Australia - SA cow milks record 107 litres in a day

Dairy consultants BEST-fed International have helped a South Australian farmer to break the Australian dairy cow production record. Tristan Mulhern's Holstein 5-year-old has produced 107 litres in one day - 82 litres above the national average peak production, of 25 litres. “We milk three times a day and, on this herd test, she went round on the rotary three times in the morning, three times in the afternoon and then twice that night” Tristan Mulhern said. “I thought she was going to do about 85 or 90 litres. “We have a couple of others doing high 80s, but 107 litres is amazing” he added. And Tristan says that, apart from her high production, there's little that makes Hilltop Bellwood Lucy - a Bellwood daughter out of a Juror cow - stand out in the herd. The 630-cow herd, at Yankalilla near Inman Valley, one hour south of Adelaide, produced 9,500 litres a cow in the last lactation. It is on target for 10,500 this season. National average production per cow in a lactation is 5040 litres. BEST-fed South Australia Consultant Tom Thorn says the result was reached on a diet of hay and grains. “Because there has been no rain, there is no grass on the farm, and we had balanced the grain ration for a cow doing only 40 litres,” he said. “Obviously we had to change that when we got the herd test results though. “The cows' grain ration is ramped up until their peak at 45 days, they are then individually fed a tailored mix based on production after that. “This cow was getting ad-lib medic hay and 16 kilos of a wheat based grain mix in the dairy. “She is now on 22.7 kilos of wheat, canola and lupins, plus BFN 400 minerals, with some salt and sugar, plus all the hay she can eat.” “This is an extreme case, but it just goes to show that the right ration can get milk out of cows even when there is no grass. “That means that production per hectare, which we know is the key driver of farm profitability, is protected even when the season's being unkind.” BEST-fed provides farm productivity services to almost 300 dairy enterprises across Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, New South Wales and Queensland. It currently assists Australian farmers managing over 70,000 cows, to produce an average of 7500 litres/cow - more than 50pc above the national average.