‘George Goes Dairy Farming’ is back with a fourth season. This innovative, farm-focused series is proudly brought to you by Agriland Media, Progressive Genetics and AgriNet HerdApp, Ireland’s leading farm-management software.

The George Goes Dairy Farming video series has provided unique insights into the management practices adopted by milk producers across the entire gamut of dairy farming business models implemented in Ireland.

All producers featured have been widely recognised for their focus on the clear communication of new thinking within the dairy sector, and their role in providing possible learning opportunities for Irish dairy farmers.

The latest production is a further, invaluable reference point for anyone with an interest in modern milk production systems.

Eugene Fitzpatrick, Co. Longford

In the second episode of the new season, Co. Wicklow-based dairy farmer George Beattie is in Co. Longford to visit the farm of Eugene Fitzpatrick.

Eugene milks 150 cows in a spring-calving, grass-based system and has placed a major focus on increasing milk solids and fertility within his herd.

Eugene Fitzpatrick, dairy farmer, Co. Longford

Over the last number of years, Eugene has placed a major focus on improving the quality of his herd by looking its economic breeding index (EBI) and sees this as having a major role in this process.

This has resulted in a more compact calving and a calving interval of 369 days. Milk solids have also increased to just short of Eugene’s target of 500kg and stand at 480kg of milk solids.

However, George made the trip to the farm to hear from Eugene about how he is getting on using sexed semen and increasing the number of beef-sired calves born on the farm.

Sexed semen

Sexed semen has been used on the farm for the last three years, with a fixed-time artificial insemination (AI) programme used on the heifers. This has resulted in a 70% conception rate to first service.

Sexed semen is also used on some cows, with a combination of EBI reports and milk-recording data used to select the cows.

EBI

Eugene’s breeding advisor, Deirdre Toal from Progressive Genetics, has been working with him for over 20 years.

A big focus has always been placed on EBI, improving the milk solids produced and obtaining a better milk price.

Deirdre Toal, breeding advisor, Progressive Genetics

Bulls that have high percentages and high fertility sub-index have been selected consistently on Eugene’s farm over the last number of years.

“Looking at his five-year trend report, he has taken ten days off his calving interval, going from 379 to 369 days and producing 480kg of milk solids,” Toal explained.

Eugene has been increasing the use of beef sires on his herd, as the amount of sexed semen on the farm increases.

Dairy Beef Index

The Dairy Beef Index (DBI) is used to select suitable beef sires and Eugene has used this to great success, with this year’s Charolais calves selling for as high as €385.

About 20 Charolais straws were used on older cows or those that had a bigger frame and the price achieved by these calves was a big bonus at that time of year.

Discussing the DBI, Toal said: “It is like the EBI, but this time it is for the beef bulls that you’re going to use on your dairy herd.

“The important thing is not to just select on the DBI figure itself, because the DBI has a heavy weighting for ease of calving.

“So you can have a beef bull with a high DBI, but he is getting it from the ease of calving and isn’t necessarily going to give you a good-quality calf.

“The aim of the DBI is to meet the dairy farmer’s requirement of short gestation and easy calving, but also to produce a good-quality calf.”

AgriNet HerdApp

Eugene recently started using AgriNet HerdApp on the farm and is very happy with the information the app has offered him so far.

“I’m playing with it at the moment and it seems to give me a lot more information than our previous provider,” he said.

“I’m looking forward to getting used to it; going through it at night it gives me a lot of information on each cow that I probably didn’t have before.”

AgriNet HerdApp is Ireland’s leading farm-management tool, which allows farmers to manage all the key day-to-day functions on a typical Irish dairy or beef farm, empowering farmers to make the right management decisions for more profitable farming.

It allows Eugene to register calves, apply for movement permits, record inseminations and drug usage and to have complete oversight on his entire herd. It is fully Bord Bia compliant and eliminates the need for unnecessary paperwork as all of Eugene’s herd’s information is stored on the app.

“All the information I need is on my phone,” Eugene said.

Start your 30-day free trial today, by visiting www.agrinet.ie.

George Goes Dairy Farming

All previous episodes of George Goes Dairy Farming can be viewed on the Agriland website.

Catch up on all the episodes from series four here:

Part 1: ‘George goes dairy farming’: Season 4 kicks off in Sligo

Catch up on all the episodes from series three here:

Part 1: ‘George goes dairy farming’: 18 All-Ireland wins and 225 cows in Co. Cork

Part 2: ‘George goes dairy farming’: From first-time to full-time farming

Catch up on all the episodes from series two here: 

Part 1: ‘George goes dairy farming’: 1 couple; 2 farms; 3 kids; and 750 cows

Part 2: ‘George goes dairy farming’: Changing the game with sexed semen 

Part 3: ‘George goes dairy farming’: Winning in Wexford with heifer synchronisation programme

Part 4: ‘George goes dairy farming’: Achieving 38.4cpl and 3.94% protein with black & whites

Part 5: ‘George goes dairy farming’: From a Co. Louth dairy farm to the European Parliament

Catch up on all the episodes from series one here:

Part 1: ‘George goes dairy farming’: ‘We’ll go another row and see how we go; the land is there’

Part 2: ‘George goes dairy farming’: Using 50% Belgian Blue genetics in Co. Meath

Part 3: ‘George goes dairy farming’: Attention turns to breeding in Co. Meath and Co. Wexford

Part 4: ‘George goes dairy farming’: The right number of cows for the system in Co. Wexford

Part 5: ‘George goes dairy farming’: Calving down 200 cows in just 4 weeks in Co. Wexford

Part 6: ‘George goes dairy farming’: Tagging calves and a date with a spring-calving Meath farmer

Part 7: ‘George goes dairy farming’: Which system works best and why?

Learn More

For more information on AgriNet HerdApp, just click here.

Additionally, for more information on Progressive Genetics, click here.