The Dairy Edge

Latest Episodes:

Identifying the best and worst cows in your dairy herd Aug 08, 2018

Show notes

On this week's episode of The Dairy Edge podcast, ICBF Geneticist Dr Margaret Kelleher gives the top tips on identifying the best and worst cows in your dairy herd.

Firstly, Margaret explains what the Cows Own Worth (COW) index is, what information contributes to each cow's COW value and how the COW index differs from the EBI.

Briefly, the COW index is for selecting the best cows for retention in the herd and the worst cows for culling, while the EBI is used for breeding.

Furthermore, Margaret explains why a cow would be ranked best and worst for a herd. Traits that would rank a cow best is early calving, good milk solids production, high EBI and low SCC compared to contemporaries in the herd. Margaret emphasises inputting insemination records, scanning records and treatments for incidence of ill-health such as lameness and mastitis are important to get the most accurate picture of your herd.

For more information:

https://www.icbf.com/wp/?p=11331#more-11331

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDUXoyZPRcQ

https://www.icbf.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/CowOwnWorthMKelleher0408_20161.pdf

How to achieve higher grass production and utilisation Jul 27, 2018

Show notes

For part two of our interview with 2017 Grass 10 champion Eddie O’Donnell, we get the top tips on achieving high grass production and more importantly utilisation.

Eddie explains what practices implemented on his farm to optimise soil fertility, grazing infrastructure, reseeding and grassland management which has helped achieve on average 10 grazings per paddock plus a silage cut.

He emphasises the huge potassium (K) demand on the milking platform where surplus grass is removed in the form of bales. With that in mind, the paddocks are colour coded in the parlour and paddocks with low K are earmarked for dirty water and no surpluses are removed from such paddocks.

Having quantified the financial benefits of completing a grass measurements, Eddie speaks about the benefits of the 3 grazing seasons: spring, summer and autumn. Furthermore, Eddie mentions that farmers must act on the figures resulting from measurements to ensure the grazed grass is at maximum quality at each grazing.

Despite the target rotation length set at 20-21 days, Eddie explains growth rate and pre-grazing cover (target 1,400-1,500 kg DM/ha) dictates rotation length, and at peak growth, rotation length can go as low as 16 days.

For more information, go to www.teagasc.ie

Farming tips from Grass 10 champion Eddie O’Donnell Jul 20, 2018

Show notes

On this week’s episode of the Dairy Edge podcast, the 2017 Grass 10 champion Eddie O’Donnell gives us an insight into his dairy farm.

Eddie and his father Denis have grown their dairy farm business substantially from 70 cows in 2005 to calving down 350 cows across 2 units in 2018.

Eddie explains changes on the farm in recent years such as extending lactation length after the abolition of milk quota and introduction of crossbreeding.

He acknowledges the benefits of entering the Grass 10 competition, giving him the opportunity to take a critical look at the grass and other aspects of the farm and encourages any farmers that are considering grass measuring to join a grazing coaches' group or buddy up with a farmer who is already measuring.

He also explains the considerable measurable financial benefits that he has seen since he began grass measuring including reduced feed costs and improved milk quality.

For more information:

https://www.teagasc.ie/media/website/publications/2018/Eddie-O'Donnell-Open-day-booklet.pdf

The importance of hygiene and sustainability on the Walsh farm Jul 12, 2018

Show notes

We revisit the farm of milk quality award winners John and Brendan Walsh with John giving an insight into his farming life and how his milk hygiene practices really changed with the new milking parlour, while Brendan explains the importance of sustainability to the family farm.

For more information go to www.teagasc.ie.

Part 2: Soil recovery time and cow diet in drought conditions Jul 07, 2018

Show notes

On part two of this week's episode of The Dairy Edge podcast, Grass 10 Manager, John Maher, speculates on recovery time from soil moisture deficit once it rains. With depleted grass covers on many farms across the country, John suggests different diets to feed cows over the coming weeks, emphasising the importance of water in the cow's diet with water demand doubling!

