The Dairy Edge

For this week’s Grass10 grazing management update, John Maher highlights the top actions that need to be done: 

• Set a 35 day rotation length
• Do grass budget - phase out silage supplementation
• Make the best use of watery slurry

Read more from the latest Grass10 newsletter and subscribe for weekly updates at:

https://bit.ly/Grass10-15thSept
https://bit.ly/Grass10-18thSeptember 

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John McCabe, Seamus Kearney and Sean Callan, Advisors on the Teagasc Aurivo, Teagasc Tirlán and Teagasc Lakeland joint programmes, join Stuart Childs to give a more countrywide feel for the situation on farms around Ireland currently following the recovery in grass growth in the last few weeks.

The impact of the drought varied significantly by region with the west generally less affected, while parts of the Lakelands, due to the geo...

For this week’s Grass10 grazing management update, John Maher highlights the top actions to be done: 

• Set a 35 day rotation length
• Do a grass budget to reduce supplementation
• Consider liming

Read more from this week’s Grass10 newsletter and subscribe for weekly updates at:

https://bit.ly/Grass10-8thSeptember 

For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast go to the show page at:

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Teagasc ruminant nutritionist, Aisling Claffey, joins James Dunne to discuss managing dairy cow nutrition as we move out of the drought conditions. 

With many cows having been fed increased levels of silage and concentrate, the return to grass needs to be managed carefully. 

We’ll discuss how farmers can make decisions around reducing silage and concentrate, what to monitor in cow performance, and also what to look ou...

For this week’s Grass10 grazing management update, John Maher highlights the top actions to be done for this week: 

• Set a 30-35 day rotation length
• Make a farm specific fertiliser/slurry plan
• Do a fodder available budget 

Read more from this week’s Grass10 newsletter and subscribe for weekly updates at:

https://bit.ly/Grass10-1stSeptember

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Dr. David Wall, Enterprise Leader of the farms and estate at Teagasc’s Environment Research Centre in Johnstown Castle, joins Stuart Childs to discuss the timing of fertiliser applications over the coming weeks to maximise the return from nutrients applied while minimising the risk to water quality.

This is particularly important in drought-affected areas, where low grass growth and reduced nutrient uptake have increased the r...

For this week’s Grass10 grazing management update, John Maher highlights the top actions to be done for this week: 

• Do a fodder available budget 
• If fodder reserves are below target, take action
• Assess paddocks individually for grass growth

Read more from this week’s Grass10 newsletter and subscribe for weekly updates at:

https://bit.ly/Grass10-25thAugust

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Joe Patton, Head of the Teagasc Dairy Knowledge Transfer programme, joins James Dunne with an update on the current situation on dairy farms across the country following the prolonged period of dry weather.

Joe explains the results from the Teagasc National Fodder Survey, which were presented at the National Feed and Fodder committee meeting, and he outlines the priorities for affected farmers regarding winter feed, reducing herd de...

For this week’s Grass10 grazing management update, John Maher explains that:

• All farms should complete a fodder available budget 
• An action plan needs to be developed where fodder reserves are below target
• Farms and paddocks need to be assessed individually for grass growth

Read more from this week’s Grass10 newsletter and subscribe for weekly updates at:

https://bit.ly/Grass10-18thAugust

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Raymond Ryan, Milk Quality Advisor for the Limerick and Clare regions with Dairygold, joins Stuart Childs to discuss staying on top of milk quality.

Raymond explains that milk quality in 2026 is generally holding up, with cell count and TBC broadly similar to previous years, but drought and difficult weather have created localised problems.

Dirty conditions are the main risk, particularly for thermoduric bacteria and farmers should k...

For this week’s Grass10 grazing management update, John Maher discusses: 

• Doing a fodder available budget for your farm
• Assessing weed burden in recent reseeds
• Temperatures increasing again - water supply priority for animals

Read more from this week’s Grass10 newsletter and subscribe for weekly updates at:

https://bit.ly/Grass10-11thAugust

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Eoghan Byrne, project manager in FRS farm services, and MTU Agriculture student, Cormac Harnett, who works as an operator with the FRS in Cork joins Stuart Childs to discuss how farmers can help themselves get a bit of a break from the work by making it easier to work on their farm.

Both Eoghan and Cormac say that planning and communication are central by giving operators advance notice and clearly stating what needs to be done, how...

For this week’s Grass10 grazing management update, John Maher discusses: 

• Establishing recovery on paddocks
• Caution with fertiliser application
• Assessing fodder available on farm

Read more from this week’s Grass10 newsletter and subscribe for weekly updates at:

https://bit.ly/Grass10-4thAugust

For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast go to the show page at:

https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge...

For this week’s Grass10 grazing management update, John Maher discusses: 

• The need to walk the farm to assess grass growth and supply on farm
• Reducing demand on farm 
• Caution with fertiliser

And the featured farm update comes from Sean Carpenter, Co. Kildare.

Read more from this week’s Grass10 newsletter and subscribe for weekly updates at:

https://bit.ly/Grass10-28thJuly

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Colman Purcell, Nutritionist with Dairygold Agri Business, joins Stuart Childs to discuss managing stock in drought or near drought conditions.

Colman praises the farmers in the Dairygold catchment who have been affected by the dry weather for how they have dealt with it up to now, maintaining milk and protein performance, a response that he credits to their knowledge of how to react in these situations due to their experience of th...

For this week’s Grass10 grazing management update, John Maher discusses: 

• Assessing grass supply on farm
• Reducing demand on farm
• Nutrient application during reduced growth
• Water supply

And the featured farm update comes from Cathal Nash, Co. Clare.

Plus, Pat Tuohy of Teagasc joins John for a land drainage discussion and Q&A.

Read more from this week’s Grass10 newsletter and subscribe for weekly updates at:

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Pádraig French from Teagasc, who is closely involved in dairy-beef research, including the Ballyvadin Calf-to-Beef Demonstration Farm, joins James Dunne on this week’s Dairy Edge. 

They discuss the key management practices that drive performance, the role of Commercial Beef Value (CBV), what makes these systems financially successful, and what the latest research is telling us about the future of dairy calf to beef produc...

For this week’s Grass10 grazing management update, John Maher discusses: 

• Managing reduced growth
• Making a grazing plan for the coming 10 days (no rain forecast)
• How can farms reduce demand?

Plus the featured farm update comes from Paul Bowden, Urlingford, Co. Kilkenny.

Read more from this week’s Grass10 newsletter and subscribe for weekly updates at:

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

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