The Dairy Edge

For this week’s Grass10 grazing management update, John Maher discusses current grazing advice, while the featured farmer is Will Griffin, Co. Carlow.   Read more from this week’s Grass10 newsletter at: https://bit.ly/Grass10-4thNovember25    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-p...

Aisling Claffey, Teagasc ruminant nutritionist, joins James Dunne on this week’s Dairy Edge to discuss what’s important to remember when it comes to the upcoming dry cow period.   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

For this week’s Grass10 grazing management update, John Maher discusses current grazing advice and closing up for early spring grass.      The featured farmer is John Payne, from Co. Longford who is targeting a closing AFC of  800 kg DM/ha on Dec 1st.   Read more from this week’s Grass10 newsletter at: https://bit.ly/Grass10-28thOctober2025   For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast go to the...

Teagasc Dairy Specialist, Patrick Gowing, joins James Dunne on this week’s Dairy Edge to discuss how to best manage surplus cash, build financial resilience, review production costs, and ensure farmers best prepared for 2026.   As 2025 draws to a close, it will be remembered as one of the best farming years in recent memory due to strong milk prices, increased stock values and good weather for mos...

John Maher has the latest Grass10 grazing management update, and this week’s featured farmer is Niall O’Regan from Mallow, Co. Cork.   Read more from this week’s Grass10 newsletter at: https://bit.ly/grass10-21stOctober2025   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 La...

John Maher, Grass10 Manager, and John Leahy, dairy farmer in Athea, Co. Limerick, join Stuart Childs on this week’s Dairy Edge to discuss applying lime.   Despite difficult weather a few weeks ago, things have improved, John explains, and ground conditions, rotation length and money in the bank will allow people to spread lime.   John outlines that we are very short of where we should be in terms...

For this week’s Grass10 grazing management update, John Maher discusses current grazing advice and closing up for early spring grass.  It’s a great opportunity to spread lime - the cheapest fertiliser one can buy!     The featured farmer is Mark Lonergan, who is from Co. Tipperary and is targeting a closing AFC of  750 kg DM/ha on Dec 1st.    Read more from this week’s Grass10 newsletter at: https...

Teagasc Research Officer, Pablo Silva Boloña, whose work focuses on milk quality, dairy cow mastitis and selective dry cow therapy, joins James Dunne on this week’s Dairy Edge.    Pablo explains selective dry therapy and why it is being implemented on Irish dairy farms, plus he highlights the important management steps to ensure its successful implementation at farm level.    For more episodes fro...

For this week’s Grass10 grazing management update, John Maher discusses current grazing advice and the start of closing up for early spring grass.  It’s a great week to reseed paddocks sprayed and grazed.    The featured farmer is Jason Coulter, who is from Co. Sligo and trying to get autumn closing sorted out after a very  difficult weekend.    Link to this week’s Grass10 newsletter: https://bit....

Mike Dineen, Teagasc Senior Research Officer, joins James Dunne on this week’s Dairy Edge to discuss the fundamentals to optimising performance from freshly calved cows by making informed decisions around the winter diet.     Winter feed is obviously a significant cost to producing liquid milk therefore it is important farmers get it right.    Mike explains how forage quality is key to generating...

For this week’s Grass10 grazing management update, John Maher discusses current grazing advice and the start of closing up for early spring grass.     The featured farmer is Shane Hegarty from Co. Carlow and Shane was the Young Farmer Category Winner of the Sustainable Grassland Farmer of the Year.   Link to this week’s Grass10 newsletter: https://bit.ly/grass10-30thSeptember2025   For more episod...

Kevin Downing of ICBF joins Stuart Childs on this week’s Dairy Edge to discuss the recent changes to the EBI incorporated into the September Evaluation run.   Kevin outlines the reason for the base change in order to make sure we are comparing the current cows with as representative population as possible to best reflect the on farm performance of herds.   Kevin then discusses the changes that hav...

For this week’s Grass10 grazing management update, John Maher discusses current grazing management and advises using the higher grass growth now to build grass into the autumn as many farms are behind on grass supply.  He also has tips on dealing with some difficult grazing conditions.   Link to this week’s Grass10 newsletter: https://bit.ly/grass10-23rdSeptember2025   For more episodes from the D...

