There was no sense of impending gloom yesterday at the Moorepark Teagasac research centre where over 5,000 dairy farmers attended the first national dairy event since the breaking of the link between production and EU supports.
And although experts are predicting that by 2012 the number of dairy farmers will be reduced by half, there was an air of confidence at yesterday's event, which has become very important to dairy farmers.
Dr Pat Dillon, head of the Teagasc research centre at the Co Cork facility, said most of the farmers there were seeking information on how to maximise profits in the new market-driven era of decoupling.
He released research information relating to savings which can be made with the use of high-quality bulls combined with extending the amount of grass fed to cows annually.
He said four years of research at the Teagasc-monitored Curtin's research farm had shown that using top-quality bulls with a high-economic breeding (EBI) index would increase profit by reducing infertility in cows and improving productivity.
The study showed that a high EBI herd generated almost €9,000 more profit than a lower EBI herd on a farm with a 50,000-gallon quota. New grazing strategies developed to increase the proportion of grass that cows were allowed during the year had also resulted in reducing the cost of milk production.
Dr Dillon said the research had shown that a 10 per cent increase in grazed grass in the diet resulted in a cost reduction of 2.5 cent per litre of milk produced.
He said the new decoupled situation put pressure on dairy farmers, and new developments in milk production were essential to maintain farm incomes.
Macra na Feirme president Colm Markey, who has just taken over leadership of the young farmers' organisation, said at the event that Teagasc advisers must be kept fully up to date with the research at the research farms.
He said there were many excellent Teagasc advisers providing leading-edge information to farmers, but there were others lagging behind.He said that farming today was a highly-competitive global industry, and thatIreland had to invest in the best possible research.