A Co. Antrim veterinarian has likened the modern dairy cow to a thoroughbred racehorse in terms of her metabolic ability to produce milk.
Nial O’Boyle spoke at the recent AgriSearch ‘High Output Dairy Herds – Profit from Performance’ conference in Armagh.
He said that a cow yielding 50L of milk per day was producing the equivalent muscle dry matter (DM) contained within 26.5kg of beef.
This assertion was based on milk containing 13% DM (6.5kg), which can be multiplied by a factor of four to equate with the DM muscle content of a standard beef carcass (26.5).
This extrapolates through to the equivalent bodyweight of the Irish rugby player, Bundee Aki, every four days.
O’Boyle said: “A 12,000kg cow produces the equivalent of 6,240kg of beef. This equates to the total carcass output of 19.1 finished cattle.
“These figures very clearly show the significant abilities of modern cows to convert feed into milk.
“Making all of this happen required the dairy cow to expend 50,000 calories on a daily basis. This is the equivalent of running a marathon per day,” he added.
O’Boyle said that most of this activity is taking place in the udder.
“Towards the end of her lactation, the cow will start to redirect a lot of this energy intake towards the laying down of fat and other body tissues,” he said.
Looking to the future, O’Boyle highlighted the need for research to help identify ways by which the reproductive lifespan of the modern dairy cows can be increased.
AgriSearch survey
Meanwhile, AgriSearch is inviting all dairy farmers in Northern Ireland to take part in a survey on the research and innovation needs of the sector.
The organisation’s strategy manager, Jason Rankin said: “It has been over 10 years since AgriSearch last undertook a significant survey of dairy farmers.
“There have been many changes in the sector since that time and this survey will give us an invaluable insight into how AgriSearch can best meet the present needs of the sector.
“The first of our objectives in our five-year strategic plan was to place the farmers needs at the heart of research and innovation in Northern Ireland.
“We will use the findings of this survey to articulate farmers’ research and innovation needs to government and academia.”
Confirmation of the survey coincides with the launch of AgriSearch’s new five-year strategy.
“Farmers continue to experience unprecedented challenges. AgriSearch has a crucial role to play in helping Northern Ireland farmers to succeed in economic, environmental and indeed social growth.
“This new statement of strategy has been developed by the AgriSearch Trustees to ensure that we continue to deliver for our farmer levy payers,” Rankin said.
The survey can be found on the AgriSearch website and will be open until Monday, May 5.
