The Dairy Edge

Tom O’Connell, dairy farmer in Inniscarra, near Cork city, and John Maher of Grass10, join Stuart Childs to discuss the importance and management of reseeding.
 
John first outlines the national figures which are poor in terms of the amount of reseeding taking place each year and this is a negative for the industry.
 
Tom is the opposite, reseeding every year on both grazing platform and silage ground. Reseeding every year  is what Tom says allow him to have the confidence to take out the ground safe knowing he has responsive swards that will grow at sufficient levels to meet herd requirements while he waits for the reseed to slot back in, as evidenced by the performance of the spring 2024 and 2025 reseeds.
 
Tom splits the 10% so that it isn’t all gone out together and generally takes the 2nd piece out when he knows the first bit is nearly ready to come back in. This as an insurance policy against having too high a stocking rate with all ground out at the same time. 
 
Tom has also reduced his overall milking platform stocking rate through land acquisition and a slight reduction in cow numbers so that now his stocking rate with reseeded ground out is where his stocking rate was before he took out ground for reseeding in the past. 
 
This is making the whole thing easier to tackle as at the higher stocking rate, he could be tight for grass at times and this was adding cost as well as compromising production.
 
For Tom, reseeding is an essential element of each year’s work.
John finishes up by highlighting that people often do a lot of the things right but fail to get the post emergence spraying and early grazing of the sward right. Tom is doing this very well as evidenced by his lack of need to spray for weeds between reseeding events in his paddocks.
 
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, John Maher says that 42% of farms are well above target AFC (> 750 kg DM/ha) largely due to challenging grazing conditions.
 
While each farm is individual, these key rules need to be applied:
-       Maximum SR of 4.2 LU/ha
-       Minimum AFC of 160 kg DM/LU
 
Now is also a good time to assess clover content in your paddocks and the aim is to identify paddocks with a good clover content.
 
The target is 20-25% clover content in April to allow for reductions in chemical N in May/June
 
Meanwhile, the featured farmer is Tom McEvoy from Ballyragget,Co. Kilkenny. 
 
Read more from this week’s Grass10 newsletter and subscribe for weekly updates at:
https://bit.ly/Grass10-21stApril
 
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

Teagasc Grassland Science Researcher, Mike Egan, joins James Dunne to discuss some of the common questions regarding establishing and managing grass clover swards. 
 
Mike outlines the benefits for farmers but also discusses the challenges and learnings that have been seen throughout the Clover 150 commercial farm trial.  
 
The correct chemical nitrogen strategy is outlined and why clover content should be the key deciding factor rather than fertiliser price when it comes to reducing nitrogen inputs. 
 
Mike also outlines what farmers should be doing now with regards to assessing their own farm clover content and he also identifies opportunities to establish clover on farms over the coming weeks.  
 
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, John Maher explains how walking the farm will allow you to assess what your grass supply is (AFC).
 
If you are below target AFC <650kg DM/ha:
-       Reduce demand on the farm to lift AFC to 650kg DM/ha. This may require grazing additional land (silage ground, replacement heifer area)
-       Increase feed supplementation (ration, silage)
-       Remove surplus animals
-       Hold rotation length using these options to ensure growth isn’t further hampered
 
Walk the farm more frequently as grass growth and grazing conditions can and will change fast.
 
There is also huge variation in fertiliser and slurry applied to date across the country owing to ground conditions and grass covers.  A focus should be put on getting nutrients where possible to ensure production is on track for the year ahead
 
Meanwhile, the featured farmer is Declan Flynn from Kilmallock, Co. Limerick.
 
Read more from this week’s Grass10 newsletter and subscribe for weekly updates at:
https://bit.ly/Grass10-14thApril
 
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

Mark Treacy, Dairy Specialist in Teagasc Clonakilty, joins Stuart Childs on this week’s Dairy Edge to discuss management tips for April.
 
Mark explains that dairy farms are in various positions: some have moved too quickly into second-round grazing, others are well-balanced with remaining first-round grass, and some (especially on heavy ground) are delayed due to poor weather conditions.
 
He then outlines the solutions such as housing some or all of the herd in order to get grass cover back up to where they need to be which might only take a week, or where there is a lot of grass on farm, tackling it from a number of angles including grazing, silage immediately once opportunity arises or longer term silage in some cases.
 
Mark also spoke about the need for silage ground to be fertilised but to have cutting date influence the amount applied. With slurry application to most of this ground not an option, the advice is to cut early and return the slurry then. This will result in the same total yield with better quality than a large application of N for first cut now thus delaying the cut date.
 
Finally, Mark spoke about the need to follow up on problem cows ahead of the breeding season as it is creeping up on farmers now.
 
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