For more information from Teagasc on coping with the current conditions: https://www.teagasc.ie/media/website/publications/2018/Grass10-Newsletter-July-3rd.pdf https://www.teagasc.ie/media/website/publications/2018/Feeding-in-summer-drought-conditions.pdf https://www.teagasc.ie/rural-economy/farm-management/farming-in-difficult-weather-conditions/summer-drought-conditions/

Part 1: The grass management tools you need for the dry conditions Jul 04, 2018

Show notes

How can dairy farmers cope with the current summer dry conditions? Teagasc's, Grass 10 Manager, John Maher gives the top management tools. He explains the link between soil moisture deficit and grass growth whilst also advising on fertiliser strategy, 2nd cut silage and management of recently reseeded ground.

For more information from Teagasc go to:

https://www.teagasc.ie/media/website/publications/2018/Feeding-in-summer-drought-conditions.pdf

https://www.teagasc.ie/rural-economy/farm-management/farming-in-difficult-weather-conditions/summer-drought-conditions/

https://www.teagasc.ie/media/website/publications/2018/Grass10-Weekly-Update_26-06-18.pdf

How to cope with the summer drought conditions Jun 29, 2018

Show notes

With the ongoing summer drought conditions, Emma-Louise Coffey presents some of Teagasc's key advice and tips to help farmers cope and manage with their grassland management.

For more information, go to:

https://www.teagasc.ie/rural-economy/farm-management/farming-in-difficult-weather-conditions/summer-drought-conditions/

Insights and advice from Milk Quality award winners John & Brendan Walsh Jun 25, 2018

Show notes

On this week's episode of The Dairy Edge podcast, milk quality award winners John and Brendan Walsh explain the practices that help them produce the highest quality milk ahead of their Open Day on July 4th.

John emphasises the importance of hygiene and grassland to maintain good udder health while Brendan qualifies how they achieve up to 300 days at grass and treatment protocol for cows with mastitis.

For more information on the Milk Quality Farm Walk at the Walsh Farm: https://www.teagasc.ie/media/website/events/2018/Milk-Quality-Awards-Farm-Walk-2018.pdf

Achieve work-life balance with once-a-day milking Jun 17, 2018

Show notes

On this week's episode of The Dairy Edge podcast, we hear from Dairy Farmer Gillian O'Sullivan about how once-a-day milking helps her family achieve work life balance.

Gillian is farming near Dungarvan with husband Neil and father Michael. Gillian and Neil began dairy farming almost 10 years ago, and credits her father's wealth of knowledge, their local dairy advisor Brian Hilliard and other farmers at discussion groups and events as the main source of information when entering farming.

Gillian explains the benefits of the once-a-day milking systems with particular emphasis on the positive effect on labour and the benefits it confers for their young family as well as positive health and fertility benefits for their cows.

Milk solids took a 20% hit in the first year of once-a-day milking but recovered in Year 3 to levels of 365 kg milk solids - similar to what they produced twice-a-day. They have now exceeded this performance, delivering almost 390 kg milk solids in 2017. Gillian emphasises how the A+B-C payment system is advantageous to them with 9% milk constituents and lower milk volume.

For more information:

Selection of dairy cows for once-a-day milking https://www.teagasc.ie/media/website/publications/2018/Breeding-for-Once-a-Day-Milking---Donagh-Berry.pdf

Economic implications of transitioning from twice-a-day to once-a-day:

https://www.teagasc.ie/media/website/publications/2018/Economics-of-transitioning-to-Once-A-Day-Milking---George-Ramsbottom.pdf

How to maximise grass utilisation during a drought Jun 12, 2018

Show notes

On this week's episode of the Dairy Edge podcast we speak to Aidan Lawless, Farm Manager of the dairy herd at Johnstown Castle. As the gap widens between the milk production of the spring and autumn calved cows, Aidan explains the current performance and diet.

Cumulative performance is similar for the autumn herd compared to the 2016/2017 lactation, while the spring calving cows have a consistently lower protein % compared with 2017.

Aidan talks through current grassland management practices with particular emphasis on methods to maximise grass utilisation during this period of moisture deficit. Finally, Aidan quantifies the first cut silage yields achieved in late May.

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