ground and I want to make the most from it, with the best cows I can. I’ve no room to carry passengers. Average milk yield at the moment is 28kg per cow at 3.74% fat and 3.47%% protein (2kg MS/cow), while cell count at the moment is 65 cells/ml on grazed grass and 2.5kg of meal per day.”

1 Achieving and maintaining high milk quality is one of the core reasons to milk record. Padraig Ryan receives a text message of the top five high cell count cows shortly after milk recording. Once that text arrives, he will immediately go and identify the infected quarter and treat it, even if the cow is showing no clinical signs and may be well under 200,000 cells/ml. Catching the infection early is half the battle, says Padraig.

2 Milk recording allows you identify cows producing high quality fat and protein with good fertility. If you breed replacements from the best cows using the right AI sires, then very quickly you will start to see the benefits of milk recording. “I have young cows hitting for 500kg of milk solids per cow, in a very commercial set up with good fertility that hold condition score well – heifers from sires like HMY and LHZ perform well for me,” says Padraig.

3 The most expensive milk recording is completing a recording and leaving the results in the envelope. Study the results, analyse differences and make decisions based on figures, rather than what a cow looks like. “I have cows that don’t look like they are good milkers, yet recording shows they are high yielders with good solids, but I also have a few cows that look like they would fill Lough Derg, but its only water.”

4 Milk recording every five to six weeks will allow you keep a tight handle on results and build a good case history on cows. For spring-calving herds, the key is to get an early milk recording in March. Padraig had a milk recording done on 15 March and he will milk record again early next week. Getting results back promptly online or in print is key to success, because there is little point in the exercise if it takes two weeks to get the results back.