The Dairy Edge

Joe Patton, Head of Dairy Knowledge Transfer in Teagasc, joins Stuart Childs on the latest Dairy Edge to preview the upcoming Dairy Conferences.

With sudden drops in milk price catching many farmers off guard and even many of those who work in the area of forecasting prices, Joe explains, however, that the best-performing farms remain the best ones regardless of price cycles.

Farmers shouldn’t overhaul their system each ti...

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 ...

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...

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

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...

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 dai...

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 sh...

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/grass10-14thOctober20...

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...

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 m...

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 o...

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...

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 ...

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 sho...

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...

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...

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...