A KEY outcome from a review document has been to demonstrate that there are considerable benefits from incorporating grazing within milk production systems.

The new booklet from AgriSearch looks at the issues surrounding fully housed versus grazing based systems launched at the recent AFBI Dairy Seminar.

Researchers at the Institute for Global Food Security at Queen’s University, in collaboration with dairy scientists at the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute, Hillsborough, have just completed a project comparing the relative merits of fully housed versus grazing systems for dairy cows.

Over recent years, the dairy industry has become more intensive and a number of farmers have moved to fully housed production systems in which cows do not get access to outdoor grazing. Much of the information on the relative merits of housed versus grazing systems is based on anecdotal evidence or ‘hear-say’. As a result, AgriSearch commissioned a review of scientific studies comparing these different dairy production systems.

Following the scientific review, the researchers launched a booklet aimed at informing the dairy industry. The booklet spans a number of boundaries including cow health and welfare, milk production, cow fertility, environmental impact and economics. This is particularly timely given the low milk price that dairy farmers are currently enduring. In an increasingly globalised dairy industry milk price volatility is now a commercial reality. Many farmers are questioning the future direction of their production systems, and the booklet provides an evidence-based source of information that can be used to determine the best strategy for their situation.

The booklet can be downloaded from the AgriSearch website www.agrisearch.org. Alternatively hard copies are available on request by emailing info@agrisearch.org or by calling 028 87788206.