Study title

The results of a survey about Irish dairy farmers' production practices and views of pasture based, high input and indoor systems. The survey was disseminated between August 2018 and April 2019 online and to a limited extent through Irish agricultural advisory services. There were 398 responses - 18 were returned as paper copies to the researcher and the rest online. The terms ‘pasture-based’ or ‘grass-based’ system are used to refer to systems where the majority feed is grazed grass and forage in the form of silage or hay. These systems may involve year-round grazing but usually involve a period of housing the cows in winter. A higher input system is a system where a higher proportion of feed comes from non-forage feeds such as cereals and concentrate. An indoor system means that the cows are housed all year-round and do not graze.The aim of the survey was to explore farmers' current practices and their views on the economic, animal welfare and environmental aspects of different systems. This includes the predominant pasture based systems in Ireland and the potential for more farms to move towards a higher input and/or indoor systems in future, following the removal of EU milk quotas in 2015. This is a social science research project exploring farmer, public and stakeholder views about indoor, pasture based and high input dairy production systems in the UK and Ireland. There are the debates about the environment, economic and animal welfare implications of pasture-based, high input and indoor dairy systems. The UK and Ireland make for a useful comparison because they face different challenges: the Irish dairy sector is grass-based but there are concerns the sector will compromise what is seen as its marketing and economic advantage by increasing yields through increasing feed inputs. The UK sector is diverse, including a proportion of year-round housed farms, which is a contentious practice among the public. This project explores values and decision making...