Welsh udder health and milking performance benchmarking project

Clinical and subclinical mastitis are among the costliest diseases in dairy farming given their negative effect on milk quality and milk yield, ultimately affecting profitability of the dairy farm.

Four dairy farms involved in the Farming Connect Our Farms Network are taking part in a pan-Wales project to benchmark udder health and milking performance. The farms involved will provide their own farm data for evaluation and benchmarking between the four farms as well as the wider industry targets. 

The project aims to:

•  Evaluate the current individual on farm performance of the group and identify areas for improvement in terms of:
  • Udder health
  • Milking efficiency
  • Greater cost-effective management strategy
  • Improving milk quality 
  • Reducing clinical mastitis cases on the farm
  • Reducing antibiotic use on farm
• Allow all farmers to upskill and have a greater understanding of the data, enabling its use to monitor future performance
• Improve the health and welfare of the herd to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through better livestock management

Through driving further improvement in efficiency in these key business areas, the project will also contribute to the Sustainable Land Management outcomes including:

• High animal health and welfare
• Reducing greenhouse gas emissions