The Dairy Edge

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 where possible to reduce the bacterial challenge to cows and take the pressure off facilities and operator - For clinical cases, identify the type of mastitis and treat appropriately, mitigate the spread of mastitis to other cows by using clean gloves, use of disinfectant lime on cubicles and dip clusters For more information go to: https://www.teagasc.ie/news--events/daily/dairy/mastitis-control-in-early-lactation.php For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast visit the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/

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 page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/

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 difficult calving including lower thrift in calves, reduced productivity in the form of milk production and fertility and higher mortality of the calf or cow. John details the different stages of calving and reminds farmers that it is the cow’s job to calf down and it is the farmer’s job to observe and assist if necessary using the ‘two hooves, two hours’ approach to ensure cows aren’t calving for too long. For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast visit the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/

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.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/

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 78% compared with CAN. David explains a switch to Protected Urea is a simple change that has the ability to significantly reduce the environmental impact of fertiliser use at a comparative cost to traditional methods. For more information: https://www.teagasc.ie/media/website/crops/soil-and-soil-fertility/Protected-Urea-List--Jan-28,-2021.pdf For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast visit the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/

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 Marion Beecher where they discuss tips for night time calving including research that has been done to see does adjusting silage feeding alter calving time and calf rearing organisation. Marion also ran through tips to getting through the calving season in the current Covid situation. For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast go to the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/

Grass 10 Young Farmer of the Year David O’Leary joins Emma-Louise Coffey on this week’s Dairy Edge podcast to give an insight into his pathway into dairy farming and the excellence in grassland he is achieving on a challenging soil type. David began part-time with his neighbour Tommy Roche at the age of 16 and continued to work with him throughout college. Then in late 2016, he approached Pat and Helen O’Connor about leasing their dairy farm. David worked with the O’Connors in the spring of 2017 to get a feel for their farm and the land and officially started leasing the farm in January 2018. Prior to the lease starting, the O Connors invested in a new bulk tank, a new meal bin and 2 additional units on the milking parlour. In 2018, David milked 48 cows and the herd has since grown to 80 cows in 2021. David got sufficient finance from the bank to purchase 13 heifers and some machinery from the O’Connors existing farm but the remaining 35 cows were from Tommy Roche over a six-year period. David explains that the farm has some heavy soils and is located in a heavy rainfall area. Grazing infrastructure and flexibility in grazing plans are key to a successful grassland management. The farm is growing 14 tonne DM/ha from 180 kg Nitrogen/ha and David owes this to near perfect soil indexes as well as a high proportion of reseeding annually. For more go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8gHQO54qXM For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast visit the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/

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, as the calving season heats up Stuart Childs is joined by Joe Patton, Dairy Specialist, to discuss milk fever. 60% to 70% of all clinical disorders occur at this time of the dairy calving period and Joe covers important points and solutions as to how to prevent or resolve milk fever before it becomes a significant issue for dairy farmers. For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast go to the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/

John Maher, the Teagasc Grass10 Manager, outlines a suitable fertiliser programme for the spring months on Irish dairy farms on this week’s episode of the Dairy Edge. John explains that spring Nitrogen is crucial to kick start grass growth during the spring and to boost the farm cover to ensure grass remains the predominant feed in the dairy cow diet in early lactation. Farmers should first look to maximise the value from slurry by spreading 1/3 of the farm that has the lowest covers now using LESS equipment and a further 1/3 of the farm following grazing in late February and early March - 2,500 gallons of slurry equates to approximately a half bag of Urea. For the remaining 2/3 of the farm, farmers should aim to spread a half bag of protected Urea now. To calibrate yours or the contractors’ slurry spreader, to ensure you are achieving the correct application rate, check out the new Slurry Spreader Calibration Calculator: https://www.teagasc.ie/rural-economy/farm-management/farm-machinery/machinery-calibration/slurry-calibration-tool/ For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast visit the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/

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, as part of the Once-A-Day Conference, Stuart Childs and Brian Hilliard spoke to dairy farmer, Michael John Delaney, about his move to once-a-day milking and why it works for his farm. For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast go to the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/

