Are you milk recording at home? How is your current milk performance comparing to the national average?

A milk recording at this of the year is hugely beneficial to pinpoint the best and worst performers on the farm, as we have reached that time where the litres per cow begins to drop but constituent percentages begin to increase, making milk very valuable.

Growth rates and soil moisture deficits have been hindering a lot of farmers in the country, especially those in the south and south-east which has seen more meal and silage in the diet.

This does have an impact on milk performance as, though it is essential for these farmers to feed supplementary feed to build covers and hold the grazing rotation, it has an initial impact on production.

Silage will be very effective in replacing grass in the diet and will be beneficial in the long-run, as it could make the difference in staying out an extra week or two by the end of the year.

The latest data from the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) shows that 1,124,231 cows have been recorded so far in 2025, which is 1% ahead of the same period in 2024, where some 1,113,223 cows had been recorded.

Based on the data, 9,052 herds have completed a milk recording so far as of August 29, 2025.

The number of herds that have recorded from August 19-29 was 1,282, which consisted of 140,757 cows' milk recorded, with the average herd size at 110 cows.

Average milk yield of these herds that milk recorded was 21.25kg/milk/cow with 4.21% fat and 3.65% protein, which equates to an average of 1.67kg/milk solids/cow/day at the moment.

According to ICBF data, cows peaked on average at 2.11kg/milk solids/cow/day during the week ending April 18.

So, it is fair to say that cows have been holding production reasonably well this year, which is due to the good conditions and decent growth rates, which are beginning to slow down now.

The average somatic cell count (SCC) for the herds recording in the past 10 days sits at 182,000 cells/ml.

While this is high, it is not unusual for a spike at this time of the year when the weather gets a bit dirtier and cows are gathering on slats again for a buffer feed.

However, farmers should make an effort to get this cell count back down by ensuring the milking routine is up to scratch, cows are getting plenty of teat dip, and that roadways, slats, and gathering yards are kept clean and washed down.

Another crucial aspect to keeping your cell count down at this time of the year is through milk recording, which can be hugely beneficial at this time of the year.

Through a milk recording, farmers can pick out the millionaires (cows with over a 1,000,000 cells/ml) in the herd, and it may only take one or two of these cows to dramatically spike the SCC.

When these cows are identified, a plan should be put in place for culling these cows. Culling them early should be considered, to help build covers, allocate more feed to better performers, and earn a better milk price without cell count penalties for the rest of the year.

The Nitrates Banding and stocking rate of the farm must be considered when looking at culling cows.

If a herd average milk yield is approaching the threshold limit for band three production levels of over 6,500kg, and is also approaching the upper organic N limit/ha, the potential impact of selling cull cows early must be considered.

The most important thing right now is to keep up milk production as best as possible through as much grass as possible without feeding excess supplementary feed, but if it is necessary to hold the rotation and build farm covers, supplementary feed is justified.