The Milk Producer - November 2008 - (Page 50)

Nov Back40:New Template 10/24/2008 11:51 AM Page 1 THEBACKFORTY By Sharon Laidlaw Milk as a sleep aid? an you imagine waking up once or twice during the night to milk your cows? Dairy farmers in Ireland don’t seem to mind. Gerald Burns, a dairy farmer at Ardrahan Farm in north Cork, Ireland, gets up at 3 a.m. three times a week to milk his 150-head Fresian herd, but only for one reason. C Photo by David Barr Apparently, melatonin-rich milk can only be had from cows milked at night. According to Finnish research, melatonin, a hormone produced by the brain that helps regulate bodily cycles, occurs naturally in milk and at particularly high levels in nighttime milk, up to four times as much as regular milk. “Melatonin is high in the blood during the night and low during the day in all mammals, including cow and man, and is secreted into milk according to its concentration in 50 | November 2008 | MilkPRODUCER blood,” says University of Kuopio retired professor Maija Valtonen. Her studies on melatonin-enriched milk found drinking it improved elderly people’s quality of sleep. “Using melatonin-rich milk regularly, about half a litre a day, improved quality of sleep by decreasing wakening episodes, consequently improving sleep efficiency and daytime activity,” she says. Young people might also benefit from drinking the milk if stress is interfering with their sleep, she adds. “If they have sleep difficulties and decreased melatonin secretion, nighttime milk may increase their sleep quality.” However, Valtonen draws the line on using it to treat jet lag. “The concentration of melatonin is not high enough in nighttime milk to have any acute effect on jet lag,” she says. Having been granted a licence to produce melatonin-enriched milk in Ireland, Burns now markets Ardrahan Farm’s Lullaby brand in three large supermarket chains and smaller retail outlets across the country for the equivalent of $3.75 Cdn per litre. An avid proponent of his products, Burns also drinks the nighttime milk to help cope with his 3 a.m. routine, claiming he drinks about a pint the night before to help get a good night’s sleep. Feedback on the product has been favourable, Burns says. “We’ve never had anyone ring us up and complain it doesn’t work.” So u r c e : w w w. i r i s h t i m e s . c o m To p 1 0 rea s on s yo u k n o w y ou ’ r e a d a i r y fa rm er: 1. You know the price of milk per hundredweight but not by the litre. 2. Your idea of a neighbourhood watch is someone calling you to let you know your heifers are out. 3. The medicine cabinet contains a container of Bag Balm. 4. Manure is a dinner table topic. 5. Your backyard ends at an electric fence. 6. You've gotten an award for fat (and were proud of it). 7. Your idea of a power lunch is a sandwich on a tractor. 8. You have more than a dozen cats. 9. Your idea of an overnight delivery is pulling a calf at three in the morning. 10. You can remember the name of every cow on your farm but the names of your children elude you. Source: www.youknowster.com. http://www.youknowster.com http://www.irishtimes.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Milk Producer - November 2008

The Milk Producer - November 2008
Contents
Editor's Notes
DFO�Chair's Message
Dairy Update
DFC Promotion
Farm Finance
Forage Fallout
Issues Update
Research
Applied Science
Markets
New 'N' Noted
Back Forty

The Milk Producer - November 2008