Short-term OAD milking to reduce peak labour demand
Episode description
Emer Kennedy joins Emma-Louise Coffey to discuss the Once-A-Day milking experiment at Teagasc Moorepark.
Emer explains the different variations of OAD milking, including OAD milking short term in early lactation (from 2-8 weeks) and long term for the full lactation.
She documents the various measurements that were carried out including milk production, mastitis, SCC, udder firmness, udder leakage, body weight, BCS and locomotion.
Emer acknowledges individual farmers concerns in relation to reduced milk yield. Short term OAD will reduce daily milk yield by 22-24% but is shown to recover immediately once returned to twice-a-day milking, with a small impact on annual milk yield.
Emer also emphasised the merit of short term OAD milking in early lactation when the labour demand on dairy farms is at peak.
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