The Dairy Edge

As part of AHI and Teagasc CalfCare Virtual Week, Michelle McGrath, Muireann Conneely and Niamh Field join Emma-Louise Coffey on this week’s Dairy Edge podcast to discuss the care of the newborn calf to maximise health in the early days. Michelle explains that calves are born with no immunity and rely on colostrum to protect them against disease in the first weeks of life until they establish thei...

Teagasc is running a weekly Let's Talk Dairy webinar series which is also being made available afterwards as a bonus podcast episode. In this webinar, for the first of the 2021, Let's Talk Dairy Time and People Management Series, in conjunction with Macra Skillnet. Stuart Childs, Teagasc Dairy Specialist is joined by Nollaig Heffernan, Independent Management Consultant to offer some insight and pr...

Once-a-day dairy advisor Brian Hilliard joins Emma-Louise Coffey on this week’s Dairy Edge to outline the steps needed to achieving a successful OAD milking system. Brian explains that there are approximately 200 dairy farms operating full time OAD milking with reasons for OAD milking including farm layout (long walks, steep climbs, farm fragmentation), an off-farm job, work-life balance and milki...

Waterford farmer, Steven Fitzgerald, joins Emma-Louise Coffey on this week’s Dairy Edge podcast to discuss the how he manages labour to minimise workload and reduce stress during the busy spring period. Steven explains that preparation ahead of the calving season and making a clear plan for who is responsible for each role at calving makes things easier and reduces duplication. Compact calving (90...

Continuing the second in the two-part dairy year in review, on this week’s Dairy Edge podcast, Emma-Louise Coffey is joined by Teagasc dairy advisors Jim Moyles, Ciara O’Shea and Seamie Nolan. The panel gave a good indication of where profitability should lie for 2020, with milk price and costs remaining steady, despite concerns of a signification drop in milk price earlier in the year. Covid-19 d...

Teagasc dairy advisors Jim Moyles, Ciara O’Shea and Seamie Nolan join Emma-Louise Coffey for the first of a two-part review of the dairy farming year. Firstly, the panel summarised the technical performance achieved on dairy farms in Ireland in 2020. Performance is on a par with 2019 but when reflecting over the 5 years since the abolition of milk quota, dairy farmers have increased milk solids pr...

Teagasc is running a weekly Let's Talk Dairy webinar series which is also being made available afterwards as a bonus podcast episode. In this webinar, Stuart Childs, Teagasc Dairy Specialist, outlines some findings from the Ag-Climatise report and possible resolutions which can be achieved around ammonia emissions that we have to try to achieve in the coming years. Stuart also outlines what change...

Dairy teachers at Kildalton College, Zerlina Pratt and Aidan Nugent, join Emma-Louise Coffey on this week’s Dairy Edge podcast to discuss the technical performance of the dairy herd at Kildalton. Zerlina gives an overview of the dairy unit which includes 110 cows on a 46 ha milking platform. The herd EBI is €175, ranking it in the top 3% of dairy herds in the country with cows having a Holstein-Fr...

Teagasc is running a weekly Let's Talk Dairy webinar series which is also being made available afterwards as a bonus podcast episode. In this webinar, Stuart Childs, Teagasc Dairy Specialist, was joined by Marion Beecher, Teagasc Research Officer and Nollaig Heffernan, Independent Management Consultant, to discuss time management tips and techniques in dairy farm management whilst Nollaig also spe...

Dairy farmer Dara Killeen and specialist Patrick Gowing joined Emma-Louise Coffey on this week’s Dairy Edge to discuss the targets set out in the Teagasc Dairy Roadmap and consider the targets achievable at farm level. Recorded as part of the 2020 Teagasc Virtual Dairy Conference, Dara, who is a new entrant to dairy farming since spring 2019, explained his priority investments were in high genetic...

Teagasc is running a weekly Let's Talk Dairy webinar series which is also being made available afterwards as a bonus podcast episode. In this webinar, Stuart Childs, Teagasc Dairy Specialist was joined by Joe Patton, John McCabe and John Paul Murphy from Moorepark farm to discuss body condition and how to deal and manage with cows on low side of body condition. For more episodes from the Dairy Edg...

