The Dairy Edge

For this week's Grass10 grazing management update, John Maher discusses current grazing advice and setting up for the spring, while the featured farmer is Gerry Finneran, Carrignavar, Co. Cork. Read more from this week's Grass10 newsletter at:https://bit.ly/Grass10-11thNov25 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

Philip Murphy, Catchment Coordinator for the River Blackwater, joins Stuart Childs on this week's Dairy Edge to discuss applying water quality and addressing it. Philip explains that his role focuses on addressing agricultural pressures on water quality across the wider Blackwater catchment, beyond the already targeted high-priority areas, through providing clear, consistent advice to farmers and advisors, helping to raise awareness where one-to-one guidance is not currently available. He outlines how targeted areas are selected using EPA monitoring data and highlights the difference between nitrogen and phosphorus impacts, noting phosphorus affects rivers while nitrogen impacts in the estuaries. Finally, Philip emphasises that improvements take time, often years, but farmers are already doing positive work. His key message is for farmers to engage with advisors, consider schemes like Farming for Water, and continue adopting practical, farm-specific measures to protect local 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 current grazing advice, while the featured farmer is Will Griffin, Co. Carlow. Read more from this week's Grass10 newsletter at:https://bit.ly/Grass10-4thNovember25  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

Aisling Claffey, Teagasc ruminant nutritionist, joins James Dunne on this week's Dairy Edge to discuss what's important to remember when it comes to the upcoming dry cow 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

For this week's Grass10 grazing management update, John Maher discusses current grazing advice and closing up for early spring grass.    The featured farmer is John Payne, from Co. Longford who is targeting a closing AFC of  800 kg DM/ha on Dec 1st. Read more from this week's Grass10 newsletter at:https://bit.ly/Grass10-28thOctober2025 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 Dairy Specialist, Patrick Gowing, joins James Dunne on this week's Dairy Edge to discuss how to best manage surplus cash, build financial resilience, review production costs, and ensure farmers best prepared for 2026. As 2025 draws to a close, it will be remembered as one of the best farming years in recent memory due to strong milk prices, increased stock values and good weather for most parts. This means that dairy farm incomes are in a good place for the 2025 calendar year.   Although it has to be acknowledged milk prices have seen significant reductions in the last number of months, the effects of this will be felt more so in spring 2026 as higher constituents at this time of year are having a positive impact on the farm gate prices received.   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 has the latest Grass10 grazing management update, and this week's featured farmer is Niall O'Regan from Mallow, Co. Cork. Read more from this week's Grass10 newsletter at:https://bit.ly/grass10-21stOctober2025 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, Grass10 Manager, and John Leahy, dairy farmer in Athea, Co. Limerick, join Stuart Childs on this week's Dairy Edge to discuss applying lime. Despite difficult weather a few weeks ago, things have improved, John explains, and ground conditions, rotation length and money in the bank will allow people to spread lime. John outlines that we are very short of where we should be in terms of lime applied to where we should be. It's more than 40 years since we spread over 2 million tonnes of lime which is what we should be applying. John Leahy tells of his experience of increasing the pH on his farm. He went after it hard at the start and got it up to where it should be now and he's at the point where 20-40t keeps him on point each year. John also outlines how he went after the lime as he felt he could spend a lot of money on fertiliser with little return. He has gotten a phenomenal response to his lime applications.  His soil fertility has taken nearly 10 years to get right but he got his lime right from the start.Opportunities will present themselves, people need to take them, he says. For a list of suppliers of lime go to: https://www.grolime.ie/ 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 current grazing advice and closing up for early spring grass.  It's a great opportunity to spread lime - the cheapest fertiliser one can buy!   The featured farmer is Mark Lonergan, who is from Co. Tipperary and is targeting a closing AFC of  750 kg DM/ha on Dec 1st.  Read more from this week's Grass10 newsletter at:https://bit.ly/grass10-14thOctober2025 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 Research Officer, Pablo Silva Boloña, whose work focuses on milk quality, dairy cow mastitis and selective dry cow therapy, joins James Dunne on this week's Dairy Edge.  Pablo explains selective dry therapy and why it is being implemented on Irish dairy farms, plus he highlights the important management steps to ensure its successful implementation at farm level.  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 current grazing advice and the start of closing up for early spring grass.  It's a great week to reseed paddocks sprayed and grazed.  The featured farmer is Jason Coulter, who is from Co. Sligo and trying to get autumn closing sorted out after a very  difficult weekend.  Link to this week's Grass10 newsletter:https://bit.ly/grass10-7thOctober2025 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

