‘It’s better to be in the know’

Northern Ireland dairy farmer Bill Brown is constantly looking to improve his herd of 200 Jersey Friesian crossbred cows, and he relies heavily on his milk records, which he shares with his vet and nutritionist, to do this. 

“I can’t understand why folk don’t milk record. As our vet rightly says, ‘if you know, you can do’,” says Bill.

Checking individual somatic cell count (SCC) data is a top priority each month – firstly to ensure cow health and minimise any vet treatments, and to make sure he supplies high quality, clean milk to his buyer Lakeland Dairies.

The autumn-calving herd, on the family farm near Millisle, on the Ards Peninsula, averages 7,700kg at 4.5% fat and 3.55% protein on twice a day milking. The monthly SCC target is 100,000 cells/ml, and is generally close or at this level.

His second priority is Johne’s monitoring through NMR’s quarterly milk screening service HerdWise. “This identifies cows with infection. We have a control plan we’ve developed with the vet. You never stop learning here. 

“Milk buyers are looking carefully at their milk pool, so we need to be testing and controlling any infections to future-proof our business. I’m shocked that some dairy farmers don’t Johne’s test routinely when the writing is on the wall.”

“NMR makes it easy to screen my herd for Johne’s using our individual milk samples taken on recording day. Or farmers can choose to have a sampling kit sent direct to their farm so they can do it themselves.”

Even more reason to be ‘in the know’ is that a cow which records consistently low in her Johne's tests will produce on average 800 litres more milk per lactation than a cow that is infected with Johnes.

The HerdWise Progress Tracker, which is exclusively accessible via Herd Companion, NMR’s free online information management portal, helps farmers and their vets monitor the prevalence of Johne’s in their herd. And the proof is in the pudding – 1700 HerdWise herds are making significant progress in reducing prevalence over time. 

Are you in the know about Johne’s in your herd? Do you want to be? NMR have some great money saving Johne’s testing offers available! Call 03330 043043 to find out more.