The prospect of a better milk price in 2017 will not encourage dairy farmers in west Limerick to further expand output, according to Teagasc advisor Tom O’Connor.

Quite a number of milk producers in this region have expanded gradually over the past five to six years, he said.

“Most of my clients supply the Kerry Group. As a result, accessing additional quota was never that much of a problem.

“Getting the extra land required would now be the biggest barrier to dairy expansion in this part of the world.”

The Newcastle West-based advisor confirmed that January 25 will mark the start of the spring calving season for 2017 in his catchment area.

It will be well underway by the beginning of February. Most cows were dried off in good condition. So this bodes well for the year ahead.

We routinely advise that first calvers should be dried off that little bit earlier and that thin cows should receive good quality silage and meals, if necessary, so as to build up body reserves prior to calving.”

O’Connor confirmed that his clients will strive to get freshly calved cows out to grass from the get-go.

“My one slight concern is that November was a very dry, cold month. This may well have hampered growth rates.

“We would normally expect growth rates in the order of 10 to 12kg DM/ha/day at that time of the year. And this is critical, as grass growth rates during December and January are always very low indeed.

It is now standard practice to have 70% of a farm’s grazing block closed off by the beginning of November.

“This should then allow sufficient grass covers to build up over the subsequent weeks to meet the needs of cows during the first grazing rotation.”

O’Connor also confirmed that grassland management standards continue to improve on Limerick dairy farms.

“The downturns of 2009, 2012 and 2015/16 have taught milk producers that they must strive to reduce production costs. And, to a large extent, this means making better use of grass,” he said.