Joe Patton joins Emma-Louise Coffey on this week’s Dairy Edge podcast to discuss how to strike the balance between feeding the dairy cow and achieving spring grazing targets in early lactation. Joe explains that there are many dynamics associated with early lactation nutrition as cows are metabolically at their most stressed post calving and grazing conditions can be challenging. Joe quantifies the dairy cow intake at 10-11 kg post-calving, which tends to rise by 1 kg per week for the first 4 weeks and 0.5 kg per week from week 5-8 of lactation, from which point cows tend to be at maximum intake of 17-19 kg in grazing systems. To feed the cow sufficiently, Joe recommends that farmers target to get two bouts of grazing each day where weather conditions allow plus concentrate supplement. Concentrate should include a high quality source of cereal (maize/barley), fibre (hulls, beat pulp) and protein (distillers, soya) as well as minerals (calmag, salt, limestone and trace minerals). For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast visit the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/

Teagasc is running a weekly Let's Talk Dairy webinar series which is also being made available afterwards as a bonus podcast episode. In this webinar, Stuart Childs, Teagasc Dairy Specialist, gives tip and advice to improve nutrient use efficiency on Irish dairy farms. For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast go to the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/

As part of AHI and Teagasc CalfCare Virtual Week, Michelle McGrath, Muireann Conneely and Niamh Field join Emma-Louise Coffey on this week’s Dairy Edge podcast to discuss the care of the newborn calf to maximise health in the early days. Michelle explains that calves are born with no immunity and rely on colostrum to protect them against disease in the first weeks of life until they establish their own immunity. Michelle outlines the priority is the first milk from the cow within the first two hours of life and at least three litres in quantity. Muireann identifies the igG as the most important immunoglobulin contained in colostrum and explains that farms should target an igG concentration of at least 50 mg/ml, which reads 22 on the Brix Refractometer. Niamh then gives advice on how to eliminate or minimise the risk of exposure to Johnes disease. Calving pens should be kept clean and calves should be removed from calving pens as soon as possible to reduce the chances of interacting with cow faeces. Any cow that has tested positive for Johnes or a cow that is displaying symptoms of Johnes should be calved separately and their colostrum and milk should not be fed to calves. For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast visit the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/

Teagasc is running a weekly Let's Talk Dairy webinar series which is also being made available afterwards as a bonus podcast episode. In this webinar, for the first of the 2021, Let's Talk Dairy Time and People Management Series, in conjunction with Macra Skillnet. Stuart Childs, Teagasc Dairy Specialist is joined by Nollaig Heffernan, Independent Management Consultant to offer some insight and practical tips around using a year planner guide to organise your year in an effective and efficient way to make better farm management decisions. For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast go to the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/

Once-a-day dairy advisor Brian Hilliard joins Emma-Louise Coffey on this week’s Dairy Edge to outline the steps needed to achieving a successful OAD milking system. Brian explains that there are approximately 200 dairy farms operating full time OAD milking with reasons for OAD milking including farm layout (long walks, steep climbs, farm fragmentation), an off-farm job, work-life balance and milking on multiple units. Brian outlines the process of converting to OAD milking as a long term project: from identifying cows that are suitable for OAD to high EBI cows with good fat and protein constituents, teat placement and udder ligaments. He also discusses short term OAD milking during the spring time as essential for dairy farmers who are achieving high calving rates during the month of February as a tool that will free up time to focus on tasks such as calf rearing, care of cows calving and grassland management. Hidden benefits of OAD milking in early lactation include better BCS and return to cyclicity in early lactation. For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast visit the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/

Waterford farmer, Steven Fitzgerald, joins Emma-Louise Coffey on this week’s Dairy Edge podcast to discuss the how he manages labour to minimise workload and reduce stress during the busy spring period. Steven explains that preparation ahead of the calving season and making a clear plan for who is responsible for each role at calving makes things easier and reduces duplication. Compact calving (90% calved in 6 weeks), OAD milking in February and getting cows out to grass from early February are key drivers of efficiency in spring. Steven prioritises feeding colostrum to calves as quickly as possible, as he believes it prevents sickness and ill thrift if calves don’t receive sufficient colostrum. Start and finish times are also important and Steven aims to finish each evening at 6 pm, regardless of the time of year. For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast visit the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/

