New display offers food for thought

Virginia Show

Grassfed cow milk is likely to be more beneficial for humans than milk produced by other systems, according to Donal Brady, and he’s eager to share the science behind it.

The health benefits of the grass system, which predominates in Ireland over the alternative indoor models, will be one of the key aspects of a fascinating event at this year’s Virginia Show entitled ‘From Grass to Food’.

Teagasc experts from Moorepark will be on hand to explain, and more importantly show, how 18kg of dry matter - which is a cow’s the daily intake, is converted into 20 litres of milk. When dried that represents 2kg of whole milk powder.

That milk can of course then be processed into countless other products and Jonathan Magan and Conor Fitzpatrick of Teagasc Food Research Centre will be on hand to discuss all this.

One of the event organisers Donal Brady is particularly eager to highlight how grassfed milk differs from milk produced by other systems.

A trial carried out in Moorepark compared dairy produced across the entire lactation from three different regimes: grass based (95% grass) which would be typical for an Irish dairy farmer; Total Mixed Ration (TMR) where the cattle remained 100% of the time indoors fed on 40% maise, 40% silage, and 20% concentrate; and the third was partial TMR, which also included grass feed.

“They found a significant difference in the healthy fats from grazed grass as opposed to the fat in a TMR fed cow,” reports Donal. “There was an 83% increase in Omega 3 in the grass fed cows, 141% more CLA (good fats), and there were a lot of benefits.

“The Irish Dairy Council describe it as the Irish grass advantage, given the health benefits to humans over the TMR, which would be the standard practice around the world.”

Donal enthuses that there are only two substances in nature which are designed as a food: milk and honey.

“If you eat a salad, those leaves were grown to produce seed to reproduce themselves, and it just so happens to be digestible and we can extract nutrients from it - it’s not designed as a food, whereas honey and milk were designed totally as a food.”

This factoid allows Donal, who also keeps bees, to segueway nicely into another of the Virginia Show’s offerings: “At Virginia Show we have the biggest honey show of any agricultural show in the country!”

The Grass to Food event will be located near the judges’ box all day on Wednesday, August 21. Check out the honey jars entered in the Home Industries section too!