21 May 2025
Top Five Tips for Dairy Farmers this May
Joe Patton, Head of Dairy Knowledge Transfer, shares timely advice to stay productive and prepared this May.
1. Assess your stocking rate
Exclude areas reserved for silage or reseeding when calculating your grazing area. How much grass are you offering? Mature herds need 19-20kg allocated; therefore, a stocking rate of 5 cows/ha requires a growth of 65-70kg to maintain cover. We see many farms stocked at >4.5 cows/ha to manage peak growth but this often leads to tight allocations and lack of options to manage grass. Be realistic in setting rotation demand. Speak to your advisor for more information.
2. Make a plan to apply lime
Applying lime is often delayed or forgotten. Make this year different. Apply lime on well-grazed paddocks based on test results. Spreading on silage fields after first cut is a good option; however, for areas due for another cut, wait until the last silage harvest of the year is complete.
3. Follow under-18s guidelines
Do you have anyone under the age of 18 working on your farm? If so, you must follow the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) guidelines for young workers. These guidelines must be displayed clearly and followed at all times.
4. Check cows not seen in heat
Ensure cows calved more than 30 days and not seen in heat are checked and treated based on diagnosis. Common issues include cystic ovaries, anoestrus, or metritis. For most intervention schedules it takes at least a week to prepare the cow to commence cycling, so do not delay the start of necessary treatments.
5. Plan your budget for 2025
It has been a positive year to date on many dairy farms, but the favourable financial situation can change. Now is the time to plan and budget. Is extra infrastructure required? If extra debt is taken on, has repayment capacity been stress tested against lower milk returns? Could a reserve cash fund be built? What are the tax implications? Take time to carefully examine these issues.
Read the May edition of the Teagasc Dairy Newsletter