Continuing the second in the two-part dairy year in review, on this week’s Dairy Edge podcast, Emma-Louise Coffey is joined by Teagasc dairy advisors Jim Moyles, Ciara O’Shea and Seamie Nolan. The panel gave a good indication of where profitability should lie for 2020, with milk price and costs remaining steady, despite concerns of a signification drop in milk price earlier in the year. Covid-19 didn’t go without mention. The panel explained that day-to-day operations were relatively unaffected in 2020 and to the credit of the co-ops all milk continued to be collected and processed during the height of the first lockdown which coincided with peak milk production. The panel commended farmers for their ability to embrace and adapt to discussion groups online but are hopeful and look forward to a return to the normal format in 2021. For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast visit the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/

Teagasc dairy advisors Jim Moyles, Ciara O’Shea and Seamie Nolan join Emma-Louise Coffey for the first of a two-part review of the dairy farming year. Firstly, the panel summarised the technical performance achieved on dairy farms in Ireland in 2020. Performance is on a par with 2019 but when reflecting over the 5 years since the abolition of milk quota, dairy farmers have increased milk solids production by 50-60 kg, predominantly driven by improving their 6 week calving rate and in turn achieving greater number of days in milk. Grass production in their areas is averaging 13 tonne DM/ha which is in line with PastureBase Ireland figures for the year. The heavy rainfall in both the early spring grazing period and in the autumn made conditions more challenging and reduced the days at grass for some farms on heavier soil times and in heavy rainfall areas. Next week, for the second part of the year in review, Jim, Ciara and Seamie discuss the profit on dairy farms in 2020 and how farmers and industry coped with the challenges that Covid brought throughout the year. For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast visit the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/

Teagasc is running a weekly Let's Talk Dairy webinar series which is also being made available afterwards as a bonus podcast episode. In this webinar, Stuart Childs, Teagasc Dairy Specialist, outlines some findings from the Ag-Climatise report and possible resolutions which can be achieved around ammonia emissions that we have to try to achieve in the coming years. Stuart also outlines what changes and measures we can make in order to have an impact on the ammonia emissions within dairy farming in Ireland. For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast go to the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/

Dairy teachers at Kildalton College, Zerlina Pratt and Aidan Nugent, join Emma-Louise Coffey on this week’s Dairy Edge podcast to discuss the technical performance of the dairy herd at Kildalton. Zerlina gives an overview of the dairy unit which includes 110 cows on a 46 ha milking platform. The herd EBI is €175, ranking it in the top 3% of dairy herds in the country with cows having a Holstein-Friesian base with 50% of the herd crossed with either Norwegian Red or Jersey genetics. Both Zerlina and Aidan recall technical performance including 300 days at grass, 13 tonne grass grown and 650 kg meal fed per cow from a feed perspective as well as the herd achieving an 89% 6 week calving rate and an average 530 kg MS produced per cow. The dairy unit at Kildalton, as well as being a highly technically efficient farm, engages with a large number of students on a weekly basis. Aidan details the substantial number of practical dairy skills delivered to students at the college, including animal husbandry, milk machine running and maintenance, tractor and grassland skills. Zerlina explains that Kildalton, like all of the Agricultural Colleges have continued to deliver skills during Covid-19 to maximise the learning opportunity to the students in line with government guidelines. For more information: https://www.teagasc.ie/education/teagasc-colleges/kildalton/ For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast visit the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/

Teagasc is running a weekly Let's Talk Dairy webinar series which is also being made available afterwards as a bonus podcast episode. In this webinar, Stuart Childs, Teagasc Dairy Specialist, was joined by Marion Beecher, Teagasc Research Officer and Nollaig Heffernan, Independent Management Consultant, to discuss time management tips and techniques in dairy farm management whilst Nollaig also speaks about how one needs to be careful in using their own individual time during the farming day. For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast go to the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/

