Teagasc is running a weekly Let's Talk Dairy webinar series which is also being made available as a bonus podcast episode. In this webinar, Stuart Childs, Teagasc Dairy Specialist, is joined by Dan O'Riordan, ICBF who explains how to do the weekly fertility report correctly. The way to calculate the fertility report has thankfully changed since 2008 with the aid of the ICBF platform which gives a much more accurate result given that the figures inserted are correct. The two key things that you w...
Jun 04, 2021•25 min
Grass 10 advisor Joseph Dunphy joins Emma-Louise Coffey on this week’s episode of The Dairy Edge to remind us of the important targets to maximise grass utilisation and minimise costs during the main grazing season. Joseph acknowledges the difficult grazing conditions experienced in recent weeks, particularly for farms in heavy rainfall areas and on heavier soils where on/off grazing techniques have been a feature of grazing management. He explains that growth rates have increased to an average ...
May 31, 2021•19 min
Teagasc is running a weekly Let's Talk Dairy webinar series which is also being made available as a bonus podcast episode. In this webinar, Stuart Childs, Teagasc Dairy Specialist, discusses grass management. Some topics up for discussion in this episode are: the national growth grass curve, number of covers this year to date, current farm situations, maximising grass for quality and utilisation and improving grass quality. For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast go to the show page at: ht...
May 28, 2021•31 min
Doreen Corridan and Stuart Childs join Emma-Louise Coffey on this week’s episode of the Dairy Edge to give advice on how to maximise pregnancy rates across the remainder of the breeding season and how to avoid a lull in calvings that arise during the transition from AI to the stock bull. Doreen highlights the increase in demand for the bull in groups of heifers, in particular where a synchronisation protocol and/or sexed semen is used. In this scenario, a high proportion of heifers may repeat in...
May 24, 2021•37 min
Teagasc is running a weekly Let's Talk Dairy webinar series which is also being made available as a bonus podcast episode. In this webinar, Stuart Childs, Teagasc Dairy Specialist, discusses how to cut for the highest quality of silage. In the farming community, the trend seems to be that we forget about the time leading up to cutting silage and only emphasise the time when we are using it. As a result of this, we strategically plan for cutting silage but at the moment it’s not of much benefit t...
May 21, 2021•39 min
On this week’s episode of The Dairy Edge, dairy specialist James Dunne joins Emma-Louise Coffey to quantify the impact of recent growth rates on 1st cut silage crops. James explains that growth rates in Moorepark and Ballyhaise to 20th April this year are similar to the 10-year average. However, from 20th April to 10th May, growth rates were 20kg and 10kg lower in Moorepark and Ballyhaise respectively. James reassures us that the difference in growth rates can be made up in a few short days in m...
May 17, 2021•15 min
Teagasc is running a weekly Let's Talk Dairy webinar series which is also being made available as a bonus podcast episode. In this webinar, Stuart Childs, Teagasc Dairy Specialist, is joined by Ciaran Collins, Tillage Specialist, to discuss weed control, following up on the recent webinar with Deirdre Hennessy on establishing grass-white clover swards. Ciaran gave an overview of Integrated Pest Management (IPM); pesticides and water; 2,4DB; herbicides for new lays; and pests in new lays. We shou...
May 14, 2021•1 hr 1 min
Pallaskenry farm manager Brendan Ryan joins Emma-Louise Coffey on this week’s Dairy Edge podcast to discuss SCC in early lactation following selective dry cow therapy. Brendan explains that 69% of the herd were dried off with a teat sealer only based on cows that had milk records of SCC <200 k during lactation and no high quarter. Herd SCC in February averaged 200-250 k and now sits between 110-130 k. Brendan acknowledges the high SCC in early lactation persisted for longer than other years d...
May 10, 2021•24 min
Teagasc is running a weekly Let's Talk Dairy webinar series which is also being made available as a bonus podcast episode. In this webinar, Stuart Childs, Teagasc Dairy Specialist discusses milk recording reports and the importance it has to farmers. Milk recording is important to identify superior cows who are producing high levels of solids and also to identify the most productive cows which can then be beneficial from an environmental and economic point of view. Generally, milk recording is a...
May 07, 2021•46 min
Katie Starsmore and Ben Lahar join Emma-Louise Coffey on this week’s Dairy Edge podcast to give an insight into the Green Feed trial that is investigating feed additives that have the potential to reduce methane emissions from grass fed dairy cows. Katie explains that the trial cows emitted 320g of methane daily on average across the last three weeks. Methane is produced by bugs in the rumen following digestion of feed. Higher digestibility feed (lower pre-grazing cover) results in lower emissio...
