Ireland’s milk production growing significantly over the next decade is envisaged. However, milk price volatility is predicted to be a continuing feature of dairy markets.
There will be increased opportunities to enter into forward contracts or to utilise price risk management tools, according to Teagasc, which sees grass-based milk production as Ireland’s key comparative advantage over international competitors.
Milk of a higher quality will be required for production of higher value products, including infant milk formula.
There is the risk of significant reputational damage to the Irish dairy industry in the event of a product failure.
Dairy farms will become increasingly specialised, with many activities outsourced, creating a demand for a larger farm contracting sector.
Alternative models of land use and management are emerging, and will become more popular.
There is a requirement for an increased number of young, trained dairy farmers and skilled dairy farm operatives.
But the family farming model for milk production has served Ireland well and should be maintained into the future, according to Teagasc.
By 2025, national milk solids production (kg of fat plus protein) will have increased by more than 100%, compared to the 2007-2009 period.
There will be approximately 16,500 dairy farms, 1,500 of which will be new entrants to milk production.
Dairy cow numbers will increase to 1.7 million, while the average herd size will increase to over 100 cows.
Average milk delivered per farm will increase to over 570,000 litres, at almost 3.6% protein and 4.25% butterfat.
Environmental and land use implications
- The increased size of the national dairy herd (including replacements), even allowing for the projected increase in stocking rate, will increase the land requirement for Irish dairying.
- The requirement to improve sustainability will require a reduction in nutrient loss to water, a reduction or at least stabilisation of greenhouse gas emissions, and improvements in habitats for biodiversity.
- Environmental and land use implications
- The increased size of the national dairy herd (including replacements), even allowing for the projected increase in stocking rate, will increase the land requirement for Irish dairying.
- The requirement to improve sustainability will require a reduction in nutrient loss to water, a reduction or at least stabilisation of greenhouse gas emissions, and improvements in habitats for biodiversity.
Some key actions to be undertaken:
- improve the uptake and usage of nutrient management planning.
- increase the proportion of nitrogen in the form of urea, and particularly protected urea.
- improve soil fertility of dairy land, so as to increase nitrogen efficiency and reduce losses.
- increase the proportion of soils with pH over 6.3, and soil phosphorus index at 3.0.
- increase slurry application using low emissions technologies.
- reduce energy costs and emissions by improving the energy efficiency of water heating, milk cooling and milking machines.
- increase implementation of appropriately designed ecological measures to halt the decline of biodiversity.
- implement targeted actions to reduce the risk of point source (farmyard) and diffuse (land) losses of nutrients to water.
- focus on grassland management to increase output, improve nitrogen efficiency, and lower methane emissions. This will reduce the carbon footprint of milk, while increasing profitability.
- Research, advisory and education actions
- Teagasc’s well proven core activities in advisory, education and research will continue to be utilised in an integrated fashion to support the achievement of this dairy road map.
Research actions include:
- Continue to develop and test technologies to increase grass production and utilisation and to further refine our grass-based milk production systems.
- Increase the number of farmers using PastureBase Ireland to more than 2,500, and incorporate commercial farm data into grass variety evaluations.
- Develop national genetic evaluations for health (for example, tuberculosis) and feed intake, to facilitate the inclusion of these traits in the Economic Breeding Index (EBI).
- Develop genome-based mating plans in association with the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) and evaluate these on commercial and research farms.
- Develop and evaluate technology to reduce antibiotic use on dairy farms.
- Incorporate and develop precision farming technologies that facilitate increased sustainability.
- Lead an industry-wide campaign to improve the attractiveness of dairy farming as a career.
Advisory and education actions include:
- Promote resilient and sustainable dairy farming systems.
- Lead an industry-wide campaign to improve grass production and utilisation.
- Expand our discussion group network, with a particular emphasis on engaging recent graduates of Teagasc dairy education programmes.
- Place an increased emphasis on ‘people in dairy’ through the development of short courses and materials around employing and managing people, collaborative farming options and career progression pathways in dairying.
- Continue to collaborate with financial service providers to improve uptake of structured cash planning practices among dairy farmers.
- Continue to collaborate with milk processors through our joint industry programmes and with other industry stakeholders, such as Animal Health Ireland (AHI) and the ICBF, to promote best practices and support innovation by Irish dairy farmers.
- Review existing education offerings to dairy students/farmers/others, and develop ‘fit-for-purpose’ courses.
- Build the capacity of our advisers and teachers to effectively engage with our clients and students, thereby meeting the development needs of Irish dairy farmers.
Source: Irish Examiner