Dairy farmer Dara Killeen and specialist Patrick Gowing joined Emma-Louise Coffey on this week’s Dairy Edge to discuss the targets set out in the Teagasc Dairy Roadmap and consider the targets achievable at farm level. Recorded as part of the 2020 Teagasc Virtual Dairy Conference, Dara, who is a new entrant to dairy farming since spring 2019, explained his priority investments were in high genetic merit crossbred stock, reseeding, grazing infrastructure and milking facilities. Dara viewed a lot of stock before settling on the heifers he purchased for his first year in milk and it was a rewarding decision evident from his young herd (40% heifers, 60% lactation 2) with a 90% 6 week calving rate and producing the industry average ~420 kg MS from 650 kg concentrate and 280-290 days at grass, with an estimated mature MS production of 500 kg. Patrick suggests that this performance isn’t surprising because Dara demonstrated huge attention to detail throughout the planning of his conversion to dairy and invested his time and money in the correct areas. Dara is in a phase of growing the age of the herd whilst also ensuring that the farm remains socially sustainable through establishing a good routine and employing part-time staff as well as environmentally sustainable through engaging with technologies such as EBI, protected Urea, LESS and maintaining the biodiversity that exists on farm. For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast visit the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/

Teagasc is running a weekly Let's Talk Dairy webinar series which is also being made available afterwards as a bonus podcast episode. In this webinar, Stuart Childs, Teagasc Dairy Specialist was joined by Joe Patton, John McCabe and John Paul Murphy from Moorepark farm to discuss body condition and how to deal and manage with cows on low side of body condition. For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast go to the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/

Recorded live from the 2020 Virtual National Dairy Conference, this week’s Dairy Edge podcast features dairy farmer John MacNamara and grassland researcher Mike Egan to discuss how to establish white clover in grazing swards. John has begun establishing white clover on his grazing platform to reduce the requirement for chemical N, increase MS per cow and maintain herbage production and enhance quality. Mike outlined the methods of introducing white clover including a full reseed, broadcasting and stitching in. Mike explained that the full reseed is the gold standard method for white clover establishment although a combination of all three is necessary if moving from 0 or low % clover because it is not practical to reseed greater than 15-20% of a stocked milking platform in one year. Both John and Mike identified key considerations for someone who is interested in integrating white clover including regular grass measurement, good soil fertility and high perennial ryegrass/low weed swards. For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast visit the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/

Teagasc is running a weekly Let's Talk Dairy webinar series which is also being made available afterwards as a bonus podcast episode. In this webinar, Stuart Childs, Teagasc Dairy Specialist was joined by Marion Beecher, Teagasc and Aidan Aherne, dairy farmer, for the second webinar in the Let's Talk Dairy Time and People Management Series. This webinar was part of the Let's Talk Dairy Time and People Management Series, in conjunction with Macra Skillnet. For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast go to the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/

Vet Michael Horan joins Emma-Louise Coffey on this week’s episode of the Dairy Edge podcast, to discuss the role the Department of Agriculture plays in ensuring a high level of surveillance and early detection of disease in the animal population in Ireland. As we export the majority of the milk and meat products we produce, Michael emphasises the importance of a healthy national herd status from a marketing perspective. Micheal recited some of the many diseases listed on the national health cert that milk must be free from in order to export milk to China. Michael also gives some examples of occasions when detection didn’t work as well as it might have which led to a widespread animal health crisis for both the individual farmers and the national agriculture sector. Finally, Michael gives his top tips to maintain a high health status on your farm including: maintaining a closed herd, good fencing around boundaries, avoid sharing of farm equipment and consult with your local vet to make a herd health plan for your farm. For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast visit the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/

Teagasc is running a weekly Let's Talk Dairy webinar series which is also being made available afterwards as a bonus podcast episode. In this webinar, Stuart Childs is joined by Laurence Shalloo, Katie Starsmore and Ben Larhart who are working on greenhouse gas emissions at Teagasc Moorepark. For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast go to the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/

Tom O’Dwyer Head of Dairy Knowledge Transfer at Teagasc, joins Emma-Louise Coffey on this week’s Dairy Edge podcast to detail the challenges that dairy farmers have overcome in the last fifty years. Tom expects sustainability is the biggest challenge that will face farmers over the next decade while dairy cow numbers are set to continue increasing at a modest level. There are a range of technologies that will improve sustainability as well as improve farm efficiency such as higher genetic merit stock, higher grass utilisation, reduced use of chemical nitrogen, switch to protected Urea, incorporation of white clover and low emission slurry spreading. You can hear more about these technologies at the virtual Teagasc National Dairy Conference which is taking place on November 24-25th. For more information and to register for the event, click here: https://www.teagasc.ie/corporate-events/dairy-conference/ For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast visit the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/

