The Dairy Calf Education and Research Facility will provide agriculture and veterinary students with hands-on experience, while also greatly expanding the national research capacity in this area, with a focus on early life nutrition, better integration of dairy and beef, and environmental impact.

Designed to fulfil both research and commercial farming requirements and demonstrate best practice in dairy calf rearing, the new facility has the capacity to rear 180 dairy calves from birth up to 5 months of age.

Utilising the best knowledge both nationally and internationally on calf housing, the facility will allow researchers to continuously monitor and assess key factors in calf rearing such as growth, feed intake and efficiency, health, welfare and behaviour indicators.

At the vanguard of agricultural and veterinary research                                                             

UCD President, Professor Orla Feely, commented at the event, “University College Dublin is the only university in Ireland to have its own dedicated research and teaching farm. This remarkable 250-hectare working farm, Lyons Farm, provides our faculty, researchers and students with an unparalleled agricultural environment in which to teach, research and learn.”

“The addition of this new world-class Dairy Calf Education and Research Facility to UCD Lyons Farm, made possible through the generous support of six industry partners, Dairy Research Ireland, FBD Trust, JFC, MSD, Ornua, and ABP, will ensure University College Dublin remains at the vanguard of agricultural and veterinary research, and plays a critical role in the future success of Irish dairy and beef production,” she concluded.

Professor Orla Feely with colleagues, standing in front of a new calf-rearing facility at UCD Lyons Farm
Professor Orla Feely, UCD President, with colleagues and industry partners at the launch of the new facility at Lyons Farm.

Following the abolition of European milk quotas in 2015, there has been a substantial expansion in the Irish dairy industry, with the national dairy herd increasing by 45% in the past decade.

The consequence of such an increase is that the calf rearing stage has now become a critical phase of the production cycle in both dairy and calf-to-beef systems, with rearing practices and livestock health coming under increased scrutiny.

Unique to the new facility is that its dairy calf rearing/research programme is integrated into pre-existing whole farm research systems in operation at Lyons Farm, allowing for the examination of the long-term benefits that early intervention can have for the lifetime productivity of dairy calves, farm profitability and environmental footprint.

UCD Lyons Farm, one of the main hubs for UCD agricultural and veterinary research and teaching, is a fully functioning farm comprising 250 hectares of land in Co. Kildare, with dairy, beef, sheep, equine, crop and environmental research, teaching and commercial facilities.