The Milk Development Council (MDC) has just produced a new fact sheet to provide clear information for dairy farmers on using energy efficiently on the farm.

The aim of Energy Efficiency On Farm is to help farmers gain a greater understanding of what their actual energy costs are, where their greatest usage lies and to identify potential savings. As well as identifying ways of using energy more efficiently in the future, the fact sheet provides some useful contact details for those farmers thinking about reviewing or changing their energy supplier.

"The cost of supplying power to a dairy farm is significant," says Charlotte Bullock, MDC Research and Development Manager, "and like any other farm input cost this should be reviewed to see if savings can be made.

"Studies have shown that electricity usage on a sample of dairy farms can vary between 200kWh and 400 kWh (kilowatt hours) per cow, per annum, so there is significant potential for savings to be made in this area.

"Reviewing power efficiency and cost is even more pressing due to the imminent rise in the cost of electricity and gas," Charlotte stresses. "Prices are increasing due to the diminishing supply of coal to power stations and the decline in the UK's gas supply, resulting in demand having to be met from imports.

"Climate change levy is also adding to energy prices."