With the current Covid restrictions in place, Teagasc is running a weekly Let's Talk Dairy webinar series which is also being made available afterwards as a bonus podcast episode. In this webinar, Stuart Childs is joined by labour researcher, Marion Beecher, and management consultant, Nollaig Heffernan, to give insights into making dairy farms an attractive place to work. For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast go to the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/

Dairy advisor Joe Kelleher joins Emma-Louise Coffey on this week’s Dairy Edge podcast to give a detailed checklist of important tasks needed to complete in the coming months including assessing total annual grass production, soil testing, dry cow therapy strategy, parlour maintenance and relevant paperwork. For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast visit the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/

Micheál O’Leary joins Emma-Louise Coffey on this week’s Dairy Edge to give targeted advice based on the level of grass on farm as we approach the housed period. Micheál emphasises the three priorities of autumn grazing: feed the cow, hit grazing residuals and avoid doing damage. He explains that there is approximately 700 kg DM/ha grass (range 400-1,050) on farms currently which is well below the current target of 850 kg. For farms below target at 400-500 kg, Micheál would urge farmers to remove cows from the grazing platform to allow the average farm cover to build prior to 1st December. For farms above target at 900-1,000, he advises farmers to graze paddocks with lower covers. Micheál also urges farms to employ on/off grazing techniques to avoid damage following heavy rainfall in combination with shorter daylight/drying hours. For more information go to: https://www.teagasc.ie/crops/grassland/grass10/grass10-newsletter/ For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast visit the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/

With the current Covid restrictions in place, Teagasc is running a weekly Let's Talk Dairy webinar series which is also being made available afterwards as a bonus podcast episode. In this webinar, Stuart Childs is joined by Aidan Lawless and Joe Patton to discuss the performance of the winter milk herd at Johnstown Castle as well as management around calving and diet specs around housing. For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast go to the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/

Eamonn O’Flaherty joined Emma-Louise Coffey on this week’s Dairy Edge podcast to give an insight into the barriers to dry stock farmers taking up part-time employment opportunities on dairy farms. Eamonn identified dry stock farmers as suitable candidates for part-time work on dairy farms given that many of them work off-farm and they possess the relevant skillset to carry out the many tasks on dairy farms. Through discussion with dry stock farmers, Eamonn identified the common barriers including salary relative to alternative employment opportunities, physicality of the work, seasonality of work and farm facilities. Notwithstanding this, dry stock farmers acknowledged the benefits of part-time employment on dairy farms such as an additional source of income to the household, short commute time and the flexibility of working on their own farm as well as a dairy farm. For more information: https://www.teagasc.ie/media/website/publications/2020/Dairying---Part-time-employment-on-dairy-farms.pdf For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast visit the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/

With the current Covid restrictions in place, Teagasc is running a weekly Let's Talk Dairy webinar series which is also being made available afterwards as a bonus podcast episode. In this webinar, Stuart Childs, Teagasc Dairy Specialist runs through using ICBF reports in order to select cows to be put forward for selective dry cow therapy. For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast go to the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/

With the Government announcing a large spending package in this year’s Budget 2021, Financial Specialist Kevin Connolly joins Emma-Louise Coffey on this week’s Dairy Edge podcast to discuss the agricultural measures for dairy farmers. From an agricultural perspective, Kevin explains it is a neutral budget. There is a top up in income from milk sales on dairy farms resulting in an increase in VAT on milk sales from 5.4% to 5.6%. Some other positives for farmers include the continuation of tax reliefs including consanguinity (stamp duty), farm consolidation, capital gains and capital acquisition as well as stock relief. Additionally, the TAMS grant has been extended which will support continued investment in farm buildings and farming equipment. There was though an increase in carbon tax which has led to an increase in the cost of fuel and vehicle tax on farms. Finally, there is a contingency/recovery fund created to assist the Irish economy resulting from a no-deal Brexit and/or a continued Covid-19 challenge. For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast visit the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/

