Does dairy farming place a burden on water conservation?

On a global scale, agriculture uses 70 % of the world’s water supply. In Ireland we are fortunate to have amongst the lowest water stress levels in the world, with almost zero impact. Teagasc data suggests that the average volume of water used to produce one litre of milk was 6.4 L. In addition, a lactating dairy cow producing 36kg of milk per day can consume between 80-100 L of water per day. Water usage in dairy production is up to 20 % less than in other European countries. Due to our mild, wet climate, approximately 99 % of water use in Irish dairy production systems comes from natural rainfall, with the remaining 1 % coming from abstracted water sources.