Speaking at a Dairy Tech seminar looking at sustainable dairying, he added that these cows of the future would also be longer lived and able to produce more milk solids than the current generations.

He said: “We are targeting 8 to 9 per cent combined fat and protein and with good genetics we can get there”.

But the cow of the future will also need to be heat tolerant with a desirable carcase because so much of the world’s meat comes from the dairy herd.

He said his preference was for black and white cattle to be more white than black because it better protected them against the effects of heat.

Future

In the future he said he expected Holstein’s with the ‘slick’ gene to be favoured. He explained this slick gene was a genetic mutation that gives cattle a thinner coat and more sweat glands.

He stressed the correlation between efficiency and environmental emissions, and the dilemma many farmers face.

He said: “Dairy farmers wonder whether they should keep the mature cow that is healthy, fertile and producing milk or replace her with a heifer with higher genetic potential”.

But if genetics were not a limiting factor within the herd Dr Cole suggested farmers might hold onto those older animals and achieve more by looking at other management issues such as feeding practices.

Critcised

While dairying is widely criticised for its environmental profile, Dr Cole quoted a Defra study from 2021 which highlighted the progress the industry had already made in reducing its impact.

“That says there has been a 24 per cent decline in greenhouse gas associated with milk production.”

It also highlighted other facts – including that 43 per cent of dairy farms are using renewable energy; 78 per cent have improved water use efficiency and 73 per cent have implemented a nutrient management plan.

But Dr Cole said the industry needed to continue taking a lead on these issues:

“If we do not engage in that debate then other people might make those decisions for us and we might not like those decisions.”