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At present, Irish dairy farmers are growing on average 9.1 t DM/ha (National Farm Survey data)

Across all the farms that are routinely recording farm cover in PastureBase Ireland (PBI), the bottom 20 farms, the average of all farms, and the top 20 farms are growing 11.0, 13.8 and 16.7 t DM/ha, respectively (O'Donovan& Egan 2017)

Grass utilisation within the NFS has increased by almost 1t DM/ha between 2008 and 2015, the overall level of utilisation remains low at 54pc and 70pc of that achieved at Curtins and Ballyhaise, respectively (Moran 2017)

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Young Farmer (40 yo)

Educated (degree in agriculture)

Always wanting to progress

Up to date with new technologies

Young Family- therefore needs to be progressive

Part of a discussion group

Reseeding programme in place

Soil testing

Good potential to grow grass and utilise it

Attends farm walks and open days

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Does some contract scanning and AI

Time can be challenging during busy months of contract work

Ground not extremely dry so can be challenging in poor weather conditions

Health- TB becoming an issue in surrounding areas

A lot of land leased

Milk price inlfuences cash flow and profitability

A lot of money spent on expansion of infrastructure

High stocking rate of 4.5 cows per hectare on the milking platform

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Join a grass focused discussion group

Ballyhaise Agricultural College not to far away

Better grassland management and grass measuring

Measurement tools available

Better use of  Agrinet

Attend more farm walks and open days

Get optimum utilisation out of the grass grown

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Labour- Currently reliant on father and a student

Milk price volatility

Brexit

Policy- GHG regulations

Price of Inputs- Feed, fertiliser, diesel, vet, AI

Farmers may want to reclaim rented land

Milking platform is at its peak

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Dairy system of production on current case study farm

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Dairy system of production on current case study farm

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110 cows

45 heifers to calve

30% Autumn and 70% Spring calving

Surplus heifers sold and some cows culled to keep cow numbers around 110

46 1-2 year old heifers

12 1-2 year old breeding bulls that are sold in the spring time

Approx. 45-50 heifer calves

Bull calves and some beef calves sold at 2 weeks of age

25 hectares on the milking platform

Further 55 hectares of neighboring land leased

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Grass Software | Herd Software | Accountants Software for farming | AgriNet

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Agrinet specialises in software for the farming community including grass software, herd software and accountancy software for the farming community in Ireland.

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To put a grassland management system in place that matches stocking rate to grass growth and that optimises growth and utilisation of grass on the farm through grass measuring techniques and better use of the Agrinet system.

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Soil Test

Paddock level nutrient plan

Grazing rotation plan

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Learn to use the grass measuring tools

Measure grass weekly

Enter into the agrinet database

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Continue measuring the grass weekly

Keep agrinet up to date

Do another soil test

Figure out the worst performing paddocks and put a reseeding programme in place

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2 years data collected that can be used to revise plan in place

Will be able to look at:

1. stocking rate

2. No. of animals

3. Calving data

4. Grazed herbage grown

5. Silage herbage grown

6. Utilisation

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Invest in infrastructure for optimum system

Continue with grass measuring and using agrinet

Performance of grass- weighing

Review reseeding programme