Cathal Somers, Water Quality Specialist with Teagasc, joins Stuart Childs on this week’s Dairy Edge to discuss spreading organic fertilisers.

Cathal gives a summary of the factors that need to be considered before spreading slurry or manure even though the closed period has ended.

Cathal sympathises with the challenges farmers face trying to make this decision as it can be a challenge.  In an ideal world, he suggests that farmers should try to hold off spreading slurry until mid-February as day length increases, growth increases to use the nutrient applied, plus ground conditions might be better – although he does acknowledge that we can’t say if that will be the case in any given year. 

If you are going to spread, you need to watch the rate, so 1500-2000 gals/acre, and target it to the right fields, which would, in most cases would be silage fields where the greatest demand for P and K will be and then to adhere to the 10m buffer zones for the two weeks after the closed period has ended. 

Cathal also says that the 1.5m distance for fencing can allow for a vegetative buffer to grow inside the wire that can act as a second line of defence in the event of heavy rainfall washing nutrients towards a dyke or a drain, so the combination of this with the correct buffer can help prevent nutrients getting into waterways.

He also suggests that if farmers are finding themselves under pressure to spread currently, they think about where the excess of slurry is coming from. Is there water making its way into tanks that shouldn’t? If yes, can it be stopped or is additional capacity needed and should consideration be given to this?

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 getting soil samples completed while ground conditions are good and he highlights the upcoming Nutrient Management Week on our social media channels.

Link to this week’s Grass10 newsletter:

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

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

Monaghan dairy farmer, Paddy Traynor, joins James Dunne on this week’s Dairy Edge to outline his simple grass based block spring calving system that is capable of producing a good economic return. 

Paddy explains what he does to ensure he is best prepared for calving, while explaining how he manages labour on a part-time basis. 

Plus he explains how he has adopted several simple practices that ensures a high level of efficiency in the busy spring period.   

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

John Maher, Manager of the Teagasc Grass10 Programme joins Stuart Childs to discuss the grass growing year of 2024 and what we can learn from it for 2025.

John discusses several elements that people can control to help drive grass growth on their farms.  Getting the basics right is what makes the difference. Soil fertility has always been important but it is more important still where nitrogen is reduced as has been the case in the last number of years.

Grazing infrastructure to get grass to cows but not damage ground, was a significant issue for farmers in 2024. This doesn’t have to be elaborate, it may just be a few extra gaps into paddocks.

John went on to say that a big challenge for farmers to address in 2025 is replenishing feed reserves. While the extended autumn in 2024 has helped, people need to plan to increase feed stocks in anticipation of the weather challenges that are becoming more frequent. 

This means farmers need to do a root and branch review of their farming system and establish how they will deal with one of these weather challenges when it comes again. This means looking at how to increase grass growth on the farm, is the stocking rate appropriate, a plan for quality silage etc.

Finally, John outlines the fertiliser plan for early 2025 and how it is important to get nitrogen out in the form of either slurry or chemical nitrogen early to get growth going. It’s only a low rate application and it should only be spread in appropriate conditions but it needs to be spread if the weather is right to stimulate growth.

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 the final Grass10 grazing management update of 2024, Joseph Dunphy discusses the 2024 grazing year with Ciaran Hearn from PastureBase Ireland, plus find out how to make better use of your grazing data through the reports on PastureBase Ireland.

Here also is the link to the Grass10 end of year webinar:

https://bit.ly/Grass10WebinarRecording

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, now that we are in early December, Joseph Dunphy discusses completing your closing Average Farm Cover on PastureBase Ireland along with an up to date set of soil samples.

Plus, this week’s featured farmer is Sustainable Grassland Farmer of the Year for 2023, Patrick O’Neill from Co. Longford.

Link to this week’s Grass10 newsletter: https://bit.ly/Grass10-10thDecember

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

This week on the Dairy Edge, we continue our coverage from the Teagasc National Dairy Conference in Limerick. 

The theme of this year’s conference was Robust Dairy Farming for Future Challenges. As part of the conference there were six practical workshops which farmers could choose to attend which would benefit their own farms in the future. 

These included:

•             Meeting Herd feed requirements next spring

•             Successful use of sexed semen in Irish dairy herds

•             Controlling dairy production costs in 2025

•             Managing young calves for better health outcomes

•             Clover 150 – lessons learned from 2024 and putting a plan in place for 2025

•             Trends in TB, reducing risk for dairy herds   

We hear from the presenters from each of the workshops who outline some of the key messages discussed on the day.

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 rainfall & soil temperatures for the week. 

Now that we are in early December, Joseph discusses completing your closing Average Farm Cover on PastureBase Ireland, while this week’s featured farmer is Enda Armstrong, Co. Galway who will be speaking at our Grass10 and PastureBase webinar on the 10th December 2024.

Link to this week’s Grass10 newsletter: 

https://bit.ly/Grass10-3rdDecember

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

This week’s Dairy Edge brings you some of the main insights from the 2024 Teagasc National Dairy Conference, including Áine Murray and Donal Patton, Teagasc Grassland Researchers, who gave an in-depth look on current grassland performance, the metrics that farmers should be focusing on and how to achieve these on commercial farms, even in difficult conditions.

Pat Dillon, Teagasc Director of Research, also spoke to James Dunne about improving water quality with a particular focus on the Munster Blackwater River Catchment, including primary actions required at farm level to reduce nutrient loss and why a whole catchment approach is important.

Plus Niamh Doyle heard from some of those farmers in attendance at the conference to get their thoughts on the day.

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 also discusses completing your closing Average Farm Cover on PastureBase Ireland in early December, while this week’s featured farmer is Michael Carroll, Bruree, Co. Limerick.

Link to this week’s Grass10 newsletter: 

https://bit.ly/Grass10-26thNovember

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