Dairy Specialist, Martina Gormley, joins Emma-Louise Coffey on this week’s episode of the Dairy Edge to assess the factors that impact on the length of the working day on Irish dairy farms.

Martina analysed milk recording results which provided AM and PM milking start times and she explains that milking interval dictates PM milking start time with a 71% of variation in the length of the working day.

The ideal milking interval is 16:8, meaning 8 hours between morning and evening, while in reality, the milk interval is on average 10 hours, ranging from 7 to 16 hours.

Martin also discusses how Irish dairy farms rely on hired labour to complete the farm workload, are competing with other industries, and therefore, working conditions, such as a work finish time, are important to attract and retain labour.

For more information:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JEjuI3h8Vs

For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast go to the show page at:
https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/

The Dairy Edge is a co-production with LastCastMedia.com