Model with too many dairy cows?

the main environmental issue, gone are the days of poor farmyard design and poor fertiliser and animal waste management. The policing and system of compliance applied via the Nitrates Directive has educated and cleaned up most dairy farms and it is difficult to see where further improvements can be made to the system.

The issue of greenhouse gas emission is certainly an issue and is presently very confusing for farmers. The different methods of calculating the carbon footprint for farms, and the fact that it is effectively a national calculation as opposed to an individual farm calculation, has deferred farm-level action plans until the science and research points a clear way forward. I am confident science and research will develop this section of dairying.

Mental health is an area which touches all sections of society, some are more susceptible than others, farming is certainly not immune. However, it is lazy analysis to suggest it is linked to the increase in cow numbers on dairy farms. In fact, I would argue the complete opposite is the true picture on dairy farms.

Farmers who executed well-planned increases in cow numbers on their farms since 2015 have made significantly more profit than those who did not. True, some have borrowed a lot from banks to fund the increases, but the majority are just increasing cow numbers and exploiting the potential of the land they have around the milking parlour called the grazing platform.

Most have been waiting to do so for years but milk quotas prevented them from achieving the dream of developing their farms. Farmers like nothing better than a farm building project, it energises them and exhibits the vast array of skills they possess.

Energised dairy farmers, executing viable business plans, giving their families a better income/standard of living and proud of their achievements are not candidates for mental-health issues.

The majority of farmers are conservative and proud of their land, livestock and farm business, they sensibly avail of opportunities to better their farms and are content with that regardless of weather or economic conditions. Of course, farmers and the system of milk production in this country are not perfect, crossbred male calves, roofless cubicles, farmers with lesser husbandry skills and labour deficits are all areas where obvious improvement can be made.

It is important our industry recognises that systems of milk production continue to evolve and strive to become more robust and resilient, however, I would challenge any commentator to demonstrate a better system of milk production on the planet today than our Irish grass-based system of production.