May 03, 2021•20 min
Teagasc is running a weekly Let's Talk Dairy webinar series which is also being made available as a bonus podcast episode. In this webinar, Stuart Childs, Teagasc Dairy Specialist is joined by Dr. Deirdre Hennessy to discuss the establishment of grass-white clover into our swards. Clover is an essential component to have on a farm. Clover offers us huge opportunities in reducing our fertiliser nitrogen and it also benefits us greatly in animal production. In Teagasc Moorepark, on average there h...
Apr 30, 2021•43 min
Deirdre Hennessy joins Emma-Louise Coffey on this week’s Dairy Edge podcast to give tips and advice on maintaining grass production whilst spreading lower levels of chemical Nitrogen. Deirdre firstly explains that farmers can expect lower grass production if they spread less chemical Nitrogen to the tune of 800-1,000 kg DM/ha. She recommends that farmers target spreading slurry in the spring using LESS techniques to increase the amount of N available. Furthermore, farmers should consider the inc...
Apr 26, 2021•26 min
Teagasc is running a weekly Let's Talk Dairy webinar series which is also being made available as a bonus podcast episode. In this webinar, Stuart Childs, Teagasc Dairy Specialist, gives advice on cows that are suitable for sexed semen and appropriate synchronisation protocols for both cows and heifers. For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast go to the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/
Apr 23, 2021•37 min
Tomás Tubritt joins Emma-Louise Coffey on this week’s Dairy Edge with tips and advice on best practice for reseeding. Tomás suggests that farmers should consider reseeding 10% of the farm annually to optimise grass production, to ensure the farm has use of the best grass varieties on the Pasture Profit Index and to improve the response of nitrogen during spring. To select the appropriate varieties, Tomás explains that you must consider the intended paddock use. For grazing, focus on spring growt...
Apr 19, 2021•26 min
Teagasc is running a weekly Let's Talk Dairy webinar series which is also being made available as a bonus podcast episode. In this webinar, Stuart Childs, Teagasc Dairy Specialist, discusses bull selection targets. Stuart recaps on an overall guideline that Teagasc have issued to people in relation to the breeding targets for this year. How breeding can influence the direction of your herd is also discussed. In the last couple of years there has been less emphasis on the selection of bulls but t...
Apr 16, 2021•36 min
Laurence Shalloo joins Emma-Louise Coffey on this week’s Dairy Edge podcast to give his insights into a report investigating the merit of the seasonal milk supply curve that exists in Ireland. Laurence explains that the seasonal milk production system represents the predominant system type in Ireland and exploits the comparative competitive advantage of growing and utilising of grazed grass. From a processing efficiency perspective, this means Ireland is running an average efficiency of 62% comp...
Apr 12, 2021•34 min
Stephen Moore joins Emma-Louise Coffey on this week’s episode of The Dairy Edge to identify the key practices to achieve a 90% three-week submission rate to maximise the 6 week calving rate during the spring of 2022. Stephen recommends that farmers complete pre-breeding heat detection using tail paint to identify cows that are not cycling; tail paint should be checked once per week and a note taken of cows that have cycled. In addition to this, farmers should consider metri-checking and a pre br...
Apr 05, 2021•23 min
Teagasc is running a weekly Let's Talk Dairy webinar series which is also being made available as a bonus podcast episode. In this webinar, Stuart Childs, Teagasc Dairy Specialist, is joined by Noel Meehan and Eimear Connery about the on-farm assessment carried out by ASSAP advisors to assess farmers’ impact on water quality. For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast go to the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/
Apr 02, 2021•1 hr 3 min
Stephen Butler, reproductive physiology specialist at Teagasc joins Emma-Louise Coffey on this week’s Dairy Edge podcast to discuss the potential that sexed semen can play to maximise the number of replacements born early in the calving season and increase the economic value of non-replacement dairy stock to be sold off the farm. Stephen identifies high EBI cows that are calved greater than 50 days, are cycling regularly, have good BCS and have had no metabolic diseases post calving as appropria...
Mar 29, 2021•23 min
Teagasc is running a weekly Let's Talk Dairy webinar series which is also being made available as a bonus podcast episode. In this webinar, Stuart Childs, Teagasc Dairy Specialist, is joined by Joseph Dunphy who works with the Grass10 team along with John Maher, John Douglas and Michael O'Leary. Joseph gives an insight into how things are going in relation to the grass as well as the common pitfall or the risks people are facing due to the weather forecast being good for the next couple of days....
