1. Ulster Grassland Society
Annual Conference
31st January 2012
‘Producing for a changing market’

2. Farming enterprises

3. Improving milk compositional quality
Breeding
Feeding
Reducing cell counts

4. Heifer rearing
2 year old calving
Size and weight targets

5. Dry cow management
Individual cow feeding

6. Research

7. Changes in UK milk yield (litres/cow/year)
But… milk from forage has decreased by 24% in the last 10 years

8. Tackling the decline in milk from forage
Farmers
Feed to yield
Nutritionists
Compliment rather than replace forage
Geneticists

9. Breeding
Breed to suit your system

10. Breeding
Breed a more efficient cow

11. Breeding
Breed an easier managed cow
With good locomotion scoring?

12. Feed conversion ratios
kg of DM / kg of carcass
Pigs
3.0
Poultry
1.6
Beef
8.5

13. World markets
New ideas
New research
New technology