Mike Dineen, Teagasc Senior Research Officer, joins James Dunne on this week's Dairy Edge to discuss the fundamentals to optimising performance from freshly calved cows by making informed decisions around the winter diet.   Winter feed is obviously a significant cost to producing liquid milk therefore it is important farmers get it right.  Mike explains how forage quality is key to generating the best possible margin and outlines some simple management practices that will improve animal performance and feed efficiency. 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 current grazing advice and the start of closing up for early spring grass.   The featured farmer is Shane Hegarty from Co. Carlow and Shane was the Young Farmer Category Winner of the Sustainable Grassland Farmer of the Year. Link to this week's Grass10 newsletter:https://bit.ly/grass10-30thSeptember2025 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

Kevin Downing of ICBF joins Stuart Childs on this week's Dairy Edge to discuss the recent changes to the EBI incorporated into the September Evaluation run. Kevin outlines the reason for the base change in order to make sure we are comparing the current cows with as representative population as possible to best reflect the on farm performance of herds. Kevin then discusses the changes that have been introduced in economic values. This is the first update since 2017. This adjustment is done as required and takes a long term view of revenues and costs. It is not responding to annual market returns and costs. One other major change is the movement of the rearing cost of heifers into the maintenance sub index from the beef sub index. This means that estimating the weight of a mature cow from the maintenance sub index has changed as the heifer rearing element is now included in the € value on the report.  There is a ready reckoner that can be accessed at: https://webapp.icbf.com/v2/app/msi-calculator Farmers can use this to estimate the liveweight of their cows based on the new value or use a predicted weight to get the value that they should use in the future. Evaluations are now live and farmers can look at them on their own ICBF profile on both the website and the app 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 discusses current grazing management and advises using the higher grass growth now to build grass into the autumn as many farms are behind on grass supply.  He also has tips on dealing with some difficult grazing conditions. Link to this week's Grass10 newsletter:https://bit.ly/grass10-23rdSeptember2025 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 Conroy, Dairy Advisor in Teagasc Nenagh, and Jim Delahunty, dairy farmer, join Stuart Childs on this week's Dairy Edge to discuss closing the farm for 2025. John says it has been an exceptional year for the most part, in the area he covers, with people complaining about making bales at this stage which is a far cry from the situation experienced in 2024.  However, the recent dry spell has reduced the building of grass having come from a very strong position in early to mid-August. John encourages people to continue to work on building the cover between here and the start of the last round. Jim says that he has grown well in the last week but his demand is high so he is considering housing cows by day in order to reduce demand to exploit growth over the next week or two to increase farm cover. He has also blanket spread the farm to drive growth once the rain came and this has helped close the gap. Jim also discusses how he is going to drop his stocking rate next year as he isn't getting enough reseeding done at his current stocking rate. John and Jim then cover the targets of closing the farm to ensure that there is grass in the spring as this worth multiples to him more than it is in the autumn. Finally, John says to close the farm in the way you want to graze in the spring targeting the best, most accessible for the early grazing which means targeting these for grazing in the second half of October to have the right cover to acclimatise the cows to grazing again. 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 current grazing management and advises using the higher grass growth now to build grass into the autumn as many farms are behind on grass supply.  He also highlights this week's feature farm, the O'Dea Farm Partnership, who are having a phenomenal grazing year with 14 tons DM/ha grown already with an input of 140 units N/acre and superb clover! Link to this week's Grass10 newsletter:https://bit.ly/grass10-16thSeptember2025 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

