On this week’s episode of the Dairy Edge, Donal Patton, Teagasc Ballyhaise and Mike Egan, Teagasc , discussed at a recent Teagasc webinar the current weather conditions and scenarios facing farmers across the country and how best to deal with them. Donal first talked through the current situation in Ballyhaise and then discussed trial work that was done over a 4 year period there which mimicked the situation that many farmers are now facing in terms of high proportions not grazed and how to deal...
Apr 09, 2024•28 min
For this week’s Grass10 grazing management update, Joseph Dunphy discusses PastureBase data, Dry Matter % and Predicted grass growth, rainfall & soil temperatures for the week. As the wet weather continues, Joseph discusses grazing management advice and he has an update from Shane Seymour in county Tipperary. Link to this week’s newsletter: https://bit.ly/Grass10-2ndApril For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast go to the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge...
Apr 04, 2024•6 min
Recognition of the high forage quality and the nitrogen (N) fixation benefits of grass-white clover pastures has led to a resurgence of interest in its use as a means of reducing the economic and environmental costs in livestock agriculture. On this week’s Dairy Edge podcast, Teagasc grassland researcher Caitlin Looney and Teagasc Grass 10 advisor Joseph Dunphy, outline the benefits of grass white clover swards, the findings from the Clover 150 commercial farm trials and how to set out incorpora...
Apr 01, 2024•21 min
On this week’s Grass10 grazing management update, Joseph Dunphy discusses PastureBase data, Dry Matter % and Predicted grass growth, rainfall & soil temperatures for the week. Joseph also discusses feeding the cow as poor weather forces farmers to house and he has an update from dairy farmer Kevin Murphy in county Wexford. Link to this week’s Grass10 newsletter: https://bit.ly/Grass10-26thMarch For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast go to the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/anima...
Mar 28, 2024•5 min
Sean Coughlan, CEO of ICBF, joins Stuart Childs on this week’s Dairy Edge podcast to discuss the origins of ICBF, what it has done since its creation back in 1998 and what the future looks like for dairy breeding. Sean first gives a brief description of how ICBF came into being under the stewardship of Dr. Brian Wickham as the first CEO in 1998 when it was formed. He then explains the creases that had to be ironed out when ICBF started highlighting the variation in calving dates that existed ini...
Mar 25, 2024•30 min
For this week’s Grass10 grazing management update, Joseph Dunphy discusses PastureBase data, Dry Matter % and Predicted grass growth, rainfall & soil temperatures for the week . Joseph discusses current grazing management with the poor weather, the launch of the Spring clover events throughout the country and has a grazing update from farmer David Dolan in Co. Mayo Link to this week’s newsletter: https://bit.ly/Grass10-19thMarch For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast go to the show pa...
Mar 21, 2024•5 min
The need for enough quality silage in our dairy systems is often underestimated. With silage stocks reducing and average quality on a lot of farms there is a need for farmers to put a silage plan in place for 2024. Dairy advisor William Byrne, and dairy farmer, Michael Lally, join James Dunne on the latest Dairy Edge podcast to discuss some of the key aspects of making quality silage whilst also ensuring good yields. For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast go to the show page at: https://w...
Mar 18, 2024•34 min
On the latest Grass10 grazing management update, Joseph Dunphy discusses PastureBase data, Dry Matter % and Predicted grass growth, rainfall & soil temperatures for the week. Joseph also discusses the ‘3 checks’ of managing pasture on your farm during March and has a grazing update from William Dennehy from Co. Kerry. Link to this week’s newsletter: https://bit.ly/Grass10-12thMarch For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast go to the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-...
Mar 14, 2024•6 min
New entrant dairy farmer, Liam Brophy, joins Emma-Louise Coffey on the latest Dairy Edge podcast to discuss the conversion process of his family farm as well as successes and challenges along the way. Towards the end of Liam’s school years, milk quota abolition offered the opportunity to milk dairy cows on his home farm. Following extensive discussion with his father Mark, Liam set about completing the Dairy Herd Management course at Gurteen College and the Dairy Farm Management course at Kildal...
Mar 11, 2024•23 min
On this week’s Grass10 grazing management update, Joseph Dunphy discusses the latest PastureBase data, Dry Matter % and Predicted grass growth, rainfall & soil temperatures for the week. Jospeh explains how an adjustment of your first grazing rotation will need to be made depending on your % grazed during February. He also has a grazing update from featured farmer, Joe Murphy from Co Kilkenny, and he discusses the importance of sulphur this spring. Link to this week’s newsletter: https://bit...