Recorded live from the 2020 Virtual National Dairy Conference, this week’s Dairy Edge podcast features dairy farmer John MacNamara and grassland researcher Mike Egan to discuss how to establish white clover in grazing swards. John has begun establishing white clover on his grazing platform to reduce the requirement for chemical N, increase MS per cow and maintain herbage production and enhance qua...

Teagasc is running a weekly Let's Talk Dairy webinar series which is also being made available afterwards as a bonus podcast episode. In this webinar, Stuart Childs, Teagasc Dairy Specialist was joined by Marion Beecher, Teagasc and Aidan Aherne, dairy farmer, for the second webinar in the Let's Talk Dairy Time and People Management Series. This webinar was part of the Let's Talk Dairy Time and Pe...

Vet Michael Horan joins Emma-Louise Coffey on this week’s episode of the Dairy Edge podcast, to discuss the role the Department of Agriculture plays in ensuring a high level of surveillance and early detection of disease in the animal population in Ireland. As we export the majority of the milk and meat products we produce, Michael emphasises the importance of a healthy national herd status from a...

Teagasc is running a weekly Let's Talk Dairy webinar series which is also being made available afterwards as a bonus podcast episode. In this webinar, Stuart Childs is joined by Laurence Shalloo, Katie Starsmore and Ben Larhart who are working on greenhouse gas emissions at Teagasc Moorepark. For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast go to the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy...

Tom O’Dwyer Head of Dairy Knowledge Transfer at Teagasc, joins Emma-Louise Coffey on this week’s Dairy Edge podcast to detail the challenges that dairy farmers have overcome in the last fifty years. Tom expects sustainability is the biggest challenge that will face farmers over the next decade while dairy cow numbers are set to continue increasing at a modest level. There are a range of technologi...

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. In this webinar, Stuart Childs is joined by labour researcher, Marion Beecher, and management consultant, Nollaig Heffernan, to give insights into making dairy farms an attractive place to work. For more episodes from th...

Dairy advisor Joe Kelleher joins Emma-Louise Coffey on this week’s Dairy Edge podcast to give a detailed checklist of important tasks needed to complete in the coming months including assessing total annual grass production, soil testing, dry cow therapy strategy, parlour maintenance and relevant paperwork. For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast visit the show page at: https://www.teagasc.i...

Micheál O’Leary joins Emma-Louise Coffey on this week’s Dairy Edge to give targeted advice based on the level of grass on farm as we approach the housed period. Micheál emphasises the three priorities of autumn grazing: feed the cow, hit grazing residuals and avoid doing damage. He explains that there is approximately 700 kg DM/ha grass (range 400-1,050) on farms currently which is well below the...

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. In this webinar, Stuart Childs is joined by Aidan Lawless and Joe Patton to discuss the performance of the winter milk herd at Johnstown Castle as well as management around calving and diet specs around housing. For more...

Eamonn O’Flaherty joined Emma-Louise Coffey on this week’s Dairy Edge podcast to give an insight into the barriers to dry stock farmers taking up part-time employment opportunities on dairy farms. Eamonn identified dry stock farmers as suitable candidates for part-time work on dairy farms given that many of them work off-farm and they possess the relevant skillset to carry out the many tasks on da...

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. In this webinar, Stuart Childs, Teagasc Dairy Specialist runs through using ICBF reports in order to select cows to be put forward for selective dry cow therapy. For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast go to the sh...

With the Government announcing a large spending package in this year’s Budget 2021, Financial Specialist Kevin Connolly joins Emma-Louise Coffey on this week’s Dairy Edge podcast to discuss the agricultural measures for dairy farmers. From an agricultural perspective, Kevin explains it is a neutral budget. There is a top up in income from milk sales on dairy farms resulting in an increase in VAT o...

Pallaskenry Farm Manager Brendan Ryan joins Emma-Louise Coffey on this week’s Dairy Edge podcast to discuss the use of selective dry cow therapy (DCT). Brendan gives his insight and experience where they have practiced selective DCT for 4 years. Brendan explains that in Year 1, cows considered for selective DCT required a SCC of <50 (from milk recording) and quarter sampled each quarter to ensu...

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. This latest webinar highlighted the many steps being taken by the Fitzgerald family to reduce the carbon footprint of their milk production and to improve sustainability on farm, providing an opportunity to share their e...