The Dairy Trail

• Milking 230 Montbéliarde's in a split calving system

  In the latest episode of Agriland's limited podcast series "The Dairy Trail", technical dairy specialist, Cathal O'Shea visited the farm of Dan and Danny Somers in Co, Wicklow. The father and son partnership are milking 230 Montbéliarde's in a split calving system, with 40-50 cows calving down in autumn.  Dan talks on how they got into Montbéliarde's and how the herd is working out for them on their farm. He tells us about the diet they feed over the winter months to achieve their target of 7000 litres at 557kg/MS.Dan also talks about the current tasks at hand on farm, between drying-off and calving down. We hear about balancing issues with banding, and dive into calf care, breeding, grass management, lameness, and the farms infrastructure. 

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• Feeding and breeding to boost winter milk performance

  In the latest episode of 'The Dairy Trail', technical dairy specialist, Cathal O'Shea visited the farm of John Wynne in Co, Wicklow. John is in a liquid milk contract, with 45% of the 320 head herd milking through the winter.John talks about the feeding and breeding routines in place on the farm that allow them to achieve their 580kg of milk solids target. John also speaks on calf management, drying off and housing the spring calving herd, and looks at the year in review in terms of grass management and lameness monitoring. 

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• Award winning Tipperary farm achieving sub 100 SCC

  In the first episode of season three of Agriland's limited podcast series 'The Dairy Trail', we caught up with the 2025 NDC & Kerrygold Milk Quality Award winner, Michael Ryan.The Tipperary man spoke on the end of the grazing rotation, preparations for a successful dry-off, breeding and much more.Agriland's limited podcast series 'The Dairy Trail' takes listeners inside the yard of dairy farms across the country to hear what is happening on the ground.

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• Live from Ploughing 2025

  As part of Agriland's official Ploughing 2025 livestream, technical dairy specialist Hugh Harney hosted a special live edition of The Dairy Trail podcast.

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• Pedigree Holsteins, embryo transfers & 680kg/MS/cow in Co. Meath

  In the fourth and final episode of season two of Agriland's limited series 'The Dairy Trail', technical dairy journalist, Hugh Harney takes a trip to dairy farmer Joe Healy's farm in Athboy, Co. Meath.Joe Healy is milking 97 pedigree Holstein Friesian cows, where the use of American Holstein genetics, embryo transfers and intensive breeding selection is driving his herd towards 700kg of milk solids/cow. Joe is hugely enthusiastic about breeding and genetics as he started off milking cows with a strong base of Economic Breeding Index in 2020, and is now driving towards more type, more milk and cows that he enjoys milking twice a day.Joe keeps his three children involved on the farm as they are proud members of the Irish Holstein Friesian Association young members association and Joe's long term goal is to make the farm more attractive for the next generation. Joe also talks about current cow performance, managing rapid grass growth rates and improving his farm business through genetics, infrastructure and lifestyle.

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