Mar 07, 2024•6 min
As a joint episode between The Dairy Edge and The Beef Edge podcasts, dairy farmer, Paul Delaney, and Teagasc beef specialist, Catherine Egan, join Emma-Louise Coffey to discuss the importance of genetics in dairy-beef systems to maximise performance and profitability. In 2024, Paul plans to use sexed semen on the top 35-40% of his herd followed by continental beef straws. When considering the impact of calving continental breeds, Paul says he focuses on calving difficulty and gestation length a...
Mar 04, 2024•21 min
For this week’s Grass10 grazing management update, Joseph Dunphy discusses PastureBase data, Dry Matter % and Predicted grass growth, rainfall & soil temperatures. Joseph has a grazing update from the featured farmer from Co. Westmeath, Michael Martin, who is getting grazing despite the difficult weather. He discusses the importance of getting back into the weekly routine of completing a grass walk on PastureBase Ireland and an updated plan for chemical N and Slurry. Link to this week’s news...
Feb 29, 2024•6 min
Coming off the back of the highs of 2022, the production year of 2023 has seen a sharp market correction in milk price. Plenty of farmers are budgeting forward and one question which is always asked is what’s the market outlook for the current year? On this week’s Dairy Edge, James Dunne is joined by Bord Bia Dairy Ingredients Sector Manager, Margaret Butler, to give some insights into the current market outlook. For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast go to the show page at: https://www.t...
Feb 26, 2024•31 min
On this week’s Grass10 grazing management update, Joseph Dunphy discusses PastureBase data, Dry Matter % and Predicted grass growth, rainfall & soil temperatures. Joseph also has a grazing update from featured farmer, Fergal Coughlan from Co. Cork, who has managed to graze 25% of his farm so far this spring. He discusses tips to get cows to grass and how to structure your daily workload so cows get out for a 2nd allocation of grass in the afternoon. He also discusses the PastureBase grazing ...
Feb 22, 2024•6 min
‘Vet on the Moove’ Hazell Mullins joins Emma-Louise Coffey on this week’s Dairy Edge podcast to discuss the priorities to achieve high herd health status and gives her tips to limit disease outbreaks this spring. Hazell identifies use of farm data, diagnostic testing and hygienic facilities as target areas to promote herd health and prevent disease outbreak. In relation to an effective vaccination programme, Hazell recommends that individual farmers assess their farm situation, whether there is ...
Feb 19, 2024•34 min
On this week’s Grass10 grazing management update, Joseph Dunphy discusses PastureBase data, Dry Matter % and Predicted grass growth, rainfall & soil temperatures. Joseph has a grazing update from featured farmer, Enda Armstrong from Co. Galway, who is currently grazing by day and explains the techniques he is using to get grass in the diet when weather is difficult. Joseph also discusses the importance of early spring Nitrogen. You can also read this week's Grass10 newsletter at: https://bit...
Feb 15, 2024•5 min
Don Crowley, Teagasc Milk Quality Specialist, joins Stuart Childs on this week’s episode of the Dairy Edge to talk about how to take control of SCC in the early stages of lactation. Don first outlines the importance of a fresh cow group to manage the transition to the main milking group which is a key step to set cows up for the year ahead. This fresh cow group will allow added attention to be given to both cubicles and the cows themselves in terms of preparation and observation of milking. Don ...
Feb 12, 2024•29 min
The Teagasc Grass10 team are bringing Dairy Edge listeners a new, weekly Grass10 update and for this week's grazing management update, Joseph Dunphy discusses PastureBase data, Dry Matter % and Predicted grass growth, rainfall & soil temperatures. He also discusses the importance of getting your opening Average Farm Cover, grass budget & spring rotation planner completed. Plus, Joseph has an update from the Clonakilty Research Farm in Co. Cork where grazing has started, as well as the do...
Feb 08, 2024•5 min
On this week’s episode of The Dairy Edge, dairy advisor Kay O’Connell joins Emma-Louise Coffey to address priority tasks from supporting cow and calf health to setting up the farm for the grazing season of 2024. Kay recommends that farmers complete a spring rotation planner as a means of increasing the proportion of grazed grass in the dairy cow diet. Kay explains that grazed grass is highly digestible and high in protein and will support milk production and body condition in early lactation. Ka...
Feb 05, 2024•25 min
Mike Egan joins Emma-Louise Coffey on this week’s Dairy Edge podcast to discuss the balance between achieving optimum dairy cow intakes and good graze outs in early lactation. Mike first considers the dynamics that dictate dairy cow intake in early lactation including parity, quality of the dry cow diet, cow liveweight, health and EBI. He explains that recent research estimates that the average cow in the herd will eat approximately 13 kg DM following calving, which is higher than the previous r...
