Dairy Newsletter - September 2021

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In this month's edition:

• Moorepark open event 2021
  Teagasc Moorepark will host an open event for the dairy industry across September 14, 15 and 16. The purpose of this event is to highlight technologies and practices that deliver profitable dairy systems while mitigating gaseous emissions, improving water quality, and promoting biodiversity. Find out more at www.teagasc.ie/moorepark21
• Targets for September grazing
  August 2021 certainly brought its challenges for grass management, varying from drought conditions to weeks of high rainfall depending on location. Nonetheless, where growth rates have returned to relative normality the focus should have shifted toward autumn grazing plans.
• Practical advice on reducing lameness problems
  As a follow-up to our August notes on lameness, Ger Cusack, Comeragh Vets, and Ned Dunphy, FRS Network offer some further practical hints and tips from their experience on the ground. They say that the most prevalent lesion types they find in lame cows are white line disease, sole haemorrhages, and overgrown claws, in other words mechanical lesions.
• Signpost actions for September
  • Spread lime on low pH soils this month.
  • Empty your slurry tanks now.
  • Continue to focus on autumn grazing targets.
  • Weigh replacement heifers now and take remedial action if needed.
  • Implement a dosing and vaccination programme for young stock.
  • Book a milk recording. Milk recording will allow you improve culling decisions.
• Reducing TB risk
  Find some steps you can take to reduce the risk of a TB breakdown in your herd
• A clean environment can help control mastitis
  This is a relatively quiet time of year on most spring-calving dairy farms and probably even with autumn-calving herds where calving is just beginning. Now is the time to make sure that your cows will be housed in a suitable environment for the winter months.
• Milk recording on the rise
  The number of cows being milk recorded has increased by over 40% in the past two years to over 930,000, according to recent ICBF reports.
  The imminent change in legislation around using antibiotics at drying off is likely to be one of the key reasons for the big rise in milk recording.
• Health & Safety - Food for thought
  The Teagasc strategy applies the total worker health model to support farmers with both health and wellbeing and health and safety. Excess body weight is associated with increased injury, cardiovascular disease, cancers, Covid-19 disease severity, musculoskeletal disorders and depression.