The Dairy Edge

Sarah Higgins, Ruminant & Equine Manager with MSD joins Stuart Childs on this week’s Dairy Edge podcast to talk about Bovine Respiratory Disease (BRD) and its impact.    Sarah outlines what BRD is, how it impacts on animals and what people can do to reduce the impact it has on their herds.   Sarah explains that while vaccination from the day of birth against RSV and Pi3 is now possible, this a...

For this week’s podcast version of the Let’s Talk Dairy webinar series, George Ramsbottom was joined by Mike Dineen, Teagasc to discuss supplementation guidelines for cows in early lactation.    Elsewhere on the webinar, John Maher, Grass10 Programme Manager gave an update on the grass situation for this week.   To register for future Let’s Talk Dairy webinars go to: https://www.teagasc.ie/corpora...

Clarissa O’Nuallain, HR Services Manager with IFAC, joins Stuart Childs on the latest Dairy Edge podcast to discuss the legislation that affects employers and that is very important for farmers who are employing people to be aware of.    Clarissa emphasised the importance of contracts being issued to staff and went on to outline the risks of not issuing these.    She then discussed the probation p...

For this week’s podcast version of the Let’s Talk Dairy webinar series, Stuart Childs, Teagasc Dairy Specialist discusses best practice around weaning.    The webinar was run in conjunction with the series of Animal Health Ireland (AHI) and Teagasc CalfCare events which took place in January on farms across the country.   To register for future Let’s Talk Dairy webinars go to: https://www.teagasc....

For this week’s podcast version of the Let’s Talk Dairy webinar series, George Ramsbottom, Teagasc Dairy Specialist, was joined by Patrick Gowing, Teagasc Dairy Specialist to discuss housing guidelines for young calves.    The webinar was run in conjunction with the series of Animal Health Ireland (AHI) and Teagasc CalfCare events which are taking place this January on farms across the country. To...

For the second part of the interview with Tommy the Vet, Stuart talks to Tommy about Precision Microbes, a complementary feed for calves that he thinks is going to be game changing for calf gut health.    Tommy first discusses how he came to have an interest in the space that this product is in and how he came to be involved with trying to promote it.   Tommy then goes on to explain the logic behi...

For this week’s podcast version of the Let’s Talk Dairy webinar series, George Ramsbottom, Teagasc Dairy Specialist, was joined by Catherine McAloon, Vet in UCD's Herd Health Group to discuss managing scouring calves.    Catherine's presentation was followed by a questions and answers session. The webinar was run in conjunction with the series of Animal Health Ireland (AHI) and Teagasc CalfCare ev...

With calving season under way, on this week’s episode of the Dairy Edge podcast, Tommy Heffernan aka Tommy the Vet talks about doing the basics right on calf health.   Tommy says that doing the basics right, though sounding boring, is the key to good calf management.   While Colostrum 123 is well ingrained in people’s minds now, the hygiene of the collection of the colostrum is something that peop...

For this week’s podcast version of the Let’s Talk Dairy webinar series, George Ramsbottom, Teagasc Dairy Specialist, is joined by Emer Kennedy of Teagasc to discuss milk feeding guidelines for young calves.    Emer's presentation was followed by a questions and answers session. The webinar was run in conjunction with the series of Animal Health Ireland (AHI) and Teagasc CalfCare events which are t...

Vincent Griffith, Farm Profitability Specialist with Aurivo Co-Op and chair of the IGA Dairy Conference Committee, joins Stuart Childs on this week’s Dairy Edge podcast to preview the IGA Dairy Conference taking place in Charleville on Wednesday 18th January.   Vincent outlines the three sessions on the day which are:   -       Session 1 which will examine the impacts of banding on farms with a fi...

On the latest episode of the Dairy Edge podcast, Míchéal O’Leary, from Pasturebase Ireland, reviews the 2022 grass year.   Míchéal began by explaining that average farm cover at the end of 2022 was 730kg DM/ha with a range from 600 to 800/900 kg DM/ha. He then went on to explain the situation for the year as a whole with the key figure being that on dairy farms that have over 30 covers done for 20...

Lorna Twomey, Milk Quality PhD Researcher in Teagasc Moorepark, joins Stuart Childs on the latest Dairy Edge podcast to talk about milk quality and the things farmers can do at the end of lactation and the start of the next lactation to ensure good TBC and thermoduric counts.   Lorna talks about a good routine, regardless of product choice, and doing the routine well every day of the year. This, i...

