Dairy
Breeding Week 2024: Developing a breeding plan for your farm
The advent of sexed semen has created an opportunity for dairy farmers to become very selective about the cows that they breed to dairy AI to generate the next generation of replacements for their herd, writes Stuart Childs, Teagasc Dairy Specialist.
25 March 2024
Breeding Week 2024: The future of Irish dairy breeding with ICBF CEO, Sean Coughlan
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.
25 March 2024
Teagasc Breeding Week 2024 commences
The purpose of Teagasc Breeding Week, which takes place this week, from Monday, 25 March to Friday, 29 March, is to provide timely reminders to farmers on important genetic and technical issues underpinning a successful dairy breeding season.
25 March 2024
Managing through a difficult spring
Mark Treacy advises on managing challenging spring weather conditions on farm by focusing on cow condition, feed stocks, and grassland management.
25 March 2024
Confidence in the 16:8 milking interval split
Managing a dairy enterprise across two blocks in Co. Laois, Bernard Ging has operated a 16:8 milking interval since the farm’s conversion to milk production in 2012.
23 March 2024
Grazing update with farmer David Dolan, Co. Mayo
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 .
22 March 2024
€25 million scheme to improve beef progeny from the dairy herd unveiled
A €25 million scheme to incentivise the use of genotyped and genetically superior beef sires for breeding dairy beef calves has been unveiled.
21 March 2024
Cow numbers for dairy AI
How many cows do you need to breed to dairy AI to ensure adequate numbers of replacement heifer calves?
21 March 2024
Improving silage quality within our dairy systems
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.
18 March 2024
How do you know if replacement heifers are on target weight for breeding?
To say the least, weather conditions have been extremely difficult with areas grazed well back on many farms. Martina Gormley discusses the importance of assessing heifer body weight before the breeding season to make informed decisions.
18 March 2024
The 3 checks of managing pasture on your farm during March
On the latest Grass10 grazing management update, Joseph Dunphy discusses PastureBase data, Dry Matter % and Predicted grass growth, rainfall & soil temperatures for the week.
18 March 2024
Impact of housing environment on calf respiratory disease
Bovine respiratory disease (BRD) in preweaning dairy calves presents a challenge to many dairy farmers in Ireland. John Donlon, John Mee and Conor McAloon tell us how housing can help.
18 March 2024
Pasture, present and future
Is pasture-based Irish milk truly better than milk from conventional indoor feeding? To examine this question, researchers from Teagasc and Food for Health Ireland conducted one of the largest, most in-depth trials of its kind.
17 March 2024
Optimized Milking Intervals with Sean Kelly, Tipperary
Dairy farmer, Sean Kelly from Tipperary outlines his milking times for the farm. Sean finds the 16/8 milking interval optimises milk production and milk quality while allowing flexibility to take some time off the farm.
15 March 2024
Watch: John Hatton's Dairy Farming Approach
John Hatton, alongside his wife Kay and their son Mark, who is currently in Australia, have their own approach to dairy farming with a focus on efficiency, family, and lifestyle balance.
14 March 2024
Keeping Calves Healthy this Spring
Stephen O’Callaghan, Walsh Scholar, Teagasc Meath, discusses the critical aspects of calf rearing, emphasizing the importance of calf health for achieving growth targets and ensuring animals thrive.
14 March 2024
How Liam Brophy’s home farm converted from drystock to dairy
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.
11 March 2024
Slurry Storage and handling - how best to invest
Patrick Gowing discusses the importance of maximizing slurry nutrient use through effective management strategies to sustain grass production and improve water quality, in response to rising fertilizer costs and stricter environmental regulations.
11 March 2024
Spring Grassland Management on DairyBeef 500 Farms
Grazed grass will continue to be the cheapest feed available to beef animals. Turning animals out early to spring grass will improve animal performance and reduce cost of production.
07 March 2024
The importance of genetics in dairy-beef systems to maximise performance & profitability
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.
04 March 2024
Fertiliser cuts, changes to excretion rates and crude protein feed levels in new Nitrates proposals
Following a meeting of the Agriculture Water Quality Group on February 29, a suite of measures have been proposed to improve water quality at farm level.
01 March 2024
Maintain milk fever prevention protocols in March
As the calving season progresses on dairy farms, the risk of milk fever and metabolic issues increases, writes Dr Joe Patton, Teagasc Head of Dairy Knowledge Transfer. This is because later-calving cows tend to be older and are at high risk of being too high in body condition due to longer days dry.
29 February 2024
Dairy market outlook for 2024
Coming off the back of the highs of 2022, the production year of 2023 has seen a sharp market correction in milk price.
26 February 2024
Prioritise colostrum management this calving season
Anne O’Malley discusses the importance of colostrum for newborn calves, its role in providing essential nutrients and antibodies to support the immune system, the importance of timely and adequate colostrum feeding and management practices on farm to ensure calves receive the benefits.
24 February 2024
Weekly Grass10 Update with Joseph Dunphy
On this week’s Grass10 grazing management update, Joseph Dunphy discusses PastureBase data, Dry Matter % and Predicted grass growth, rainfall & soil temperatures.
23 February 2024
Improvements to National Genotyping Programme to speed up blue card returns
Despite 98% of samples being processed in less than seven days, the ICBF has confirmed that it will make a number of changes to the National Genotyping Programme to help speed up the returning of animal passports (blue cards).
22 February 2024
Investigate birth deformities in calves or lambs - DAFM
Farmers are advised to be vigilant and to ask their vet to refer any birth deformities in sheep or cattle to the nearest Regional Veterinary Laboratories (RVLs) for investigation.
20 February 2024
Hazell Mullins on how to achieve high herd health status
‘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.
19 February 2024
Protected urea - protecting the environment and delivering for farmers
Áine Murray, Donal Patton, Philip Creighton and Brian McCarthy tell us how switching to protected urea reduces greenhouse gas and ammonia emissions, with plot experiments showing no significant difference in grass production between protected urea and conventional fertilizers.
19 February 2024
Putting a stamp on the family’s dairy with milk vending
Having milked cows in Donegal since the early 1990s, the Porter family have not only grown their dairy farming business from 30 to 450 cows, but they’ve added an element of diversification through the commissioning of a milk vending machine.
18 February 2024