The Dairy Edge

Latest Episodes:

Let’s Talk Dairy Bonus Episode: The inclusion of white clover in grazing swards Sep 26, 2020

Show notes

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/

Let’s Talk Dairy Bonus Episode: Derogation and Farm Management Points to Note Sep 24, 2020

Show notes

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, outlines his strategy for the final grazing rotation Sep 21, 2020

Show notes

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/

Running a 60-cow dairy farm and a full-time off farm job Sep 14, 2020

Show notes

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/

Let’s Talk Dairy Bonus Episode: Managing grass and grass supply Sep 11, 2020

Show notes

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/

How to reduce emissions while maintaining milk output and profit Sep 07, 2020

Show notes

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/

Key Practices for Nitrates Derogation Farmers Aug 31, 2020

Show notes

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/

Making farming easier and more enjoyable through labour efficiencies Aug 24, 2020

Show notes

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/

Michael Doran on his decision to convert from drystock to dairy farming Aug 17, 2020

Show notes

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/

How to use the Lean model to make savings and increase efficiencies on your farm Aug 10, 2020

Show notes

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/

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