Record figures for dairy scheme
If encouraging dairy farmers to become involved in milk recording in order to improve their efficiency levels was the aim of last year’s EU emergency milk fund, then the initiative has been a huge success, it was claimed yesterday.
The Scottish Dairy Cattle Association (SDCA) which collates information on the industry, revealed that an additional 168 milk producers had signed up to have their herd recorded through the schemes run by the Cattle Information Service and the National Milk Records group.
The SDCA said this meant the performance of 93.4 per cent of the country’s milking cows was now officially recorded – the highest figure on record.
Jack Lawson of the SDCA said: ‘This is a great result for the industry and while we are aware that not all will continue to milk record once the EU funding finishes, some of the new herds are already stepping up their game by recording more frequently when they realise the immediate benefits such as identifying high cell count cows or cows producing low quality milk, both of which lower milk income.
“There are so many other benefits which await them such as disease or pregnancy testing via the milk sample,” added Lawson, who said that major milk buyers had also welcomed the move, with many now insisting that herds were milk recorded in order to ensure the sort of high quality product for which they were happy to pay more to the farmer.
“The field staff of both recording companies deserve the highest praise as taking on all the individual cow details for 168 farms is a huge amount of work but it is great for the future of our industry,’ Lawson concluded.