The Dairy Edge

Recognition of the high forage quality and the nitrogen (N) fixation benefits of grass-white clover pastures has led to a resurgence of interest in its use as a means of reducing the economic and environmental costs in livestock agriculture.    On this week’s Dairy Edge podcast, Teagasc grassland researcher Caitlin Looney and Teagasc Grass 10 advisor Joseph Dunphy, outline the benefits of grass wh...

On 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 also discusses feeding the cow as poor weather forces farmers to house and he has an update from dairy farmer Kevin Murphy in county Wexford.   Link to this week’s Grass10 newsletter:  https://bit.ly/Grass10-26t...

Sean Coughlan, CEO of ICBF, joins Stuart Childs on this week’s Dairy Edge podcast to discuss the origins of ICBF, what it has done since its creation back in 1998 and what the future looks like for dairy breeding.   Sean first gives a brief description of how ICBF came into being under the stewardship of Dr. Brian Wickham as the first CEO in 1998 when it was formed.   He then explains the creases...

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 new...

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...

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 m...

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 complet...

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 Kilk...

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 i...

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...

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 c...

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...

‘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 vaccina...

On 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 featured farmer, Enda Armstrong from Co. Galway, who is currently grazing by day and explains the techniques he is using to get grass in the diet when weather is difficult.    Joseph also discusses...

Don Crowley, Teagasc Milk Quality Specialist, joins Stuart Childs on this week’s episode of the Dairy Edge to talk about how to take control of SCC in the early stages of lactation.   Don first outlines the importance of a fresh cow group to manage the transition to the main milking group which is a key step to set cows up for the year ahead.   This fresh cow group will allow added attention to be...

The Teagasc Grass10 team are bringing Dairy Edge listeners a new, weekly Grass10 update and for this week's grazing management update, Joseph Dunphy discusses PastureBase data, Dry Matter % and Predicted grass growth, rainfall & soil temperatures. He also discusses the importance of getting your opening Average Farm Cover, grass budget & spring rotation planner completed. Plus, Joseph has...

On this week’s episode of The Dairy Edge, dairy advisor Kay O’Connell joins Emma-Louise Coffey to address priority tasks from supporting cow and calf health to setting up the farm for the grazing season of 2024.   Kay recommends that farmers complete a spring rotation planner as a means of increasing the proportion of grazed grass in the dairy cow diet. Kay explains that grazed grass is highly dig...

Mike Egan joins Emma-Louise Coffey on this week’s Dairy Edge podcast to discuss the balance between achieving optimum dairy cow intakes and good graze outs in early lactation.   Mike first considers the dynamics that dictate dairy cow intake in early lactation including parity, quality of the dry cow diet, cow liveweight, health and EBI.    He explains that recent research estimates that the avera...

Pat Tuohy and William Burchill join Emma-Louise Coffey on this week’s Dairy Edge podcast to discuss how farmers can maximise the value of slurry through tactical use and having optimum storage facilities on farm.   At the outset, William says, if you are not prepared to go with bagged fertiliser, you should not be willing to slurry. In order for this to play out on farm, William explains that farm...

Marion Beecher joins Emma-Louise Coffey on this week’s episode of The Dairy Edge to discuss a recent case study of farmers who achieve an average 8 hour working day on their dairy farm throughout the year.   Marion explains that in the study, farmers cited a compact, seasonal calving system as the key driver of their labour efficiency and recognised that the average 8 hour day ranged with longer w...

Following the Teagasc National Dairy Conference where attendees heard how pasture utilised was fundamental to our dairy systems, Teagasc Researcher Donal Patton joins James Dunne on the latest Dairy Edge podcast to explain how to make informed decisions regarding farm stocking rate. For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast go to the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy...

William Burchill, FBD Lecturer in Soil Science in UCC, is on this week’s Dairy Edge podcast discussing Nitrogen Use Efficiency (NUE) from a wholefarm point of view but also from the point of nitrogen applied. William explains how wholefarm Nitrogen Use Efficiency works and then how NUE can be used in terms of the fertilisers (organic or chemical) applied to land.  William discusses the 4 Rs of fer...

International dairy consultant, David Beca, joins Emma-Louise Coffey for part two of his discussion on the Dairy Edge podcast to discuss the global milk supply trends over the last two decades and he speculates what milk producing nations have the capacity to meet growing consumer demands.   David explains that demand for dairy is growing by 1-3% per annum with the range being determined by econom...

International dairy consultant, David Beca, joins Emma-Louise Coffey on this week’s Dairy Edge podcast to discuss the fundamentals of cost control in grazing systems.   David discusses pasture harvest, as defined as grass utilised on the milk platform, and consequently, the proportion of pasture in the dairy cow diet, as the key driver of low cost, high profit grazing systems.   Furthermore, David...

Cathal Buckley, Researcher at the Rural Economy Unit in Teagasc Athenry, joins Stuart Childs on this week’s Dairy Edge podcast to discuss the results from the sustainability report of 2022 that was published in October of this year.   Cathal first outlines the number of dairy farms involved in the survey and some of the figures associated with them such as the average dairy cow number of 92.   Cat...