Seamus Kearney, Teagasc Tirlán Joint Programme Co-ordinator, joins Stuart Childs on this week's Dairy Edge to discuss soil fertility actions that can still be taken despite the chemical fertiliser deadline passing for 2025. Firstly, Seamus outlines the reduction in chemical nitrogen in the last 9 years and these reductions are becoming more conspicuous where soil fertility isn't on point. Seamus explains that lime is magic as it frees up 70-80kgs of N and frees up P and K that are locked up in the soil. With increased output and output value in 2025, farmers may be exposed to the higher rate of tax and every €1 invested in lime can generate a return of 7:1 and if you're in that high tax bracket, there is another win in that you can reduce the tax exposure but get really good value from the spreading of it this year and for subsequent years also. Seamus also talks about K fertiliser applications and recommends that farmers apply 1 bag of Muriate of Potash (MOP) to increase the K levels as this will improve N utilisation and increase grass growth.  Seamus discusses bringing soil samples to life either by having the map on the tractor or by some form of markings out in the paddocks that will quickly identify the paddocks that need the different nutrients Finally, Seamus says that people should keep things simple and by using protected urea and 18-6-12 and MOP for their fertiliser programme it is both environmentally friendly and €20/cow on current prices cheaper than other fertiliser regimes which can save €2000 for the average 100 cow herd.     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 current grazing advice and as many farms are behind on grass supply, he advises using the higher grass growth now to build grass into the autumn.  The featured farmer is Patrick O'Neill from Longford, who is having a good year with grazing and is on target! Link to this week's Grass10 newsletter:https://bit.ly/Grass10-9thSeptember2025 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

Padraig O'Connor, technologist with Teagasc, joins James Dunne on this week's Dairy Edge to outline how farmers should manage their herd somatic cell count this autumn, how to make best use of the milk recording information and what to do with identified problem cows. 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 current grazing advice as some farms are dealing with low grass supply.  He also talks about the featured farmer Mike Ahern, who is the Sustainable Grassland Farmer of the Year, and who is opening his farm to the public on Tuesday Sept 9th at 11am , in Ballyduff Co. Waterford. For more go to:https://youtu.be/kbrAbDg7Hrc  Link to this week's Grass10 newsletter:https://bit.ly/Grass10-2ndSeptember2025  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

Ruth Fennell, Collaborative Farming Specialist, joins Stuart Childs on this week's Dairy Edge to discuss the various collaborative farming options that exist. Ruth outlines the options that range from contract heifer rearing, nutrient sharing, machinery trading and land leasing to more commonly thought of collaborative farming options such as registered farm partnerships and share farming. Effectively, collaborative farming is of mutual benefit to both parties. Ruth then explains how the various options work in different scenarios and how different arrangements may be more appropriate for a given set of circumstances.  The key to all of these arrangements are the people. If you have two people that work well together then you can decide the structure that suits their circumstances.  Legal agreements need to be developed to protect everyone involved as, like any business, it could need to be dissolved for any number of reasons in years to come. If that situation arises, it is important that the structure can be dismantled relatively easily and this starts at the beginning with a clear exit strategy. There are financial incentives that are associated with some of the collaborative arrangements such as young farmer top-ups which should be accessed if appropriate but this will be case specific and what is right for you will depend on the circumstances.  The availability of various grants should not be the sole reason for entering a registered farm partnership, especially if share farming is the more appropriate structure for your circumstances. Ruth finishes by outlining the planned Generational Renewal Week that will take place from 8-12thSeptember and people interested in viewing some of the webinars which will cover these arrangements, starting the conversation on succession and making a will as well as the taxes and reliefs available, can access the registration page by clicking here:https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_e2st24BhQu6uJ1CdjETOGA#/registration 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 current grass growth and predicted grass growth.  Plus the featured farmer is Arthur Sweetman from county Wexford. Link to this week's Grass10 newsletter:https://bit.ly/Grass10-26thAugust2025 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

George Ramsbottom, Head of the Teagasc Signpost Advisory Programme, joins James Dunne on this week's Dairy Edge to discuss how Irish dairy farmers can improve their farms' carbon footprint.  George outlines how there is a dedicated team of 21 climate advisors available through the Signpost Advisory Programme to offer farmers help and advice on how they can improve the environmental credentials of their own farms. 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 current grazing advice as some farms are dealing with low grass supply. He also focuses on reviewing where fertiliser use needs to be. Link to this week's Grass10 newsletter:https://bit.ly/Grass10-19thAugust2025 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

