The Dairy Edge

Latest Episodes:

Feeding the dairy cow and achieving spring grazing targets in early lactation Jan 25, 2021

Show notes

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/

Let’s Talk Dairy Bonus Episode: Improving your nutrient use efficiency Jan 22, 2021

Show notes

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/

How to maximise the health of the newborn calf in the early days Jan 18, 2021

Show notes

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/

Let’s Talk Dairy Bonus Episode: Using a Yearly Planner to Organise Yours Jan 15, 2021

Show notes

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/

The steps to achieving a successful OAD milking system Jan 11, 2021

Show notes

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/

How to minimise workload and reduce stress during the busy spring period Jan 04, 2021

Show notes

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/

The Dairy Year in Review Part 2 Dec 28, 2020

Show notes

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/

The Dairy Year in Review Part 1 Dec 21, 2020

Show notes

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/

Let’s Talk Dairy Bonus Episode: The Ag-Climatise report and ammonia emissions Dec 18, 2020

Show notes

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/

The technical performance of the dairy herd at Kildalton Dec 14, 2020

Show notes

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/

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected