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Dairy

In this section you will find up to date articles on Dairy farming news and best practices. We would also welcome your feedback, suggestions and ideas about how we may improve or further develop this section.

Dairy

Livestock Management

Why use DIGEST-IT?

DIGEST-IT: increases nutrient recovery, improving the fertiliser value of slurry, reduces ammonia emissions and odours, breaks down solids, reducing the time required to agitate and pump slurry, grows more, better…

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The importance of knowing your silage quality

Silage quality is key to good animal performance, reducing winter feed costs and increasing profitability during the housing period. Right now, you cannot change the quality of your silage but…

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Soil Moisture

Soil moisture deficits are c.60mm in the Dairygold area.   The forecast is showery with c.30mm forecast over the week, some of which will be heavy with thunderstorms possible..  This…

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Lungworm

Lung worm infection/ hoose pneumonia, occurrence is very much both weather and age related. Warm and humid weather favours the development of lungworm larvae on pastures. Quite often we see…

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Dairygold Prime Milk Replacer Range

  The key ingredient in Dairygold’s Prime Elite calf milk replacer range is Imunopro®, a concentrated Whey Protein, is carefully balanced to ensure the optimum level of amino acids, fatty…

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Building Grass across the month of September

Grass Growth in August was poor, a lot of farms now find themselves behind target for grass as we start the month of September.  We need to build grass covers…

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Join us for our Animal Health Open Days – May 2022 From 10am

Updates on New Veterinary Regulations – Expert Advice – Special Offers Tuesday 3rd – Terelton Wednesday 4th – Killumney & Old Pallas Thursday 5th – Buttevant & Ballinhassig Friday 6th…

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Plan now to ensure you have enough silage for next winter

How much silage do I need? Contact your local area sales manger to run through a winter feed budget.  1 acre of 1st cut silage ground will feed 1.5 cows…

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Early Lactation Nutrition

Feeding regimes for freshly calved cows have one ultimate goal: Getting your cows back in calf. To achieve this, we need to: Feed enough energy to limit BCS loss in…

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EU Veterinary Medicine Regulation Update

  By SEAMUS O’MAHONY, M.Agr.Sc, Head of Commercial, Dairygold Agri Business   Why is this happening? Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) – the ability of microorganisms to resist antimicrobial treatments, especially antibiotics…

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Economics of concentrate feeding in late lactation

Economics of concentrate feeding in late lactation: In late lactation 1kg of concentrates can generate 1kgof extra milk. With concentrates costing c.€300-350/Tand milk valued at c. 40 c/kg (including higher…

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How to achieve maximum fertility levels through your cow’s diet

Welcome to the first addition of our Nutrition Series, a six-part video and article series brought to you by Dairygold and Alltech Ireland for the next six weeks. Liam Stack,…

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Using Alfalfa to improve milk output and liveweight gain

Colman Purcell, Nutritionist Dairygold Quality Feeds Traditionally we value forages based on their net energy and digestible protein content. We usually confine our efforts to these nutrients as we assume…

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Maintaining Milk Lactose

Maintaining milk lactose Milk lactose is lower this year than previous years. Milk lactose is affected by stage of lactation and energy nutrition. Despite the good grass growth lactose is…

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The Importance of Autumn Fertiliser

In August soils release their own organic N naturally. On lowly stocked farms (< 170kg organic N/Ha) that have enough winter forage this may provide sufficient N to build grass…

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Kerva for Grain Enhanced Feed

Benefits of Kerva treated grain for feed ✓Treating grain with KERVA produces nutritionally enhanced feed (increased protein content by 30% approx.), reducing the need for additional protein in the diet…

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Dairy Sustainability Day

Dairy Sustainability Day was held on the farm of Trevor and Olive Crowley this year, winners of the Reduce Carbon footprint category at Bord Bía’s Origin Green Farmer Awards in…

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Managing your Automatic Calf Feeder

Whether you have or haven’t gotten your feeder up and running for the season yet, here are a few key points to keep in mind.