Pallaskenry Farm Manager Brendan Ryan joins Emma-Louise Coffey on this week’s Dairy Edge podcast to discuss the use of selective dry cow therapy (DCT). Brendan gives his insight and experience where they have practiced selective DCT for 4 years. Brendan explains that in Year 1, cows considered for selective DCT required a SCC of <50 (from milk recording) and quarter sampled each quarter to ensure all quarters are low which accounted for 10% of the cows in the herd. In 2019 in Year 4 of selective DCT, 86% of the herd were dried off using a sealer only and did not receive an antibiotic tube. Key learnings from the use of selective DCT in Pallaskenry include the importance of sufficient winter housing facilities, a number of milk recordings across the lactation (one per month) and plenty of time and help on the day of dry off. For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast visit the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/

With the current Covid restrictions in place, Teagasc is running a weekly Let's Talk Dairy webinar series which is also being made available afterwards as a bonus podcast episode. This latest webinar highlighted the many steps being taken by the Fitzgerald family to reduce the carbon footprint of their milk production and to improve sustainability on farm, providing an opportunity to share their experiences with the wider farming community. Teagasc/Glanbia Future Farmer Shane Fitzgerald, who farms 92 hectares with his father near Portlaw, in County Waterford, hosted this virtual event, which was supported by Teagasc, Glanbia Ireland, the European Milk Forum and the National Dairy Council. The panel moderated by Richie O'Brien of Teagasc featured Shane Fitzgerald, farmer, Brendan Horan, Teagasc research officer and Shane McElroy, Glanbia Ireland. For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast go to the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/

Francis Bligh, Health and Safety Specialist at Teagasc, joins Emma-Louise Coffey on this week’s Dairy Edge podcast to discuss health and safety on the farm workplace. Francis documents the source of farm accidents on Irish farms with dairy farms accounting for the greatest proportion of accidents. He explains that it is a legal requirement of farms to have a Risk Assessment (less than three staff members) or a Safety Statement (more than three staff members) for the farm. Completing this document and reviewing it regularly will investigate all aspects of the dairy farm and ensure that any potential hazards are highlighted and addressed. Considering farmer health and stress management, Francis recommends that farmers speak to and support each other and use other professionals such as local advisor and GP for advice and support. For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast visit the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/

With the current Covid restrictions in place, Teagasc is running a weekly Let's Talk Dairy webinar series which is also being made available afterwards as a bonus podcast episode. On this week’s show, Stuart Childs, was joined by John Trant, 2019 Young Grassland Farmer of the Year in order to get an insight into his career path to date. For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast go to the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/

Dairy farmer, Shane Fitzgerald, and Masters researcher, Aoife Leader, join Emma-Louise Coffey on this week’s Dairy Edge to highlight examples of farms achieving top performance in combination with high levels of biodiversity. Aoife is working with eleven dairy farms as part of the Teagasc/Glanbia joint programme to establish the features and level of biodiversity on each of the farms and has identified biodiversity KPIs including average field size, biodiversity score and biodiversity percentage. Firstly Shane gave some background to the farm: he is milking 210 cows alongside his father John, growing 13.5 tonne of grass with cows producing 480 kg MS. Shane identified many features of biodiversity including hedgerows, fenced watercourses and low input pasture to name a few and explains how biodiversity exists within a high performing dairy unit at minimal cost. Aoife explained that a lot of biodiversity exists on dairy farms and recommends that the first step for farmers is to maintain and retain existing biodiversity. For more information, Shane will be hosting a virtual farm walk and webinar on Thursday 1st October with more information here: https://www.teagasc.ie/news--events/daily/dairy/reducing-the-carbon-footprint-of-milk-production-virtual-farm-walk-and-webinar-from-portlaw-co-waterford.php For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast visit the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/

With the current Covid restrictions in place, Teagasc is running a weekly Let's Talk Dairy webinar series which is also being made available afterwards as a bonus podcast episode. On this webinar, Stuart Childs is joined by advisor, John McCarthy, who speaks to researcher, Deirdre Hennessy, about the inclusion of white clover in grazing swards. For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast go to the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/

