This article is based on the text of a paper presented by Dr Sinclair Mayne at the recent 50th anniversay conference of the Society of Feed Technologists


also the potential for development of ‘herd specific’ or tailored breeding programmes to address specific herd health issues.


New Technologies and UK Dairy Systems Looking to the future, new technologies will fundamentally change virtually all aspects of UK dairy systems. Automated milking systems are commonplace on many farms and the level of automation is likely to accelerate eg automation of rotary parlours, feeding systems and manure management. Automation will also revolutionise grazing management systems with opportunities for automated grass measurement and budgeting systems, linked with cow location sensors leading to fence free grazing platforms. Other current and ongoing developments will include the increasing


application of sensor technologies to dairy systems. For example, sensor technologies are already developed to measure rumen pH and VFA patterns, body temperature, body condition, heart rate, gaseous emissions, chewing activity, lying and standing behaviour, locomotion and milk composition (via automated milking systems). One of the major challenges which the industry faces is the


analysis and interpretation of a vast array of individual cow data. There is an urgent need for co-ordination of technology providers in order sto establish a one-stop database capable of collating and interpreting data at farm level. Ultimately, this approach will enable development of feeding and management systems designed to optimise individual cow performance, health and welfare in large herd situations. Such systems will require the development of dynamic, individual cow nutritional models which formulate diets on a daily basis based on the


cow’s genetic merit, response to prior nutritional changes and current lactation, body condition, health and fertility status.


Summary There have been major changes in dairy farm structure over the last five decades and the trend to fewer, larger herds will continue, albeit at a slower pace. Herds in the lower quartile of efficiency when classified on the basis of feed, labour and/or capital would appear to be particularly vulnerable. However, family dairy farms have shown a remarkable resilience and will continue to form the cornerstone of UK dairying. Whilst milk yield/cow has increased by over 2500 litres/cow since


1995, the trend is unlikely to continue as increased management focus and genetic selection moves to non-production traits such as fertility, animal health and longevity. There has been a surprising lack of progress in production from


forage over the last three decades. This needs to change, and a renewed focus on forage will be driven by the need to reduce the environmental impact of dairy systems. Automation of dairy systems will continue and will revolutionise


future management by providing the opportunity to optimise cow performance, health and welfare in large herd situations.


References Defra, 2016 Agriculture in the United Kingdom Eurostat, 2017 European Commission Statistics database IFCN, 2017 The International Farm Comparison Network March, MD et al 2014 Journal of Dairy Science 97: 7985-7994 Sayers, H.J., Mayne, C.S and Bartram CG (2003) The effect of level and type of supplement offered to grazing dairy cows on herbage intake, animal performance and rumen fermentation characteristics. Animal Science 76: 439-454 Yan, T, Archer, J., Zhao, Y.G. and Grant, N (2017) A review of grass silage quality in Northern Ireland from 1996 to 2015 using data from the Hillsborough Feed Information System. British Society of Animal Science Annual Meeting, Chester Papers 74 + 75


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