The Dairy Edge

Latest Episodes:

Weekly Grass10 Update Mar 21, 2024

Show notes

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 page at:

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

The Dairy Edge is a co-production with LastCastMedia.com

Improving silage quality within our dairy systems Mar 18, 2024

Show notes

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

The Dairy Edge is a co-production with LastCastMedia.com

Weekly Grass10 Update Mar 14, 2024

Show notes

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-dairy-edge-podcast/

The Dairy Edge is a co-production with LastCastMedia.com

How Liam Brophy’s home farm converted from drystock to dairy Mar 11, 2024

Show notes

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 Kildalton College and Moorepark to gain the relevant knowledge and hands-on experience to prepare himself for the process of converting the home farm from drystock to dairy.

Prior to milking, investments included purchasing heifers, building a parlour, installing a water system and paddocks. The most recent building included a cubicle shed which replaced straw bed housing.

Reflecting on the last 5 years, Liam explained that while they had planning approval to build the parlour almost a year prior to start milking in February 2020, the unanticipated impact of Covid-19 delayed the build of the milking parlour which forced them to milk in a temporary parlour for almost the full year. This delay presented the greatest challenge in the early days.

The Brophy family, now in their 4th season milking, have 142 high EBI black and white cows calving in 2024. In 2023, the cows produced 500 kg MS at 4.5% fat and 3.7% protein.

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

Weekly Grass10 Update Mar 07, 2024

Show notes

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.ly/Grass10-5thMarch

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

The importance of genetics in dairy-beef systems to maximise performance & profitability Mar 04, 2024

Show notes

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 and has not encountered issues at calving.

He compares his experience of calving suckler and dairy cows and explains that he finds the dairy cows ‘open up better’ to calf and they are fit rather than fat, given the difference in their body condition at calving.

Paul has two repeat customers since he began milking six years ago, one for his Friesian bulls and one for his continentals. He sets the price for the calves based on the market value in the given year. His priority is to sell a healthy, good quality calf that will provide a margin for the beef farmer.

For farmers who are placing a greater focus on the dairy beef index this year, Paul encourages farmers to give it a go and try with a handful of their cows. Where it works well, it will give farmers the confidence to continue adding value to the dairy beef calves into the future.

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

Weekly Grass10 Update Feb 29, 2024

Show notes

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 newsletter:

https://bit.ly/Grass10-27thFeb

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

Dairy Market Outlook for 2024 Feb 26, 2024

Show notes

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

The Dairy Edge is a co-production with LastCastMedia.com

Weekly Grass10 Update Feb 22, 2024

Show notes

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 calculator & early chemical Nitrogen.

Link to this week’s Grass10 newsletter:

https://bit.ly/Grass10-20thFeb

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

Hazell Mullins on how to achieve high herd health status Feb 19, 2024

Show notes

‘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 movement of stock to out farms, contract reared where potentially in contact with other stock or disease markers are rising in diagnostics testing.

As the busy calving season progresses, Hazell explains that despite farmers best efforts, illness outbreak typically occurs when the infection pressure exceeds the immunity of animals, especially the young calves.

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

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