Dairy
Six point plan to successful breeding
Six point plan to successful breeding Have you received the new dairy breeding guidelines for the spring 2021 breeding season? The guidelines include six simple steps which if followed will ensure the continued improvement of your dairy herd into the future. Follw these 6 simple steps to improve your dairy herd […]
15 March 2021
Setting the targets for spring breeding 2021
Setting the targets for spring breeding 2021 Nationally only 65% of cows and heifers calve during the first six weeks of the calving season, ideally this should be at 90%. As part of Breeding Week 2021 the major factors to achieving a high six-week calving rate are discussed here In pasture-based systems […]
15 March 2021
Teagasc/ICBF Breeding Week 2021
Teagasc/ICBF Breeding Week 2021 The breeding season on Irish dairy farms has become increasingly concentrated in the late April to June period. Teagasc in conjunction with the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) will run a dairy breeding week from Monday 15th to Thursday 18th March 2021 on important genetic & technical issues […]
12 March 2021
Fertilisation of clover swards
0 Fertilisation of clover swards The use of clover in grassland to replace fertilizer N can substantially lower greenhouse gas and ammonia emissions from pasture-based production. James Humphreys, Researcher and Dan Barrett, Farm Manager, outline Clover sward fertiliser management from 12 years research at Teagasc Solohead Farm. Using Clover to replace Fertiliser N […]
8 March 2021
Early Management of the Dairy Beef Calf
0 Early Management of the Dairy Beef Calf With the main dairy calving season underway and dairy calves moving onto beef farms, having good practices in the early stages of dairy beef calf rearing will minimise problems later on. Vincent Ronayne, Teagasc Mayo, advises on a number of core principles which should be […]
1 March 2021
Maximising Grass in the dairy cow diet
0 Maximising Grass in the dairy cow diet Getting cows out on grass is better for the cows, and beneficial for the grass plant. Nutritionally, spring grazed grass is far superior to grass silage indoors with digestibility of 80 + in terms of DMD. So the more of it you can get into […]
1 March 2021
Six Steps to SCC Success
0 Six Steps to SCC Success The old proverb “Tús maith leath na hoibre” (a good start is half the work) is very relevant when it comes to management of Somatic Cell Count (SCC) in early lactation. Stuart Childs, Dairy Specialist and Don Crowley, Milk Quality Specialist list Six Steps to Somatic Cell […]
1 March 2021
February Grass – Opportunities and Challenges
February Grass – Opportunities and Challenges Grazing grass represents the Irish farmer’s greatest advantage in livestock production. It costs 3 to 4 times less than either silage or meal, stock performance is better and labour input is drastically reduced. Michael Donoghue, Teagasc Dairy Advisor, Galway sets out a good spring grazing plan […]
22 February 2021
Mastitis Control in Early lactation
Mastitis Control in Early lactation There’s a number of issues that can impact on how smooth a calving season will run. Milk fever, retained foetal membranes, calf scour, difficult calvings and mastitis/SCC are only some of the issues. Here, Don Crowley, Teagasc Dairy Advisor, Clonakilty, focuses on Mastitis Control in early lactation […]
15 February 2021
The potential of Protected Urea to reduce emissions whilst maintaining grass production
The potential of Protected Urea to reduce emissions whilst maintaining grass production Soil scientist David Wall joins Emma-Louise Coffey on this week’s Dairy Edge to discuss the potential of Protected Urea to reduce emissions whilst maintaining grass production. David explains that comprehensive research has been carried out to test Protected Urea as […]
15 February 2021