With the current Covid restrictions in place, Teagasc is running a weekly Let's Talk Dairy webinar series which is also being made available afterwards as a bonus podcast episode. On this webinar, Stuart Childs, Teagasc Dairy Specialist outlines some derogation and farm management points that farmers need to be aware of. For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast go to the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/

Dairy Grassland Farmer of the Year Mike Bermingham joins Emma-Louise Coffey on the latest Dairy Edge podcast to discuss his autumn grazing strategy. Firstly, Mike summarises his farming year to date including grass production of 12.5 tonnes/ha, 8 grazing rotations and 450 kg MS per cow. Mike estimates he will feed 1 tonne of concentrate per cow, up 200 kg on last year owing to greater supplementation during heavy rainfall in February, March and August as well as during the drought in June. Mike’s final grazing rotation is dictated by a high closing farm cover of 850 kg DM/ha on December 1st in order to open with 1,000 kg DM/ha. Mike’s justification for this is average over winter growth of 3-5 kg/day and a high feed demand in February with 80%+ of his cows calved in the 1st 4 weeks of the calving season. Mike aims to graze 70% of the farm in the month of October which equates to 2.4% of the milking platform per day. Weekly monitoring of the farm cover through regular grass walks dictates how the remaining 30% of the platform is grazed in November. Over the last few years, Mike has typically grazed by day and housed the cows by night supplementing with silage during the month. Mike explains that within his farm system the benefits of having a good grass supply in the spring outweighs grazing on in November and into December. For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast visit the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/

Dairy farmer Jeremiah Daly joins Emma-Louise Coffey on this week’s Dairy Edge to explain how he finds the balance of running a 60-cow dairy farm and a full-time off farm job. The total labour input is 44 hours which includes 24 hours own labour and 20 hours of family labour completed by his wife Maria and his children. Additionally, Jeremiah completes a full-time off farm job and Jeremiah measured his labour input from February to July with specialist Martina Gormley as part of the Labour Efficiency Focus Farms. Jeremiah identified once-a-day milking, a high 6-week calving rate of >80% and a long grazing season as the key drivers of labour efficiency on his farm. He also acknowledges investment in an underpass this spring as a time saver as well as a measure to connect the whole milking platform which improves the safety of the farm. Jeremiah also explains that OAD milking has worked to reduce the labour required on the farm and is satisfied with the performance where in year 3, milk solids production returned to the same performance as when he milked twice-a-day. For more information: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/labour/labour-efficiency-focus-farms/jeremiah-daly/ For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast visit the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/

With the current Covid restrictions in place, Teagasc is running a weekly Let's Talk Dairy webinar series which is also being made available afterwards as a bonus podcast episode. On this webinar, Stuart Childs was joined by John Maher, Teagasc Grass10 Programme Manager to discuss managing grass and grass supply right now. For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast go to the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/

Researcher James Humphreys joins Emma-Louise Coffey on this week’s Dairy Edge with practical steps to reduce emissions while maintaining milk output and profit. James outlines the emissions for dairy farms which are: 50% methane, 20% nitrous oxide (fertiliser), 20% ammonia (slurry, urine, faeces) and 10% carbon dioxide (electricity, diesel). At Solohead Research farm, a trial is being carried out to measure the reduction in nitrous oxide and ammonia emissions resulting for changes to farming practices. Switching to LESS and protected Urea reduces emissions by 9% which is readily achievable on farms with the resources available. LESS, protected Urea spread at half rate in combination with clover inclusion reduces emissions by 18%. LESS, white clover inclusion and no fertiliser use reduces emissions by 25%. Ceasing fertiliser use will reduce milk output by 5% but this is also associated with reduced costs. For more information: https://www.teagasc.ie/media/website/publications/2020/Lowering-the-carbon-footprint-of-pasture-based-dairy-production.pdf For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast visit the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/