Emma-Louise Coffey, Programme Co-Ordinator for the Farm Manager Apprenticeship Programme, joins James Dunne on this week's Dairy Edge to discuss why young, skilled dairy farmers are important for the industry and what the farm apprenticeship course can offer both host farmers and aspiring young dairy farmers.For more information go to:https://teagasc.ie/education/apprenticeships/farm-manager/ 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 current grazing advice as we approach autumn build-up of grass and while some farms, particularly in the southern coast, are very tight on grass supply. There is also a grazing update from Sean Phelan, from Kilkenny who is investing in grazing and currently on target for autumn build-up. Link to this week's Grass10 newsletter:https://t.co/d7P7FYlZi5 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, Teagasc Grass10 Programme Manager, joins Stuart Childs to discuss the current PastureBase figures and he explains the idea of autumn build-up and autumn grazing management. Firstly, John outlines the figures for the week explaining that on the majority of farms, there is currently way too much grass and that action needs to be taken to manage this situation sooner rather than later.  He also talks about the impact of another spell of long rainfall on a proportion of farms along the south and east coast and what is happening there. Then he gets into the topic of autumn build-up and how to go about it:·      Increase N application rates in August to increase supply·      Remove young stock from the platform to reduce demand·      Silage ground coming back increases supply·      Reseeded ground coming back increases supply·      Remove poor performing cull cows will reduce demand·      Introduce supplementary feeding in the form of meal (may not be enough), silage, zero grazing etc. will lower the demand for grass thus giving it a chance to build The majority of people need to make autumn grazing management happen by doing something is the long and short of it and John recommends that people farm with ‘the head up' to see what is happening and responding to it.  For those that do and don't measure, rotation length is a useful guide and the objective is to move to a 30 day rotation by Sept 1st. This is grazing 1/30th of the farm each day so 3 acres a day on a 90 acre platform for example. The objective is to build a wedge of grass to graze into in the autumn when growth eventually drops below herd demands which will normally start to happen in mid to late September. If you don't have it then, you won't be able to create it. John finishes by saying that the grazing season starts in the autumn not in the spring. The week's Grass 10 newsletter features Cork dairy farmer Con Lehane and can be accessed at:https://sh1.sendinblue.com/3iqx0f848slpfe.html?t=1754411905519 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

It was another hugely successful Open Day at Moorepark this year with the theme of ‘Innovating for the Future' showcasing the latest technology and insights into Irish dairy farming. For this bonus episode from the Dairy Edge, Stuart Childs and James Dunne used the opportunity to speak to some of those in attendance, including Denis Drennan from ICMSA, the IFA's Francie Gorman and Minister for Agriculture, Martin Heydon, as well as a number of dairy farmers to find out what they thought of the day and how their farming year has been. 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 current grazing advice as grass supply increases on farms and he has a grazing update from Chris Cahill, Co. Westmeath. Link to this week's Grass10 newsletter:https://bit.ly/Grass10-29thJuly  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

Muireann Conneely, Teagasc dairy researcher who specialises in animal welfare, joins James Dunne on this week's Dairy Edge. Muireann discusses the impact of lameness on Irish dairy farms, detecting and dealing with lameness issues and putting prevention measures in place at farm level. 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 current grazing advice and he has a grazing update from Eoin Corrigan, Co. Meath. Link to this week's Grass10 newsletter: https://bit.ly/Grass10-22ndJuly 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