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Once a Day Feeding- Calf Milk Replacer

Dairygold’s Calf milk replacer specialist talks about once a day feeding Dairygold’s Prime Elite milk replacer range.

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Guide to Catch Crops

James Bourke B.Agr.Sc has given a breakdown of the most popular catch crops this 2018, Westerwolds and Forage Brassicas. Click Read More to see more information.

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I have not made a 2nd cut of grass silage, what can I do?

Click Read More to see what options are available to you if you have not yet made a second cut of silage. Dairygold have also developed a tool to calculate the amount of silage that you could potentially preserve from August to October by feeding extra concentrates to lower feed demand which is available to download.

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How much grass silage will wholecrop silage replace?

Diarmuid O’Riordan IASIS, TMR Area Sales Manager with Dairygold Agri Business gives a breakdown of how much grass silage your crop of wholecrop silage will replace. Click Read More to see if wholecrop can be fed to dry cows, the value of wholecrop silage vs grass silage and the requirements to meet the milking cows needs.

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How much grass silage will maize replace?

Alan Ryan B.Agr.Sc, TMR Area Sales Manager with Dairygold Agri Business gives a breakdown of how much grass silage your crop of standing maize will replace. Click Read More to see if Maize can be fed to dry cows, the value of maize silage vs grass silage and the requirements to meet the milking cows needs.

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Dairygold Grass Extender Options

Dairygold Nutritionist Colman Purcell has given an outline of the grass and fodder extender options available through Dairygold Agribusiness. Please click Read More to see options available to you.

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Short of grass right now, what are your options?

Liam Stack M.Agr.Sc, Ruminant Technical Manager, Dairygold Agribusiness gives a concise breakdown of what your options are if running out of grass during this dry spell.

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Feeding The Dairy Cow When Forage is Scarce

This Spring has proven to be very difficult on farms. Click Read more for a guide for forage management on Dairy Farms. Contact your Area Sales Manager for more information.

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Ensure optimum health of your livestock this Spring with Superchoice Minerals

When it comes to animal nutrition, Superchoice Minerals are your guarantee for great quality and value. This product range has been formulated to meet the upper end of Teagasc’s recommended mineral levels and has been formulated to meet the needs of Irish dairy cows, cattle and sheep.

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Tackling Lameness with the Provita Hoofsure Range

Lameness is now a major challenge in Irish dairy herds. Digital dermatitis (DD), more commonly known as Mortellaro, is an infectious condition and one of the major causes of lameness reducing milk yield, fertility, mobility and feed intake. Read more on this and see how the Provita range from Dairygold can help reduce lameness in your herd.

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Johne’s Disease – Farm Risk Assessments

While screening tests and good biosecurity practices are important in the control of JD, carrying out an on-farm risk assessment (VRAMP), ideally before calving time, is critical to understanding the risks relating to your own herd…

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The Ten Golden Rules For Successful Vaccination

1. Make a plan • Talk to your vet and decide which groups of animals should be protected against which diseases 2. Make sure the vaccination programme is completed exactly as stated on…

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Farm Biosecurity & Facility Hygiene

A good Biosecurity Plan can be drawn up at farm level by assessing the risks posed by the movement of stock, personnel and vehicles onto farms. Your Vet can advise…

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Cull Cows

Economics of feeding cull cows The economics of feeding cull cows depends on the quality of the silage available, the cost of silage and concentrates, the condition of the animals…

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Nutrition & Fertility

Early Lactation Feeding: Nutrition and Maximising Fertility Performance Poor fertility performance is the biggest cause of involuntary culling on Irish dairy farms. Reducing empty rates from 15% to 10% will…

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Lameness in Dairy Cattle

Lameness is now a major problem in Irish dairy herds – it has become the second largest dairy cow health challenge after mastitis. Up to 89% of dairy cattle may…

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