Analysis of the growth and expansion of the national dairy herd

Moorepark researchers Brendan Horan and Laurence Shalloo join Emma-Louise Coffey to critically review the growth and expansion of the national dairy herd.

Brendan addressed the environmental impact of expansion highlighting the benefit of grass-based systems and explains the low environment footprint relative to both European and international milk producing competitors. The net environmental footprint of the dairy industry has increased while the output per unit milk has reduced.

Looking at the target net profit of €2,500 per ha, Laurence explains there is a roadmap set out with targets in all aspects of the dairy business to achieve this; farmers must get the basics right, grass utilisation and 6 week calving rate are key drivers of profitability in a simple grass-based system. The top 10% of dairy farmers in the country are averaging €2,200 per ha while the average farmer is averaging €1,200 per ha over a number of years.
 
He also reviews the debt levels on Irish dairy farms, explaining that at €900 per cow, we are very lowly borrowed in comparison with other countries, despite €1.5 billion euro of investment in recent years. 
 
Both Brendan and Laurence acknowledge the remarkable achievements of dairy farmers, creating a prosperous €4 billion industry.