Challenges and Opportunities forInnovation On and Off the Farm
Professor Gerry Boyle, Director Teagasc
National Dairy Conference, Red Cow Hotel, Dublin,19th November, 2014
Dairy expansion plans 2015-17 – Teagasc NationalFarm Survey
Farmer category % planning toincrease*
% milk increase 2017
Existing farmers 60** 14.00
Potential newentrants
1.50 (900 farms) 3.00
Re-entering dairying 0.33 (200 farms) 0.67
All 62 18
*Only about 5% planning to cease or reduce production**About 50% planning to increase by between 10%-20% and another 20%planning to increase by between 20%-50%.
Ireland’s grass-based dairy production model
productiveryegrass/
cloverswards
compactseasonal
calving highEBI dairy
cattle
skilledagronomicmanagement
Ireland’s grass-based dairy production model
skilledagronomicmanagement
Model ideal for the post quota environment• Profitable• Competitive• Replicable• Resilient• Sustainable
But there’s big scope for improvement …
Net margin €/ha Teagasc ePM dairy farms, 2003-2013
-500
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013(prov)
Top 1/3
Bottom 1/3
The top 1/3 also have the lowest carbon emissions per litre.
They’re also more likely to be in discussion groups,milk recording and applying slurry in the spring.
Dairy farms (%) achieving Teagasc “Roadmap”targets, 2013
2012 2013
Milk yield per cow: ≥ 5,200 litres 36 43
Milk solids per cow: ≥ 378kg 37 43
Protein Content: ≥3.4% 42 47
Fat Content: ≥ 3.95% 46 51
SCC: ≤ 200,000 cells/ml 47 47
Teagasc National Farm Survey Factsheets
Dairy farms (%) achieving Teagasc “Roadmap”targets, 2013
Teagasc National Farm Survey Factsheets
Only 11% of dairy soil samples, have
optimum pH, P, and K.
‘Best Practice’ adoption on Teagasc NFS dairyfarms, 2009
%
Milk Recording 42
Use of Herd Plus 28
Use of AI 82
Use of genomically selected bulls 23
Use of dry cow therapy to reduce mastitis 98
Use of teat disinfection to reduce mastitis 90
Use of BVD vaccinations 39
Strip graze every 12 hours for cows 44
Complete grass covers 17
Complete grass budgets 12
Regular soil testing 66
Use of cashflow budget 13
Use of e-profit monitor 26
‘Best Practice’ adoption on Teagasc NFS dairyfarms, 2009
• Huge potential remains to be leveraged• An independent and well-resourced
advisory & education service focusedon technology adoption critical
Well on the way to solving fertility
-14
-12
-10
-8
-6
-4
-2
0
1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 2030
Year of birth
PTA
calving
inte
rval(d
)
370
375
380
385
390
395
400
Phenotp
iccalving
inte
rval(d
)
Phenotypic Genetic
Well on the way to solving fertility
Next GenerationHerd
Control
Submission rate (%) 92 82
Pregnancy rate - 6 wks (%) 77 60
Final pregnancy rate - 12 wks (%) 95 78
Animal health – the “new fertility”
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
0
0.0
1
0.0
2
0.0
3
0.0
4
0.0
5
0.0
6
0.0
7
0.0
8
0.0
9
0.1
0.1
1
0.1
2
Fre
qu
en
cy
Prevalence
0
20
40
60
0.0
0
0.0
4
0.0
8
0.1
2
0.1
6
0.2
0
0.2
4
0.2
8
0.3
2
0.3
7
0.4
4
Fre
quency
Prevalence
0
20
40
60
80
0.0
0
0.0
4
0.0
8
0.1
2
0.1
6
0.2
0
0.2
4
0.2
8
0.3
2
0.3
6
Fre
qu
en
cy
Prevalence
0
10
20
30
40
50
0.0
0
0.1
0
0.2
0
0.3
0
0.4
0
0.5
0
0.6
0
0.7
0
0.8
0
0.9
0
Fre
qu
en
cy
Prevalence
Lameness Mastitis
Cysticovaries
TB
Animal health – the “new fertility”
Animal health is the“new fertility” …
… and breeding has a role inimproving status …
Using satellite imagery we can nowreliably depict how well grass is growingeven down to your own farm … Theservice will be live on line from Feb 1st
2015.
NASA
Phase 0 (year 1)Baseline monitoring
- Carbon footprint- Soil survey- Water quality- Biodiversity- Habitats
Phase 1 (yr 2-3)Best practices “plus”
- Carbon Navigator- 5-point nutrient plan- 5-step biodiv. plan- Grass wedge- Sexed semen
Phase 2 (yr 4-5)Infrastructure
-Agro-forestry-Biomass boiler-College as energy
client-College effluent forenergy crop
-
Phase 3 (yr 6-7)Emerging technologies
Real-time soil moisturemonitoring for nutrient& grazing management.
Ireland’s recent ‘infrastructural’investment for milk expansion isImpressive!
Glanbia ‘Belview’ 2 x Dryers
Glanbia ‘Ballyragget’ – Butter& Separation
Lakelands – ‘Killeshandra’ UHT
Lakelands – Dryer
Arrabawn –Evaporation
Dairygold 2 x Dryers
Aurivo – Dryer
Kerry ‘Charleville’ Dryer + Canning
North Cork – Dryer
Carbery – Cheese, Dryer Upgrade and Packaging
Glanbia ‘Virginia’ – Separation
Glanbia ‘Monaghan’ – UHTSubstantial investmentin capacity - €600+m.
• Processing• Products• Environmental
But R&D spend toolow – all food only0.65% of turnover
IDB – Butter
Lakelands – Recomm. ‘LoughEgish Dryer’
Parting remarks
• Innovation challenges on and off the farm but also bigopportunities
• Critical that public and private commitment to investment ininnovation (research, advisory and education) matches ourambition for export growth
• Innovation requires innovators! – more land needs to be used bythose that want to innovate and who are capable of innovating
Acknowledgements
Tom BeresfordDonagh BerryKevin ConnollyEmma DillonPat DillonGary FalconerReamonn FealyMark FenelonPadraig FrenchStuart GreenThia Hennessy
Brendan HoranBrian MoranLance O’BrienMichael O’DonovanTom O’DwyerJoe PattonGeorge RamsbottomKarl RichardsRogier SchulteLaurence ShallooDeclan Troy
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