Dairy
Practical Demonstrations on How to Dry Off Cows
0 Practical Demonstrations on How to Dry Off Cows Don Crowley, Teagasc and member of the Animal Health Ireland (AHI) Cell Check technical working group outlines the steps that you need to take to prepare yourself for drying off cows. Don discusses the various factors that you have to take into consideration when […]
3 November 2022
Calf and calving facilities farm survey
Calf and calving facilities farm survey As the workload on most Irish dairy farms reduces it’s important to take time now to plan for calving next spring. The best starting point is to take an audit of your current facilities to quantify if you have enough space for rearing calves and calving […]
24 October 2022
Indoor management of weanling replacement heifers
Indoor management of weanling replacement heifers Housing time is a great time to separate the lighter heifers for preferential treatment over the winter. This is important to ensure that they reach the target weight required for successful rearing. George Ramsbottom, Teagasc Dairy Specialist, gives us more detail. Their target live weight depends […]
10 October 2022
Improving accuracy in breeding
0 Improving accuracy in breeding Information derived from analyses of livestock DNA has proven to be more accurate than traditional pedigree information, providing benefits to breeding. Over the past couple of decades, livestock breeding programmes have improved the performance of various production systems. The basis of such breeding programmes is the estimation of […]
5 October 2022
Body Condition Score in Late Lactation
0 Body Condition Score in Late Lactation Getting cows to the correct body condition score (BCS) at calving is one of the most important tasks for dairy farmers. Trouble-free calving, good conception rates, reduced culling and better milk solids production are all linked to this simple measure. Therefore correcting body condition score through […]
3 October 2022
Meet the Farmer – John O’Donoghue
0 Meet the Farmer – John O’Donoghue John and Annette are farming beside the Bandon River in Ballinadee with their family Paddy, Ciara, Aine and Jack. They are milking 165 cows this year, of which 32 (19%) are heifers, after gradually increasing from 135 in 2020. They are farming 71ha in total including […]
1 October 2022
How to Make Contract Rearing a Success
How to Make Contract Rearing a Success Teagasc Drystock advisor in Moorepark, Michael Bourke, joins Stuart Childs on this week’s Dairy Edge podcast to discuss how he views contract rearing from a drystock and dairy farmer’s point of view. Michael has nearly 15 years’ experience in setting up contract rearing arrangements. Michael […]
26 September 2022
Paving the whey – transforming dairy waste
Paving the whey – transforming dairy waste Whey is the main by-product of the dairy processing sector. Teagasc researchers are collaborating with Munster Technological University (MTU), Ireland and Lund University, Sweden, to transform dairy waste into value-added and environmentally sustainable products. Whey is rich in lactose, proteins and micronutrients. Due to this […]
25 September 2022
Using genetics to reduce methane output from cattle systems
Using genetics to reduce methane output from cattle systems Stuart Kirwan, David Kenny and Sinead Waters, Teagasc Grange, take us through the genetic selection of low methane emitting animals which has long been advocated as mitigation strategy for the ruminant livestock industry. Recent data from Teagasc Grange and ICBF has highlighted a […]
22 September 2022
Do you know your legal obligations as an employer?
Do you know your legal obligations as an employer? Martina Gormley, Teagasc Dairy Specialist, talks us through some of the important obligations you may have as an employer. At a recent farm walk the host farmer gave details on how he found part time employees to help run his 130 cow herd […]
19 September 2022