The Dairy Edge

19:40

Tips for optimising breeding performance

The Dairy Edge ·

2019/04/15

Dairy specialist Stuart Childs joins Emma-Louise Coffey to explain the various steps to optimise breeding performance for your farm. Stuart identifies 3-week submission rate as the most important KPI for farmers to target. He considers the length of time to mating start date which is anywhere between 10 and 20 days away. Stuart recommends tail painting the whole herd and addressing cows who fail to cycle. Many farmers have changed the calving date on their farms following the

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11:23

Grassland Management Tips

The Dairy Edge ·

2019/04/08

In part 2 of our interview with John McNamara, we find out about the grassland management on John's dairy farm. John explains that the grazing season starts in August of the previous year. He starts extending his grazing rotation and building farm cover in August, hitting peak farm cover in later September and closing the farm from at an appropriate cover to carry grass into the spring. He explains that the farm is heavy meaning the shoulder periods of the grazing season can be a

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20:13

An interview with Grass 10 Champion, John McNamara

The Dairy Edge ·

2019/04/01

2018 Grass 10 champion John McNamara joins Emma-Louise Coffey to talk through his farming career and some of the people who have helped him along the way. John explains that the farm has been in the McNamara family for three generations and he considers the changes that have taken place over the last 20 years since he returned home farming. At that time the McNamaras were milking between 50-60 cows on a 25 ha platform. John and his wife Olive now milk 250 cows on a land base of 116 ha

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16:12

Top tips for sire selection for the upcoming breeding...

The Dairy Edge ·

2019/03/25

Kevin Downing from ICBF joins us this week to with his top tips for sire selection for the upcoming breeding season. He suggests key traits to consider are high EBI cows with early calving date. For sire selection whether using daughter proven or genomically selected sires, farmers should select high EBI bulls with high sub-indices for areas of importance for herd. Higher EBI offspring will produce more profit with each €1 additional EBI = €2 additional profit. Kevin explains the

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19:02

An update on the performance of the Johnstown Castle...

The Dairy Edge ·

2019/03/15

On this week's episode of The Dairy Edge podcast, Johnstown Castle dairy farm manager Aidan Lawless gives an update on the performance of the Johnstown Castle herd. Firstly Aidan gives an insight into the current performance of the autumn calving herd. Cows were out at grass since January 10th which is uncharacteristic but Aidan explained with the mild winter and high overwinter growth, there was a high cover of grass and good ground conditions. Aidan explained that the breeding season had

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19:03

Spring Grazing Update & Advice

The Dairy Edge ·

2019/03/11

Grass 10 campaign manager John Maher joins us to give an update on grazing conditions across the country and his top tips for the rest of spring grazing rotation. John recalls the perfect grazing conditions experience in the month of February which allowed many farmers to hit the target 30% grazed by March 1st. He explained that this was demonstrated particularly well on farms that had optimum stocking rate and high 6 week calving rates. The mixed weather including heavy rainfall and snow

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19:00

The economic benefits of milk recording

The Dairy Edge ·

2019/03/04

Vet Doreen Corridan joins Emma-Louise Coffey on this week’s episode of The Dairy Edge, to discuss the benefits of measuring herd performance through milk recording. Doreen quantifies the economic benefit of milk recording to the tune of €23,000 from a 100 cow herd compared with herds that don’t milk record. With approximately 50% of dairy herds in Ireland, there are substantial financial gains to be achieved on many dairy farms across the country. Where is the additional €23,000 coming

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18:44

Improving your mental health on the farm

The Dairy Edge ·

2019/02/25

Dairy Farmer, Peter Hynes, joins Emma-Louise Coffey to talk about a fundraising initiative 'Rearing To Go' that aims to help raise awareness of mental health on the farm. Peter is well known in farming circles for speaking out on his own struggles with mental health and depression. He reminds us that the Spring can be a busy and stressful time on farms and it could lead to stress among farmers. His top tips are to eat well, sleep well, use the contractor to reduce workload, and get off

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28:15

The effects Brexit will have on Irish agriculture

The Dairy Edge ·

2019/02/17

The Brexit deadline is ticking and with so many questions still in the air for Irish agriculture, we spoke to Teagasc's Head of Rural Economy and Development, Kevin Hanrahan, to explain the potential outcomes. A crash out scenario will have a significant impact on the Irish agricultural sector, Kevin explains, saying the magnitude is greatest for the beef sector with a 20% decline in carcass price compared with less than 10% to milk price. The uncertainty surrounding Brexit makes it

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13:24

Improving your soil fertility

The Dairy Edge ·

2019/02/11

Soil and plant nutrition specialist, Mark Plunkett, joins Emma-Louise Coffey on this week's Dairy Edge podcast to discuss the upward trends in soil fertility across Irish soils. Mark highlights the increased lime usage, resulting in a greater proportion of soils at optimum of pH 6.3 or greater and explains that optimum pH gives rise to improved nutrient uptake and consequently, higher grass production. While Phosphorous and Potassium levels are improving on farms, there is still a lot of

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11:44

How to best manage your grassland in February

The Dairy Edge ·

2019/02/01

Dairy advisor, Richard O'Brien, gives advice on how to best manage grassland for the month of February. Richard explains that there is a lot of grass on dairy farms, with approximately 30% more grass on farms compared with this time last year. With that in mind, Richard encourages all farmers to get out to see what grass is on farm and target the lighter covers in order to get 30% grazed by March 1st. When reflecting on the Spring Rotation Planner, Richard challenges farmers to hit 15% by

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17:22

Is contract rearing for you?