Dairy advisor Mark O’Sullivan joins Emma-Louise Coffey on this week’s Dairy Edge to discuss the key mandatory practices for Nitrates Derogation farms. Mark explains that these practices allow farmers to farm more intensively while protecting the environment. He documents the key practices including a mandatory liming programme, use of low emission slurry spreading, inclusion of clover seed when reseeding, lower levels of crude protein and grassland management. For paddocks with a low soil pH, Mark recommends farmers front loading ground limestone at a rate of 2 tonne/ac at a time. Additionally, Mark recommends an application of 2 tonne/ac of lime for maintenance every 4-5 years. All slurry must be spread using low emission spreading equipment which reduces the emissions but also offers farmers flexibility in spreading in higher covers in the spring and increased nutrient value (N-P-K) from slurry. Mark explains that there are there are grants of 40% (60% for young trained farmers) to purchase new slurry tankers or retrofit old splash plate tankers. For dairy cow ration, farmers must feed a max of 15% crude protein rate from April to September. Mark explains that grazed grass contains 16-24% CP so ration containing 13-14% CP is sufficient during the main grazing season. For more information: https://www.teagasc.ie/publications/2020/derogation-review-changes---improving-environmental-outcomes.php For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast visit the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/

Labour Specialist Martina Gormley joined Emma-Louise Coffey on this week’s Dairy Edge podcast with insights into labour measures and efficiencies on six dairy farms across the spring and summer months of 2020. Martina checked in with the six farmers weekly to account for the hours worked; 57 hours in spring and 50 hours in summer. The common trends across the six farms that offer labour efficiency include the number of rows milked (milking infrastructure), compact calving, number of groups of stock and use of the contractor. Martina recommends, for any farmer who would like to assess their own labour efficiency, they should consider measuring the labour each week for a year. From this you can see where you are spending time and identify inefficiencies. Martina also explains that labour input on farms should be like the steps of a stairs, busiest in the spring and summer and least busy into the autumn and winter. For more information: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/labour/labour-efficiency-focus-farms/ For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast visit the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/

Dairy farmer Michael Doran joins Emma-Louise Coffey on this week’s Dairy Edge to discuss the decision to convert from drystock to dairy farming. After 20 years of mixed drystock farming, Michael made the decision to convert to dairy farming. The idea of dairy farming had been mooted before, but it wasn’t until his son James was born with an illness that he focused his mind on dairying and the ability to make more money from the farm. Michael explains the importance of people to the dairy farm including other farmers, Teagasc experts and discussion groups. He became involved in a new entrant dairy discussion group facilitated by Abigail Ryan where the farmers were all starting at the same level and learned a lot from Abigail as well as from each other. Additionally, Michael became a monitor farmer for the Glanbia joint programme in 2015 and found working with advisor Richie O’Brien and the 11 monitor farmers very helpful. Michael also identifies measurement as important to ensure top performance of dairy business. In year 6 of dairying, the farm produced 17 tonne DM/ha and the cows produced 480 kg MS and empty rates are running at an average of 5%. Michael believes converting to dairy was the right decision and which has given the opportunity to reinvest profits in farm infrastructure, purchase land and take family holidays for 2-3 weeks during the summer. For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast visit the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/

The Lean business model of reducing waste and increasing efficiencies has become increasingly popular on dairy farms and on this week’s Dairy Edge, labour researcher Marion Beecher and Head of Continuous Improvement at Dairygold Co-Op, John Murphy, join Emma-Louise Coffey to discuss the role of Lean practices on dairy farms. Lean is not rocket science, but it can be the small changes to work organisation that add up to big savings and differences over time. Firstly, John documents the process of integrating Lean across all sectors of Dairygold Co-Op and the roll out to their suppliers with the resulting benefits including improved communication, work processes and safety whilst also reducing waste and increasing efficiency. Marion gives practical examples of Lean on farms including a case study that measured the efficiency of the milking process where savings of 20 minutes per milking were made, which accounts for in excess of 180 hours annually. Because milking accounts for the largest proportion of annual farm tasks, Marion suggests this is an area every farmer can measure and target to improve efficiency. For more information: https://www.teagasc.ie/media/website/animals/dairy/labour/Top-10-Dairy-Farm-SOPs.pdf https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/sops/ https://www.dairygoldagri.ie/leanfarm/ For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast visit the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/