Jan 29, 2024•27 min
Pat Tuohy and William Burchill join Emma-Louise Coffey on this week’s Dairy Edge podcast to discuss how farmers can maximise the value of slurry through tactical use and having optimum storage facilities on farm. At the outset, William says, if you are not prepared to go with bagged fertiliser, you should not be willing to slurry. In order for this to play out on farm, William explains that farmers need sufficient storage to allow flexibility in their system, particularly in late January and Feb...
Jan 08, 2024•26 min
Marion Beecher joins Emma-Louise Coffey on this week’s episode of The Dairy Edge to discuss a recent case study of farmers who achieve an average 8 hour working day on their dairy farm throughout the year. Marion explains that in the study, farmers cited a compact, seasonal calving system as the key driver of their labour efficiency and recognised that the average 8 hour day ranged with longer working days during calving and breeding to much shorter days when cows are dried off Marion identified...
Jan 01, 2024•17 min
Following the Teagasc National Dairy Conference where attendees heard how pasture utilised was fundamental to our dairy systems, Teagasc Researcher Donal Patton joins James Dunne on the latest Dairy Edge podcast to explain how to make informed decisions regarding farm stocking rate. For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast go to the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/ The Dairy Edge is a co-production with LastCastMedia.com...
Dec 25, 2023•26 min
William Burchill, FBD Lecturer in Soil Science in UCC, is on this week’s Dairy Edge podcast discussing Nitrogen Use Efficiency (NUE) from a wholefarm point of view but also from the point of nitrogen applied. William explains how wholefarm Nitrogen Use Efficiency works and then how NUE can be used in terms of the fertilisers (organic or chemical) applied to land. William discusses the 4 Rs of fertiliser application: Right type, Right place, Right timing and Right rate. William also outlines a fe...
Dec 20, 2023•28 min
International dairy consultant, David Beca, joins Emma-Louise Coffey for part two of his discussion on the Dairy Edge podcast to discuss the global milk supply trends over the last two decades and he speculates what milk producing nations have the capacity to meet growing consumer demands. David explains that demand for dairy is growing by 1-3% per annum with the range being determined by economic conditions. Examining individual countries, David sees compounding growth in milk supply in countri...
Dec 11, 2023•23 min
International dairy consultant, David Beca, joins Emma-Louise Coffey on this week’s Dairy Edge podcast to discuss the fundamentals of cost control in grazing systems. David discusses pasture harvest, as defined as grass utilised on the milk platform, and consequently, the proportion of pasture in the dairy cow diet, as the key driver of low cost, high profit grazing systems. Furthermore, David compares the relative costs of feedstuffs in Ireland and international competitors. He explains that th...
Dec 04, 2023•31 min
Cathal Buckley, Researcher at the Rural Economy Unit in Teagasc Athenry, joins Stuart Childs on this week’s Dairy Edge podcast to discuss the results from the sustainability report of 2022 that was published in October of this year. Cathal first outlines the number of dairy farms involved in the survey and some of the figures associated with them such as the average dairy cow number of 92. Cathal discusses the reasons for the reduction in the per hectare emissions on dairy farms in 2022. The mai...
Nov 27, 2023•29 min
With the level of data available to dairy farmers increasing all the time, David Hannon, a dairy farmer from county Meath, joins James Dunne on the latest Dairy Edge podcast to explain how he uses data to drive better decisions on his farm. The National Dairy Conference 2023 takes place on November 29th at the Lyrath Hotel, county Kilkenny with the theme of this year’s conference, 'Adapting to a changing dairy farming environment'. For tickets and more information visit: https://www.teagasc.ie/c...
Nov 20, 2023•28 min
Teagasc’s Richie O’Brien and Joe Patton join Emma-Louise Coffey on the latest Dairy Edge podcast to reflect on the progress made after a decade of expansion whilst also discussing concerns in areas such as the economic consequences of overstocking the milking platform. Richie explains that the advice now is similar to pre-quota: efficiency before scale, getting the simple things right like soil fertility, producing more grass, completing a financial plan to dictate decisions at farm level. When ...
Nov 13, 2023•32 min
Dairy advisor, Jim Moyles, joins Emma-Louise Coffey on this week’s Dairy Edge to discuss the financial performance of dairy farms in 2023 and potential areas where farmers can focus on to protect profits. Jim documents farm accounts for 27 farms from January to September and he explains that farm receipts have declined by €800 per cow compared with 2022 resulting from a 15 cent/litre drop in milk price while production remained steady to the end of August. Farm costs remained relatively steady w...
Nov 06, 2023•28 min