The Dairy Edge ·

2019/01/28

Drystock farmer (contract rearer and sheep) John O’Connell and drystock advisor Tom Coll join Emma-Louise Coffey to discuss contract rearing. Tom explains the various arrangements between rearers and dairy cow farmers and explores the various topics discussed at discussion group and the targets the group set for themselves including target weights, fertility and grassland management. Tom identifies the contract as the most important element of the agreement so that both parties have

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16:10

The True Value of Grazed Grass

The Dairy Edge ·

2019/01/18

This week we're joined by Michael Dineen, who explains the research investigating the true value of grazed grass, identifying the limiting nutrients available to grazing dairy cows. Michael takes an in-depth look at the different components of the grass plant including the protein content (Crude Protein, CP) and fibre content (Neutral Detergent Fibre, NDF). He highlights the nutritional quality of grass and the competitive advantage arising from the ability to grow and utilise large

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18:54

How to attract and keep staff on Irish dairy farms

The Dairy Edge ·

2019/01/14

How do you attract and identify staff for your dairy farm? On this week’s episode of The Dairy Edge podcast, Paidi Kelly from Teagasc, along with dairy farm owner, Diarmuid Hegarty, and dairy farm operator, Cormac Desmond, joined us to help identify the key characteristics. Paidi explains the context of hiring staff on farms, arising predominantly from the expansion in the dairy herd - an additional 300,000 cows since 2010. Coupled with this, the availability of labour has reduced

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11:30

Minimising the workload on your farm this spring

The Dairy Edge ·

2019/01/07

Preparation is key to minimising workload and stress that dairy farmers often experience on farms during the spring period and labour researcher Marion Beecher from Teagasc Moorepark highlights some of the ways that labour demand can be reduced. Six-week calving rate is increase steadily on dairy farming meaning there are more cows calving in a shorter period of time putting a greater demand on resources such as facilities and labour. Practices during the calving season such as once-a-day

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14:13

Tackling emissions on dairy farms

The Dairy Edge ·

2019/01/02

In the face of climate change, the Dairy Edge wanted to find out just what are the environmental implications of dairy farming practices. We spoke to William Burchill about how to tackle this issue on the farm whilst also achieving higher profitability. By way of context, William explained what was included in the Paris agreement and what it means for the farming community - Ireland has committed to reducing overall Greenhouse Gas emissions by 30% by the year 2030 relative to base year of

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23:12

Dairy Farm Review of the Year

The Dairy Edge ·

2018/12/26

As we reach the end of the calendar year, we thought it was a good opportunity for the Dairy Edge to take a look at the major events that impacted on the dairy industry across the year of 2018. Pat Dillon, Head of Animal & Grassland Research & Innovation and Michael Egan, Grassland Researcher, both from Teagasc Moorepark took us on a journey that started back in January. Pat reflected on the milk produced in the country this year, with a national figure of 7.6 billion litres,

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14:17

The Australian system for managing non-replacement...

The Dairy Edge ·

2018/12/17

Animal Welfare researcher Natalie Roadknight from the University of Melbourne, gave insight into the dairy industry in Australia and the main animal welfare challenges facing their dairy sector. Natalie began by explaining that Australia is experiencing a persistent drought which is placing significant pressure on farm in the form of feed availability and costs. Natalie turned her attention to the welfare of young calves, acknowledging the key management practices for newborn calves

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15:44

The role of sexed semen in Irish dairy herds

The Dairy Edge ·

2018/12/07

Stephen Butler joins us to discuss the role of sexed semen in Irish dairy herds. Stephen gave an insight into the sexed semen trial that took place during the breeding season of 2018. He explained the differences compared with the 2013 trial including the increase in semen quantity from 2 million to 4 million sperm. Conception rates from sexed straws remain lower than conventional straws, with a relative conception rate of 76% which is similar to previous studies. Stephen addressed the

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12:33

Advice for the current grassland situation on farm

The Dairy Edge ·

2018/11/30

John Maher and Fergus Bogue from the Grass10 team join us to examine the current grassland situation on farm. Fergus explains that the average dairy farm on PastureBase has hit an average farm cover of 600kg DM/ha and his advice is to stop grazing immediately! Fergus explains that it is important to carry grass through the winter for spring gracing and estimates each day at grass will be worth in excess of €3 per cow in the spring. John Maher recaps on the grass situation for the year,

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