The Irish dairy industry – Recent history and strategy, current state and future challenges

Abstract

This study explores drivers and resulting changes in the structure and technical efficiency of Irish dairy farms from 2005 to 2018 (covering pre‐ and post‐milk quotas) during which milk production increased by 54%. Over this period, farm structure changed dramatically (fourfold increase in farmers milking >100 cows) and farmers improved technical efficiency and profitability and reduced the greenhouse gas emission intensity of milk produced. The impact of the adoption of key technologies at farm level and the contribution of strategic direction nationally (the Irish Government's Food Harvest 2020 Strategy) influencing this development are explored as are future sector challenges.

Bovine Tuberculosis (Mycobacterium bovis) Outbreak Duration in Cattle Herds in Ireland: A Retrospective Observational Study

“…The duration of breakdowns can have a significant financial impact on stakeholders [ 9 , 10 ], and furthermore, prolonged duration breakdowns can be a risk factor for future recrudesce [ 2 ]. Therefore, understanding risk factors associated with prolonged duration can be of benefit to tailoring policy to local conditions, with the intentions of reducing the spread of infection within and between herds.…”

“…Duration data are positive integers (natural numbers) data with often unusual distributions which can be difficult to model using conventional statistical means. Previous attempts to model breakdown duration has used categorical models where duration is split into binary outcomes [ 15 ] or ordinal outcomes [ 10 ]. Breakdown duration has also been modelled as a count of days, using a negative binomial random-effects model [ 10 ].…”

“…Previous attempts to model breakdown duration has used categorical models where duration is split into binary outcomes [ 15 ] or ordinal outcomes [ 10 ]. Breakdown duration has also been modelled as a count of days, using a negative binomial random-effects model [ 10 ]. Time to event modelling (survival) models can be used to model the interval between failures [ 15 , 16 ].…”

“…We investigated parameters that have been found to be associated with breakdown duration in other countries, including previous breakdown history, herd type, and herd size, but also explored additional potential predictors. Herd size (i.e., the number of animals on the farm) has been consistently found to be associated with TB breakdown risk, recurrence and duration [ 9 , 10 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 ]. However, herd size could be a proxy for several other farm characteristics [ 25 ], for example, the density of animals (e.g., animals per hectare) and the intensity of farming (e.g., high input-high output farms) which could be associated with TB transmission dynamics and maintenance.…”

“…Controlled beef finishing units (CBFU), colloquially known as “feedlot” herds, were also identified and modelled as a factor influencing breakdown duration. Previous research elsewhere has shown how such farming systems can be associated with increase prolongation of breakdown duration, associated with increasing genotype diversity of M. bovis facilitated through trade movements [ 10 , 26 ]. Animals from such herds go straight to slaughter, and therefore, are limited in terms of onward interherd transmission but are important to identify to explain variation in our outcome of interest.…”