The Dairy Edge

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

For this week’s Grass10 grazing management update, John Maher explains why a flexible approach has to be applied on farm to begin the 2nd rotation and particular caution needs to be taken on farms that are starting the 2nd rotation to ensure AFC stays above 650 kg DM/ha.
 
Walk the farm on a more regular basis as growth increases.  Average farm cover needs to stay above 650 kg DM/ha.  Take action by reducing demand if your cover drops below 650 kg DM/ha.
 
Meanwhile, the featured farmer is Michael Leahy from Co. Kilkenny.
 
Read more from this week’s Grass10 newsletter and subscribe for weekly updates at:
https://bit.ly/Grass10-7thApril
   
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

Water quality continues to be a major focus for the agricultural industry, and while farmers are already making changes on farm, there is increasing emphasis on how practical actions can improve water quality outcomes at catchment level. 
 
In this episode, Pat Dillon from Teagasc joins James Dunne to discuss the Better Farming for Water campaign. 
 
Pat explains what the Better Farming for Water campaign is aiming to achieve, why a catchment approach has been taken and the practical actions dairy farmers can take to make a difference. 
 
We also discuss concepts such as nitrogen use efficiency, nitrogen surplus, stocking rate and how all of these interact with water quality.
 
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 discusses why, due to the challenging conditions in spring 2026, a flexible approach has to be applied on farm to begin the 2nd rotation.
 
By early April, dry farms should have about 60 units (75 kg N/ha) of N applied (combination of fertiliser and slurry) and most farms need to assess regrowths on the first 3 paddocks grazed for the next 2-3 weeks.
 
Meanwhile, the featured farmer is Kieran Kennedy from Nenagh, Co. Tipperary.
 
Read more from this week’s Grass10 newsletter and subscribe for weekly updates at:
https://bit.ly/Grass10-31stMarch
 
  
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

Prof. Donagh Berry, Quantitative Geneticist at Teagasc Moorepark, joins Stuart Childs on this week’s Dairy Edge to discuss the future of Irish Dairy Breeding Programmes.
 
Donagh first explains that breeding is all about numbers. With the uptake in use of sexed semen, the pool of dairy bull calves being born has shrunk and while this was part of the objective of using it in the first place, there is a side effect which has the potential to slow genetic gain in Irish dairy.
 
He outlines the type of numbers of calves that need to be born each year in order to maintain the genetic growth that Irish farmers have enjoyed since the late 2000s when genomics arrived.
 
In order to continue this, it will be important to have a structured breeding programme that will see Irish farmers work with the AI companies putting some of their best cows in calf to nominated bulls with a view to delivering the bulls of the future.
 
Failure to do so will see the progress made in the industry in the last three decades since the introduction of the EBI slow significantly. 
 
However, Donagh is attempting to avoid this occurrence by bringing industry together during 2026 to discuss the situation, identify the solutions and get them implemented as quickly as possible.
 
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