For this week’s podcast version of the Let’s Talk Dairy webinar series, George Ramsbottom, Teagasc Dairy Specialist, is joined by Joe Patton, Teagasc Head of Dairy Knowledge Transfer, to provide an overview of the key messages from the National Dairy Conference which took place on 6th & 8th December.   To register for future Let’s Talk Dairy webinars go to: https://www.teagasc.ie/corporate-eve...

Niamh Lynch, Teagasc Dairy advisor in Navan, joins Stuart Childs on the latest Dairy Edge podcast to talk about the Teagasc eProfit Monitor and the benefits of completing it.   Niamh highlights the usefulness of building up a bank of information over years of completion to give you a good perspective of the costs of running the business through good and bad times.   Niamh also says that while the...

Gráinne Hurley, Teagasc Dairygold Joint Programme Monitor Farm advisor, and Paul Maher, Head of International Relations and Corporate Strategy in Teagasc, join Stuart Childs on this week’s episode of the Dairy Edge podcast to discuss a recent visit of the New Zealand Special Agriculture Trade Envoy to Teagasc Dairygold Signpost Farmer, Sean Moher which they both facilitated.   Gráinne first explai...

For this week’s podcast version of the Let’s Talk Dairy webinar series, George Ramsbottom, Teagasc Dairy Specialist, was joined by James Dunne to review the key messages from the Winter Milk events that took place across the country recently with a focus on costs, feed and yield, and breeding fertility.    To register for future Let’s Talk Dairy webinars go to: https://www.teagasc.ie/corporate-eve...

Martina Gormley, Teagasc Dairy Specialist, is on this week’s Dairy Edge podcast to discuss the recent people management courses held in a number of locations across the country in the last few weeks.   Martina began by explaining the agenda and course content over the two days and explained that one of the key items that people attend for is the legislation around employment which is covered very...

To better inform farmers of the principal causes of lameness and more importantly of the steps that they can take in minimising the incidence of the condition, Teagasc, one of the participating members of the Resilience for Dairy programme is hosting three short farmer-friendly webinars.    For this week’s podcast version of the Let’s Talk Dairy webinar series, George Ramsbottom, Teagasc Dairy Spe...

To better inform farmers of the principal causes of lameness and more importantly of the steps that they can take in minimising the incidence of the condition, Teagasc, one of the participating members of the Resilience for Dairy programme is hosting three short farmer-friendly webinars.    For this week’s podcast version of the Let’s Talk Dairy webinar series, George Ramsbottom, Teagasc Dairy Spe...

Joe Patton, Teagasc’s Head of Dairy Knowledge Transfer previews the upcoming Teagasc National Dairy Conferences that are taking place in Cork on December 6th and Mullingar on December 8th.   Joe gives a brief outline of each of the four sessions that will be delivered on the day from a market outline and future demands piece from Co-op representatives and an information piece on the value of high...

To better inform farmers of the principal causes of lameness and more importantly of the steps that they can take in minimising the incidence of the condition, Teagasc, one of the participating members of the Resilience for Dairy programme is hosting three short farmer-friendly webinars.    For this week’s podcast version of the Let’s Talk Dairy webinar series, George Ramsbottom, Teagasc Dairy Spe...

George Ramsbottom, Dairy Specialist in Teagasc Oakpark, joined Stuart Childs on this week’s Dairy Edge podcast to speak about his recent trip to Kenya.   George went out to visit a masters student Michael O’Loughlin who is evaluating the efficiency of the extension programme being run by a charity called Development Pamoja.   George explains how cows in Kenya aren’t large producers mainly driven b...

For this week’s podcast version of the Let’s Talk Dairy webinar series, George Ramsbottom, Teagasc Dairy Specialist is joined by Stuart Childs, Teagasc Dairy Specialist to discuss roadway surfaces.    They also give an overview of a large scale survey of dairy farm roadways from all around the country by Paul Maher, a Masters student working in Teagasc.  Poor quality roadways are a major risk fact...

Padraig McCormack, Dairy Advisor in Teagasc Moorepark, joins Stuart Childs on this week’s episode of The Dairy edge podcast to speak about the nitrates compliance issues for farmers both derogation and non-derogation before the end of 2022 and in advance of 2023.   Padraig reminds farmers of their requirements to complete twenty grass covers for the year where necessary and also to get any outstan...

For this week’s podcast version of the Let’s Talk Dairy webinar series, Stuart Childs, Teagasc Dairy Specialist, discusses maiden heifer weight targets to coincide with a new herd weight profile which has been launched recently by ICBF. To register for future Let’s Talk Dairy webinars go to: https://www.teagasc.ie/corporate-events/lets-talk-dairy/   For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast go...