Conor Hogan, Teagasc's People in Dairy Programme Manager, joins Stuart Childs on this week's Dairy Edge to discuss share farming as an option for generational renewal. Conor discusses the importance of managing time to keep the length of the working day in check and also the importance of getting time off or away from the farm also. This can be helped by being structured in the way work is approached. This element of work organisation and the potential that it has to create a good working environment is critical to attracting the next generation of farmers into the fold. Generational renewal is a big ticket item now with people looking at their options and it can no longer be taken as a given that there is a natural successor that will be interested in taking over the farm.  On the other hand there may also be people out there that are looking to farm but have no access to land. This creates opportunity and Conor goes on to discuss the idea of share farming as a solution to generational renewal in the absence of a natural successor. Conor says these arrangements can be win-win for both parties but that they are built on trust and communication.  Conor highlights the importance of farms being well maintained ahead of the owner potentially stepping back in order to ensure there isn't a mountain to climb in terms of investment in the business when the decision is made to take the next step.   This can be a significant handicap to the young person coming in as it will undermine the technical efficiency of the business in the early years which is critical to driving the financial success of the arrangement. Finally, Conor says that people should try to get time off in the next few weeks and then look to the future in terms of what they can do on their own farms to reduce the hours that they have to work and what they need to put in place to facilitate them taking as much time off as they want or as they feel is necessary to allow them have a good balance in their own lives. The preliminary National Farm Survey report for 2024 can be accessing at:https://teagasc.ie/wp-content/uploads/uploads/NFS-Preliminary-Report-2024.pdf    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, as rainfall amounts start to increase, Joseph Dunphy discusses current grazing advice and he has a grazing update from Joe Morrissey, Co. Cork. Link to this week's Grass10 newsletter: https://bit.ly/Grass10-15thJuly 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 dairy specialist, Pat Gowing, joins James Dunne on this week's Dairy Edge to discuss farmyard infrastructure and why good planning and design are key to ensuring good animal performance, ease of management and allow for future development.  Teagasc are running a series of events looking at good farmyard design and investment and Pat outlines what will be discussed across these events nationally. For more information go to:https://teagasc.ie/rural-economy/farm-management/farm-buildings/events/ 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, as we enter July, Joseph Dunphy discusses current grazing advice and he has a grazing update from Sean Barry, Co. Limerick. Link to this week's Grass10 newsletter: https://bit.ly/Grass10-8thJuly 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

Emma Dillon, economist and senior research officer with the National Farm Survey joins Stuart Childs on this week's Dairy Edge to discuss the recently published preliminary results for the 2024 survey. Emma explains how the survey works and how the 300 or so dairy farms that supply data to the survey are used to create a representation of the dairy farms across the country and how they adjust their survey to ensure it continues to be representative of the farming population. Emma discusses the headline figure that gets reported outlining what has to come out of that for the farmer themselves and that it isn't the same as the annual take home pay of a salaried employee. Emma then delves into the increase in production costs, the shift in milk prices that have helped insulate farmers from this rise in costs and she looks at a number of ‘sticky costs' that all farmers need to be conscious of to reduce their exposure to price volatility in future years. Finally, Emma talks about structural change that is important for the industry and how this will need to be assisted through funding for generational renewal from the perspective of both the new entrant or young farmer and the older generation that also need security as they step back from their careers in farming. The preliminary report for 2024 can be accessed here:https://teagasc.ie/wp-content/uploads/uploads/NFS-Preliminary-Report-2024.pdf 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 current grazing advice as some farms are coming into a surplus in grass supply while others, particularly on the southern coast, are tight on grass supply.  John also reviews where fertiliser nitrogen use is at and what should be left for the rest of the grazing season, plus there is a grazing update from Enda Armstrong from Galway, who is currently growing lots of grass! Link to this week's Grass10 newsletter:https://bit.ly/Grass10-01stJuly2025 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

ICBF business analysts, Mark Waters and Gearoid Slattery, join James Dunne on this week's Dairy Edge to discuss the National Genotyping Programme, how it has performed to date, the benefits of genotyping, some the challenges that have been faced and the opportunity for new participants in the next phase of the programme.    We are also joined by Cork dairy farmer Sheena Murphy who outlines her experience of being in the programme and how it has benefited her herd.Moorepark Open DayThe Teagasc Moorepark Dairy Open Day will take place on Wednesday, 2nd July 2025, 8:30am - 5pm, at the Teagasc Animal & Grassland Research and Innovation Centre, Moorepark, Fermoy, Co. Cork, P61 C996.The theme of this year's event is ‘Innovating for the future'.Join us on Wednesday, 2nd July at Moorepark!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 current grazing advice as some farms are coming into a surplus in grass supply while others - particularly in the southern coast - are tight on grass supply. John also has a grazing update from Mike Ahern, from Co. Waterford, who was announced as the Sustainable Grassland Farmer of the Year 2024. The Moorepark Open Day is also discussed. Link to this week's Grass10 newsletter:https://bit.ly/Grass10-24thJune2025  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

