Completed projects

Part of: Dairy

Area of Expertise:

Scientists within the Dairy and Dairy young-stock research programmes are available to undertake commercially funded research, at full cost recovery. The outcomes of these research studies are normally ‘Commercial in Confidence’. Examples of the some commercial funded studies that have been undertaken in recent years include;

Evaluation of products for reducing the risk of Sub-Acute Ruminal Acidosis in Dairy cows
Evaluation of a biological additive for whole crop silage
Impact of new fertiliser products on grass production and composition
If you wish to discuss commercial research, please contact <Dairy@afbini.gov.uk>

Completed research projects

  • A comparison of four intensive grassland based milk production systems
  • Developments in cow fertility research
  • A comparison of confinement and grazing systems for dairy cows.   What does the science say?
  • The effect of early lactation concentrate build-up strategies on dairy cow performance
  • Developing improved concentrate feeding and grazing strategies for dairy cows
  • The effects of offering concentrates during the dry period on dairy cow performance
  • Grassland performance and its relationship with profitability on 10 Northern Ireland dairy farms
  • The effect of applying cattle slurry as the sole source of nutrients over a four year period on the yield and persistency of seven perennial forage crops
  • A comparison of the performance of Holstein-Friesian and Jersey crossbred cows across a range of Northern Ireland production systems
  • The effect of a number of novel supplementation strategies on milk production and fertility of high yielding dairy cows
  • A comparison of the performance of Holstein-Friesian and Norwegian Red cows on Northern Ireland dairy farms
  • The effect of applying slurry during the grazing season on dairy cow performance
  • Reducing phosphorus levels in dairy cow diets
  • Comparisons of dairy cow management strategies which differ in labour inputs

BovIS related projects

  • Development of a phenotypic database for the Northern Ireland beef industry
  • Development of the online BovIS carcass benchmarking tool
  • Development of the online PAS2050 verified Greenhouse Gas Calculators for producers
  • Development of the online growth monitoring tool

Dairy Youngstock

  • Factors influencing colostrum variability on commercial dairy farms
  • Colostrum quality assessment techniques
  • Knowledge exchange in the agri-food sector (cross cutting project)
  • Developing management strategies to improve the welfare, health and performance of dairy herd replacements
  • Management and nutrition of calves during the neonatal period
  • The effect of compensatory growth during the rearing period on performance of dairy heifers
  • Improving heifer rearing regimes on farms in Northern Ireland
  • A range of commercial projects examining aspects of calf nutrition, health and welfare.
  • A comparison of four contrasting milk production systems with winter calving, high genetic merit cow