The Dairy Edge

Francis Bligh, Health and Safety Specialist at Teagasc, joins Emma-Louise Coffey on this week’s Dairy Edge podcast to discuss health and safety on the farm workplace. Francis documents the source of farm accidents on Irish farms with dairy farms accounting for the greatest proportion of accidents. He explains that it is a legal requirement of farms to have a Risk Assessment (less than three staff...

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. On this week’s show, Stuart Childs, was joined by John Trant, 2019 Young Grassland Farmer of the Year in order to get an insight into his career path to date. For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast go to the show...

Dairy farmer, Shane Fitzgerald, and Masters researcher, Aoife Leader, join Emma-Louise Coffey on this week’s Dairy Edge to highlight examples of farms achieving top performance in combination with high levels of biodiversity. Aoife is working with eleven dairy farms as part of the Teagasc/Glanbia joint programme to establish the features and level of biodiversity on each of the farms and has ident...

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. On this webinar, Stuart Childs is joined by advisor, John McCarthy, who speaks to researcher, Deirdre Hennessy, about the inclusion of white clover in grazing swards. For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast go to t...

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. On this webinar, Stuart Childs, Teagasc Dairy Specialist outlines some derogation and farm management points that farmers need to be aware of. For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast go to the show page at: https:/...

Dairy Grassland Farmer of the Year Mike Bermingham joins Emma-Louise Coffey on the latest Dairy Edge podcast to discuss his autumn grazing strategy. Firstly, Mike summarises his farming year to date including grass production of 12.5 tonnes/ha, 8 grazing rotations and 450 kg MS per cow. Mike estimates he will feed 1 tonne of concentrate per cow, up 200 kg on last year owing to greater supplementat...

Dairy farmer Jeremiah Daly joins Emma-Louise Coffey on this week’s Dairy Edge to explain how he finds the balance of running a 60-cow dairy farm and a full-time off farm job. The total labour input is 44 hours which includes 24 hours own labour and 20 hours of family labour completed by his wife Maria and his children. Additionally, Jeremiah completes a full-time off farm job and Jeremiah measured...

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. On this webinar, Stuart Childs was joined by John Maher, Teagasc Grass10 Programme Manager to discuss managing grass and grass supply right now. For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast go to the show page at: https...

Researcher James Humphreys joins Emma-Louise Coffey on this week’s Dairy Edge with practical steps to reduce emissions while maintaining milk output and profit. James outlines the emissions for dairy farms which are: 50% methane, 20% nitrous oxide (fertiliser), 20% ammonia (slurry, urine, faeces) and 10% carbon dioxide (electricity, diesel). At Solohead Research farm, a trial is being carried out...

Dairy advisor Mark O’Sullivan joins Emma-Louise Coffey on this week’s Dairy Edge to discuss the key mandatory practices for Nitrates Derogation farms. Mark explains that these practices allow farmers to farm more intensively while protecting the environment. He documents the key practices including a mandatory liming programme, use of low emission slurry spreading, inclusion of clover seed when re...

Labour Specialist Martina Gormley joined Emma-Louise Coffey on this week’s Dairy Edge podcast with insights into labour measures and efficiencies on six dairy farms across the spring and summer months of 2020. Martina checked in with the six farmers weekly to account for the hours worked; 57 hours in spring and 50 hours in summer. The common trends across the six farms that offer labour efficiency...

Dairy farmer Michael Doran joins Emma-Louise Coffey on this week’s Dairy Edge to discuss the decision to convert from drystock to dairy farming. After 20 years of mixed drystock farming, Michael made the decision to convert to dairy farming. The idea of dairy farming had been mooted before, but it wasn’t until his son James was born with an illness that he focused his mind on dairying and the abil...

The Lean business model of reducing waste and increasing efficiencies has become increasingly popular on dairy farms and on this week’s Dairy Edge, labour researcher Marion Beecher and Head of Continuous Improvement at Dairygold Co-Op, John Murphy, join Emma-Louise Coffey to discuss the role of Lean practices on dairy farms. Lean is not rocket science, but it can be the small changes to work organ...

Johnstown Castle farm manager Aidan Lawless joins Emma-Louise Coffey on this week’s Dairy Edge to give an update on the performance of the winter and spring milk herds. Aidan explains that 50% of the autumn calving herd have been dried off to allow a 60 day dry period and autumn calves have produced 600 kg milk solids. A lot of these cows are still producing a high milk yield so Aidan explained th...

With the cost of energy on Irish dairy farms on average €5 per 1,000 litres, ranging from €2.50-59, this week’s guest, research officer John Upton, joins Emma-Louise Coffey to give tips to save money on farm energy bills. John explains that the biggest consumers of energy include milk cooling (30%), water heating (23%) and machine/vacuum (20%) and gives tips on how to reduce consumption in each ar...

Just when is the appropriate time to remove the bull? On this week’s episode of the Dairy Edge, advisor John McCabe joins Emma-Louise Coffey with advice and information for farmers. John documents the calving pattern over the last 2 years, explaining that 27% of cows in the category of late calvers in spring calving dairy herds in the months of April, May and June differs from the target of 10% ca...

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.      On this webinar, host Stuart Childs was joined by Dr. Orla Keane, Teagasc researcher to discuss anthelmintic resistance in gut worms of cattle. Orla gave an insight into the background of gut worms in cattle, discus...

Michael O’Donovan joins Emma-Louise Coffey on this week’s Dairy Edge to give tips and advice to improve the quality of grazing swards. Michael explains that farmers should maintain pre-grazing herbage mass of 1,300-1,600 kg DM/ha to maximise the leaf content and achieve good graze out with any cover that exceeds that should be removed in the form of surplus bales. If the farm is not in surplus and...

Dan Clavin joins Emma-Louise Coffey on this week’s Dairy Edge to give an insight into organic dairy production systems in Ireland. Currently, there are 62 organic dairy producers. These farms range in herd size from 20-200+ cows, producing between 5,000-6,000 litres of milk. Dan explains the different reasons farmers opt for organic dairy including profitability, lifestyle and legislation. In term...

With the current lockdown 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 week’s webinar discusses milk recording with Don Crowley. For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast go to the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/ 

Catherine Keena joins Emma-Louise Coffey to discuss the benefits of biodiversity for Irish dairy farms. Catherine explains that biodiversity is all about flora and fauna and the habitats that they live in. Typical examples of biodiversity include hedgerows, watercourses and field margins. Catherine considers the benefits of biodiversity on dairy farms including income from schemes and marketing of...

With the current lockdown 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 week’s webinar discusses opportunities in dairy farming and the career progression pathways with Gordon Peppard, Farm Business Structures Specialist. For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast go to the s...

Teagasc dairy advisor Colm Doran joins Emma-Louise Coffey to give strategies on recovery from drought conditions. Colm gives information on the average farm cover on dairy farms in North Wexford, averaging 720 kg DM/ha but ranging from 360 to 1,200 kg DM/ha. These farmers are actively measuring grass production once-twice weekly and supplementing according to grass supply, typically in the form of...

With the current lockdown 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 week’s webinar discusses dairy farm financial outlook and management advice for 2020 with Patrick Gowing, Teagasc and Tadgh Buckley, AIB. For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast go to the show page at:...

Dairy farmer and Grass 10 champion Bryan Daniels joins Emma-Louise Coffey to give his insights into running a sustainable and profitable dairy farm. Bryan considers the key elements of sustainable dairy farming and to him this equates to a stocking rate of approximately 2.5 cows per ha on his farm, incorporating white clover, maintaining high levels of soil fertility, spreading 220 kg N and feedin...