Laurence Shalloo, Head of the Animal and Grassland Programme in Teagasc Moorepark, joins Stuart Childs on this week's Dairy Edge. Laurence starts by acknowledging that there is a constant state of flux in the world now and that we are constantly adapting to change. This is no different to what we did in the run-in to the milk quota removal. Laurence talks about the pent up energy in the industry post-quota removal that has delivered a 100% increase in milk solids production from just a 50% increase in cows, indicating the advances made in terms of productivity. There are always challenges and costs were high on the agenda at previous Open days and they are well up the agenda again in 2025 as there has been an upward shift in costs. There is a need to focus on getting on top of them again and key to that is efficiency and growing the cheapest feed we can – grass. The other challenges facing the industry include generation renewal as some of the people that have delivered the expansion are now looking for the person to carry on the business.  Greenhouse gas emissions and water quality challenges also exist but are trending in the right direction and can be overcome by implementing the research. The Moorepark Open day is on July 2nd starting at 08:30am and we encourage all to attend and engage 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, John Maher discusses current grazing advice as many farms are coming into surplus grass, grazing grass covers that are too high and he has a grazing update from Denis Finnegan, Co. Cork. Link to this week's Grass10 newsletter: https://bit.ly/Grass10-17thJune2025 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

Padraig McCormack, dairy advisor at Teagasc Moorepark, joins Stuart Childs on this week's Dairy Edge to discuss what's currently happening on the farms in his area. Padraig outlines the grazing situation in the area which is beginning to get back on track followed a prolonged spell of dry weather a month ago. Quality has been variable but people are looking at removing surplus in the coming week as growth is exceeding demand on average. Padraig spoke about fertiliser advice from nitrogen rates to sulphur and also P and K where surplus is removed.  Padraig discussed breeding performance in his area which is looking good and he reminded listeners to plan a date to stop breeding prior to July 20th with it being the cut off to avoid May calvers in 2026.  From his profit monitor meetings in the spring of 25, the justification for calving a cow in May is non-existent given the cost of keeping the cow and the return she will generate in her 2025 lactation. Padraig then tells us about the investments that his clients are considering with slurry storage on some people's minds but clarity around storage requirements and planning is slowing movement in that area.  Investing in things to make life easier is where it is at with people looking to avail of grants on heat detection systems, drafting gates and calf feeders.    Finally, Padraig ends by telling us that currently, his groups are either planning or heading away on some visits away from their own farms. He suggests that people should plan to take holidays and plan to get a few days off when things quieten down once breeding is finished and he reminds listeners of the excellent day out that is the Moorepark Open day coming up on July 2nd.   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 current grazing advice as some farms are coming into surplus grass and he has a grazing update from John Phelan, Co. Waterford. Link to this week's Grass10 newsletter: https://bit.ly/Grass10-10thJune2025 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

James Dunne is joined this week by Teagasc grassland science researcher, Mike Egan, to discuss the correct management of grass-clover swards to ensure high levels of pasture and animal performance.   Mike also discusses the findings from the recent external assessment of Teagasc's Clover and Multi-Species Sward Research Programme. 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 current grazing advice as some farms are coming into surplus grass, plus he has a grazing update from Tim Walsh in Co. Kerry. Link to this week's Grass10 newsletter:https://bit.ly/Grass10-3rdJune 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

Irish dairy farms are making huge progress when it comes to improving their sustainability metrics, with the Teagasc/FBD Environmental Sustainability Awards highlighting the farms which are leaders in this regard.  For this week's Dairy Edge, James Dunne is joined by dairy farmer, Brendan Walsh, who was the overall winner in 2024.  Brendan outlines how he farms to meet high levels of performance, whilst also keeping the long term sustainability of his system in mind.  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