Teagasc dairy advisors Jim Moyles, Ciara O’Shea and Seamie Nolan join Emma-Louise Coffey for the first of a two-part review of the dairy farming year.

Firstly, the panel summarised the technical performance achieved on dairy farms in Ireland in 2020. Performance is on a par with 2019 but when reflecting over the 5 years since the abolition of milk quota, dairy farmers have increased milk solids production by 50-60 kg, predominantly driven by improving their 6 week calving rate and in turn achieving greater number of days in milk.

Grass production in their areas is averaging 13 tonne DM/ha which is in line with PastureBase Ireland figures for the year. The heavy rainfall in both the early spring grazing period and in the autumn made conditions more challenging and reduced the days at grass for some farms on heavier soil times and in heavy rainfall areas.

Next week, for the second part of the year in review, Jim, Ciara and Seamie discuss the profit on dairy farms in 2020 and how farmers and industry coped with the challenges that Covid brought throughout the year.

For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast visit the show page at:
https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/