The Dairy Edge

Germinal Technical Director, Mary McEvoy, joins Stuart Childs on this week’s Dairy Edge podcast to discuss the future of the grass seed industry.

Mary explains how the Pasture Profit Index (PPI) has changed the way farmers look at seed varieties and how the PPI, from a seed industry perspective, validated the breeding programmes that were in place.

Mary then spoke about the timeframe involved in bringing a seed to market and the hurdles that have to be cleared to get to that point. She explains how breeding is looking at other species to see what they might offer in a changing climate but that it is early days for many and the most reliable mix currently is going to be perennial ryegrass (PRG) and white clover and red clover with good PRG varieties for part of the silage block.

Mary says that there is no red clover recommended list in Ireland but that work has begun on it with the first of the red clover varieties being sown in 2024 for evaluation for the first time in 2025.

She also outlines the challenge the industry faces in sourcing seed given the 1200% increase in red clover seed demand in recent years!

For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast go to the show page at:

https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/

The Dairy Edge is a co-production with LastCastMedia.com

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.

Joseph discusses keeping grass under control as we approach peak growth on Irish farms & he has an update from Brian Meade, Co. Meath.

Link to this week’s Grass10 newsletter:

https://bit.ly/Grass10-21stMay

For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast go to the show page at:

https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/

The Dairy Edge is a co-production with LastCastMedia.com

There has been welcome improvement in both growth rates and grazing conditions over the last couple of weeks and much of the attention on farms now turns to correcting the impact the spring has had on grass quality and making sure herds meet their nutritional needs throughout the breeding season.

For this week’s Dairy Edge podcast, Teagasc senior research officer, Dr Mike Dineen, joins James Dunne to highlight the true nutritional value of grazed grass and explain how farmers need to balance grass quality and quantity to maintain milk production through the summer months.

For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast go to the show page at:

https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/

The Dairy Edge is a co-production with LastCastMedia.com

For this week’s Grass10 grazing management update, as growth rates increase, Joseph Dunphy is joined by dairy farmer Michael Doran from Co. Wexford to discuss the management decisions he is making this week on his farm.

Link to this week’s Grass10 newsletter:

https://bit.ly/Grass10-14thMay

For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast go to the show page at:

https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/

The Dairy Edge is a co-production with LastCastMedia.com

Attracta Dooley from FRS Training and Chloe Walsh, a secondary school teacher who helps her husband Pat on their farm outside Durrow in Co. Laois, join Stuart Childs on this week’s Dairy Edge podcast to talk about the upcoming FRS Training Best Practice in Milking Courses which commence on May 22nd in Pallaskenry Agricultural college.

For Chloe, she wanted to learn more about the whole milking process which was her incentive to complete the course in October of last year, and she says that while she already knew how to milk, the course gave her much greater confidence in what she was doing, taught her skills that she didn’t have beforehand and has also helped her when it comes to training people who are new to their farm when they arrive.

Attracta and Chloe both agree that there is no shortage of work on dairy farms milking cows for people that are interested and that contrary to people’s perceptions, it is quite flexible work. There is also great earning potential for people who are willing to do it.

Finally, Attracta details the dates of the upcoming courses and gives details of how to book by going to:

https://www.frstraining.com/sectors/agriculture-horticulture/

For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast go to the show page at:

https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/

The Dairy Edge is a co-production with LastCastMedia.com

On this week’s Grass10 grazing management update, Joseph Dunphy discusses PastureBase data, Dry Matter % and Predicted grass growth, rainfall & soil temperatures for the week.

As grass growth is finally predicted to increase Joseph also discusses grazing management and he has a grazing update from Sustainable GFOY nutrient management category joint winner, Killian Brennan, from county Cavan.

Link to this week’s Grass10 newsletter:

https://bit.ly/Grass10-7thMay

With the difficult grazing conditions throughout the spring it’s no harm to reflect on the last number of months as to what worked well and what can be improved for the future.

It’s maybe more important though to identify the priorities in order to get back on track with the least impact, and on this week’s Dairy Edge podcast, James Dunne is joined by Teagasc Head of Dairy Knowledge Transfer, Dr Joe Patton.

Joe offers advice to farmers around pasture management to ensure a high level of milk performance throughout the summer months and how to best ensure sufficient feed reserves are secured for next winter.

For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast go to the show page at:

https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/

The Dairy Edge is a co-production with LastCastMedia.com

On this week’s Grass10 grazing management update, Joseph Dunphy discusses PastureBase data, Dry Matter % and Predicted grass growth, rainfall & soil temperatures for the week.

With grass growth stubborn to increase as we enter May, Joseph discusses grazing management and he has an update from Sustainable GFOY Nutrient management category winner, Michael Carroll from Co. Limerick.

Link to this week’s Grass10 newsletter:

https://bit.ly/Grass10-30thApril

On this week’s episode of the Dairy Edge, Stuart Childs is joined by Aurivo Joint Programme Monitor Farmer and DairyBeef 500 Ambassador, David Gannon, and John McCabe, Monitor Farm advisor with the Aurivo Joint Programme, to discuss the beef breeding plan for David’s farm for 2024.

David starts by outlining the background to his herd and then spoke about how he plans to use the beef bull team he has selected along with John and Tommy Cox of the DairyBeef 500 team on his herd this season.

David describes how for him it’s about making incremental gains in the quality of the beef stock he produces each year. Using data from ICBF, John can confirm that there is an improvement in the quality in the beef calves being generated but suggests that people can do more.

David has a number of customers for his calves and this is a huge benefit to know that a particular number of calves will leave the farm on particular dates which frees up housing and labour for him at the busiest time of the year which is a very important piece of the jigsaw.

Finally David says it is his objective to deliver a better animal each year through improving genetics and also to assist the customers he has to get the maximum return from the stock they buy from him, not only through using better genetics but also discussing the health plan that he has for his own replacement calves with his customers so that they can benefit from any improvements he has made in his own calf rearing protocols.

For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast go to the show page at:

https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/

The Dairy Edge is a co-production with LastCastMedia.com

On this week’s Grass10 grazing management update, Joseph Dunphy discusses PastureBase data, Dry Matter % and Predicted grass growth, rainfall & soil temperatures for the week.

With surplus grass on many farms, Joseph also discusses grazing advice and he has a grazing update from County Sligo, with Young Category Winner of the Sustainable GFOY Evan Hunt.

Link to this week’s newsletter:

https://bit.ly/Grass10-23rdApril