John Conroy, Dairy Advisor in Teagasc Nenagh, and Jim Delahunty, dairy farmer, join Stuart Childs on this week’s Dairy Edge to discuss closing the farm for 2025.   John says it has been an exceptional year for the most part, in the area he covers, with people complaining about making bales at this stage which is a far cry from the situation experienced in 2024.    However, the recent dry spell has...

For this week’s Grass10 grazing management update, John Maher discusses current grazing management and advises using the higher grass growth now to build grass into the autumn as many farms are behind on grass supply.    He also highlights this week’s feature farm, the O’Dea Farm Partnership, who are having a phenomenal grazing year with 14 tons DM/ha grown already with an input of 140 units N/acr...

Seamus Kearney, Teagasc Tirlán Joint Programme Co-ordinator, joins Stuart Childs on this week’s Dairy Edge to discuss soil fertility actions that can still be taken despite the chemical fertiliser deadline passing for 2025.   Firstly, Seamus outlines the reduction in chemical nitrogen in the last 9 years and these reductions are becoming more conspicuous where soil fertility isn’t on point.   Seam...

For this week’s Grass10 grazing management update, John Maher discusses current grazing advice and as many farms are behind on grass supply, he advises using the higher grass growth now to build grass into the autumn.    The featured farmer is Patrick O’Neill from Longford, who is having a good year with grazing and is on target!   Link to this week’s Grass10 newsletter: https://bit.ly/Grass10-9th...

Padraig O’Connor, technologist with Teagasc, joins James Dunne on this week’s Dairy Edge to outline how farmers should manage their herd somatic cell count this autumn, how to make best use of the milk recording information and what to do with identified problem cows.   For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast go to the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast...

For this week’s Grass10 grazing management update, John Maher discusses current grazing advice as some farms are dealing with low grass supply.    He also talks about the featured farmer Mike Ahern, who is the Sustainable Grassland Farmer of the Year, and who is opening his farm to the public on Tuesday Sept 9th at 11am , in Ballyduff Co. Waterford.   For more go to: https://youtu.be/kbrAbDg7Hrc  ...

Ruth Fennell, Collaborative Farming Specialist, joins Stuart Childs on this week’s Dairy Edge to discuss the various collaborative farming options that exist.   Ruth outlines the options that range from contract heifer rearing, nutrient sharing, machinery trading and land leasing to more commonly thought of collaborative farming options such as registered farm partnerships and share farming. Effec...

For this week’s Grass10 grazing management update, John Maher discusses current grass growth and predicted grass growth.  Plus the featured farmer is Arthur Sweetman from county Wexford.   Link to this week’s Grass10 newsletter: https://bit.ly/Grass10-26thAugust2025   For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast go to the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/...

George Ramsbottom, Head of the Teagasc Signpost Advisory Programme, joins James Dunne on this week’s Dairy Edge to discuss how Irish dairy farmers can improve their farms’ carbon footprint.    George outlines how there is a dedicated team of 21 climate advisors available through the Signpost Advisory Programme to offer farmers help and advice on how they can improve the environmental credentials o...

For this week’s Grass10 grazing management update, John Maher discusses current grazing advice as some farms are dealing with low grass supply. He also focuses on reviewing where fertiliser use needs to be.   Link to this week’s Grass10 newsletter: https://bit.ly/Grass10-19thAugust2025   For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast go to the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-...

Emma-Louise Coffey, Programme Co-Ordinator for the Farm Manager Apprenticeship Programme, joins James Dunne on this week’s Dairy Edge to discuss why young, skilled dairy farmers are important for the industry and what the farm apprenticeship course can offer both host farmers and aspiring young dairy farmers. For more information go to: https://teagasc.ie/education/apprenticeships/farm-manager/  ...

For this week’s Grass10 grazing management update, John Maher discusses current grazing advice as we approach autumn build-up of grass and while some farms, particularly in the southern coast, are very tight on grass supply. There is also a grazing update from Sean Phelan, from Kilkenny who is investing in grazing and currently on target for autumn build-up.   Link to this week’s Grass10 newslette...