Why 10 into seven does go
Interested in reducing the number of times your cows need to be milked this year with minimal impact on production levels? Try the 10-in-seven milking routine. Mark Treacy, Teagasc dairy specialist, tells us more.
On average, one third of the total hours required to run a dairy farm are accounted for by time spent milking. Understandably, there has been increasing interest in flexible milking systems as farmers look for ways to reduce workload, improve work-life balance, free up time for other tasks, or simply make the farm a more attractive place to work for employees.
Flexible milking systems refer to milking intervals that deviate from traditional twice-a-day (TAD) milking. In New Zealand, less than 40% of farmers are now milking TAD for the full season. Interest in flexible systems is increasing in Ireland.
Milking once a day (OAD), either for a full lactation or strategically at certain times of the year, has been used on many Irish farms. However, its overall level of adoption for a full lactation is low. Most farmers proved unwilling to accept the lower production levels associated with the system. Research carried out in Teagasc Moorepark has shown a 22% reduction in milk solids yield where full-time OAD was compared with TAD milking.
In an attempt to reduce this difference, an alternative system of milking 10 times in seven days has developed. Cows are milked twice a day on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and once on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. The system eliminates two evening milkings during the week, as well as both evening milkings over the weekend.
Dr Emer Kennedy has been trialling flexible milking systems in Teagasc Moorepark, following earlier OAD trials with a study started in 2022 comparing 10-in-seven milking systems to a traditional TAD routine.
As expected, the use of a 10-in-seven routine does not see a reduction in milk yield as great as that seen with OAD systems. It appears to be an attractive option for many Irish farmers.
The three-year study compared milking 10 in seven for the full lactation with milking twice a day, as well as another treatment where cows were milked TAD until early July and then moved onto a 10-in-seven routine.
Cows which were milked 10 in seven for their full lactation had a 13% lower milk solids yield when compared to cows milked TAD (496 kg MS/cow vs 432 kg MS/cow). However, the cows milked TAD from the start of lactation and then moved onto a 10-in-seven routine showed less than a 3% drop in milk solids yield (14 kg MS/cow).
The small difference between TAD and partial-lactation 10 in seven can be largely explained by the fact that cows had already produced 60% of their total lactation yield in the first 20 weeks of lactation, with peak yield also unaffected, before being moved to a 10-in-seven routine.
A concern of many farmers when considering flexible milking routines is the possibility of an increase in Somatic Cell Count (SCC). In the Moorepark trial, SCC was about 5% higher for the herds milking 10 in seven. However, there was no increase in clinical cases of mastitis. Your herd SCC should be <120,000 if considering 10-in-seven milking.
While cow numbers in the trial were too low to analyse fertility performance, cow bodyweight and body condition score were higher in the 10-in-seven herds, particularly where 10 in seven was carried out for the full lactation. This should have a positive effect on fertility at a commercial herd scale.
Ten in seven – a farmer’s perspective
Aidan Ahearne farms in Scart, near Dungarvan, Co. Waterford, supplying milk from his 200-cow spring-calving herd to Tirlán. For many years, Aidan has been interested in flexible milking systems as a way of improving the work-life balance of both himself and farm staff.
“It must be 20 years since we first stopped milking on Sunday evenings,” comments Aidan.
He has tried various flexible systems including once-a-day (OAD) in spring and autumn, three in two and 10 in seven. He has settled into a system of milking OAD in February and then switching to a TAD schedule until early July, when a 10-in-seven routine starts.
“We tried using a three-in-two routine in 2018, however we found the milking times difficult to manage as we were trying to maintain a 16-hour milking interval.
“I had read about the use of 12 in seven and 10 in seven routines in New Zealand and contacted a consultant there who had experience of the systems.
“We were considering trying a 12-in-seven routine, milking the cows twice a day during the week and then taking the evening milkings off at the weekends. However, the advice I received from New Zealand was that a 10-in-seven routine actually seems to work better, so we decided to go with that option.”
Aidan initially tried the 10-in-seven routine in September 2020 and was very happy with the results.
“For the next few years, we made the switch to 10 in seven earlier each year, with the switch now happening in early July.”
Aidan says he is open to the idea of switching to 10 in seven even earlier in the year. However, he feels it is easier to manage having cows ready for the AI technician each morning when on TAD. As it stands, the breeding season is finished before the switch to 10 in seven occurs.
“To be honest, it’s probably just something I need to sit down and get my head around. Maybe it’s just a case of drafting the cows for AI before milking on the later mornings, or perhaps we don’t even need to have different morning milking times for the days the cows are milked once or twice.”
Currently, cows are milked at 6.30 am and 3.00 pm when milked twice in the day, and at 9.00 am when only milked once.
Cows transition very easily from TAD to 10 in seven, according to Aidan.
“The cows nearly adjust faster than the people; it takes them about two to three days,” he says.
In 2025, the herd delivered 504 kg MS/cow to Tirlán with 4% protein and 5.24% fat. Over one tonne of concentrate per cow was fed in 2025 and, while this was higher than Aidan would have liked, it was a direct result of drought conditions experienced on the farm last summer.
“We are aiming to achieve this level of production while feeding 750 kg concentrate/cow. We haven’t managed to achieve this in the last three years as grass growth hasn’t been sufficient. However, we have achieved it in the past and are on target to achieve it in 2026. It requires us to grow 13 tonnes of grass DM/ha.”
Aidan feels that the loss in overall production due to adopting the 10-in-seven regime is small. He estimates that the cows’ volume initially drops by about 5% when switched to 10 in seven, but the increase in fat and protein percentages compensates for this, with very little overall drop in milk solids production.
Herd SCC does rise when Aidan changes over to 10 in seven. However, he says that it tends to settle again if the herd SCC was running at 100,000 before the changeover.
“I’d expect it to rise to about 150,000 over the next couple of weeks before dropping again to close to 100,000.”
In 2025, Aidan’s herd averaged 125,000 SCC, with 90% of the cows under 200,000 at the end of lactation.
“We use selective dry cow therapy here, with a cow only eligible for sealer-only treatment if she is under 100,000 at dry-off and has had no case of mastitis during the year. Thirty per cent of the herd met the criteria in 2025.”
The biggest challenge Aidan has found with 10 in seven is allocating grass.
“Maybe I over-think things, but it does take a bit more thought allocating grass with 36-hour paddocks and 10-in-seven milking.”
At times, Aidan will move cows between milkings to achieve the desired graze-out of a paddock and says he tends to think of grass allocations over a 48-hour period, mixing and matching paddocks to suit the differing milking intervals. Paddocks requiring a long walk are generally grazed on days when there is only one milking.
Aidan is very clear that the main reason for adopting 10 in seven on his farm was to improve work-life balance.
“Dairy farmers work extremely hard in spring; we should take opportunities to take some time off in summer. Using 10 in seven helps me do this and allows me to give more time off to my staff as well.”
Another benefit Aidan has found is that there are now days when longer tasks that you would struggle to do between two milkings can be tackled while still being able to finish up at a reasonable time.
But financially, does Aidan feel the loss in revenue from the reduced output, albeit small, is balanced in other ways?
“It is not about what can be saved by reducing requirements for hired labour, or the savings in costs such as ESB and detergents which give the largest financial benefits,” says Aidan.
“It is the knock-on effects of having more time outside of the parlour. Spending less time in the parlour allows more time for tasks such as grass measuring and strategic thinking.
“The greatest financial benefit is having the time to make better decisions.”