Mar 26, 2021•28 min
Eimear Connery and Noel Meehan join Emma-Louise Coffey on this week’s Dairy Edge with an insight into the role of the Teagasc ASSAP programme and the efforts to maintain and improve water quality in Ireland. Firstly, Noel highlights that agriculture is the biggest land use industry in Ireland and therefore, can have a major impact on water quality status. Eimear then details the key areas of water flow on farms that is investigated by ASSAP advisors from the farmyard to the farmland and the nutr...
Mar 22, 2021•29 min
Teagasc is running a weekly Let's Talk Dairy webinar series which is also being made available as a bonus podcast episode. In this webinar, Stuart Childs, Teagasc Dairy Specialist, is joined by Denis Howard from Munster Bovine. The topic discussed is bulk milk health screening and its commonality in certain regions in Ireland with special emphasis on Munster. Denis talks about the most relevant diseases which this health screening detects which in recent times, is becoming a regular occurrence o...
Mar 19, 2021•1 hr 6 min
Teagasc specialist Joe Patton and ICBF geneticist Kevin Downing join Emma-Louise Coffey on this week’s Dairy Edge to explore the key traits in dairy replacements to maximise income on Irish dairy farms. Joe identifies fertility as the most important trait, regardless of the production system, to ensure cows calf at the right time of the year giving cows the opportunity to remain in herds over multiple lactations. Good fertility performance has a knock-on effect on increasing production potential...
Mar 15, 2021•35 min
Grass 10 advisor John Douglas joins Emma-Louise Coffey on this week’s Dairy Edge podcast with advice on getting your grazing back on track during the month of March. John assesses the current situation on dairy farms across the country, explaining that some farmers have achieved a significant level of grazing during February (drier farms that received lower levels of rainfall) while some farmers achieved little to no grazing (heavier farms and in higher rainfall areas). He recommends that farmer...
Mar 08, 2021•20 min
Teagasc is running a weekly Let's Talk Dairy webinar series which is also being made available as a bonus podcast episode. In this webinar, Stuart Childs, Teagasc Dairy Specialist, gives an insight into body condition score at calving in the spring time. He also outlines what the ideal BCS bracket your cows should be in. For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast go to the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/
Mar 05, 2021•33 min
Milk quality specialist Don Crowley joins Emma-Louise Coffey on this week’s Dairy Edge podcast with advice on how to tackle high SCC on dairy farms arising from poor grazing conditions and prolonged housing in early lactation. Don’s tips to reduce SCC and the number of cases of mastitis include; - Milk record your herd early to identify high SCC cows, get help from your Teagasc advisor, milk quality advisor or vet to help interrupt the milk recording results if necessary - Get cows out to grass ...
Mar 01, 2021•27 min
Teagasc is running a weekly Let's Talk Dairy webinar series which is also being made available as a bonus podcast episode. In this webinar, Stuart Childs is joined by Don Crowley, Teagasc Milk Quality Specialist where they discuss what can be done in the milking parlour with freshly calved cows in order to try and stay ahead of the cell count before it becomes a problem. Don also discusses the importance of early lactation cell count. For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast go to the show ...
Feb 26, 2021•35 min
Vet John Mee joins Emma-Louise Coffey on this week’s Dairy Edge podcast with practical tips to maximise the health and welfare of cow and calf around calving. John explains that management practices are the main cause of calving difficulty in dairy herds. Generally, in heifers, the calf is too big or the heifer is under grown or over conditioned and in cows the calf is presenting incorrectly or the cow has milk fever. Calving accounts for 10% of the EBI owing to the economic consequences of a di...
Feb 22, 2021•32 min
Teagasc is running a weekly Let's Talk Dairy webinar series which is also being made available as a bonus podcast episode. In this webinar, Stuart Childs is joined by Donal Patton where the topic up for discussion is the practicalities of Spring grazing. In this webinar, Donal will outline the steps on how to approach Spring grazing and how to make it work for you no matter what land type you're working with. For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast go to the show page at: https://www.teaga...
Feb 19, 2021•46 min
Soil scientist David Wall joins Emma-Louise Coffey on this week’s Dairy Edge to discuss the potential of Protected Urea to reduce emissions whilst maintaining grass production. David explains that comprehensive research has been carried out to test Protected Urea as a nitrogen fertiliser product that can be used as a direct replacement for Urea or CAN and spread all year round. Protected Urea reduces ammonia emissions by up to 75% compared with Urea or reduces greenhouse gas emissions by up to 7...
Feb 15, 2021•27 min
