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
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38:56
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38:56
Your Weekly Grass10 Update
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
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7:09
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7:09
The Benefits of Genotyping
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
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30:52
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30:52
Your Weekly Grass10 Update
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
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8:43
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8:43
Laurence Shalloo on the challenges facing the dairy industry
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
The Dairy Edge is Teagasc’s dairy podcast for farmers with the latest information, insights and opinion to improve your dairy farm performance.
Visit the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/
Ireland