The Teagasc Moorepark Open Day took place this week with a large crowd of dairy farmers and people from industry in attendance in Fermoy, Co. Cork.

This year’s event saw many international farmers also attending, and a major focus was on sustainability.

But there was also concern among farmers regarding the nitrates derogation which could be reduced from 250kg of organic nitrogen (N)/ha to 220kg of organic N/ha.

One dairy farmer from Co. Wicklow said this could cost him 13 cows and €40,000/year.

Moorepark 2023

The theme of this year’s one-day event was ‘Securing a Sustainable Future’, with many farmers attending the event concerned about the future of their farms.

Speaking at the Moorepark Dairy Open Day, Teagasc director Professor Frank O’Mara said: “Dairy farmers had a good year in 2022 but there are challenges this year with the adjustment in the price of milk.

“There are huge levels of engagement from farmers with the available technologies on display to help them to maximise their competitiveness while at the same time to reduce their emissions, protect water bodies and improve biodiversity on their farms.

“On this farm here in Moorepark, there have been over 4km of new hedgerows planted in recent years and 3ha of woodlands.

“Nationally, farmers reduced their nitrogen fertiliser use by 14% last year, and farmers are adopting the technologies to further reduce chemical nitrogen by incorporating white and red clover into their farming systems and by using low emission slurry spreading techniques to optimise the efficient use of nutrients in animal manures.”

Sustainability

Pressure on the dairy sector appears to be coming from a number of directions, but the sector is very much up for the challenge it appears.

Dairy farmers, for the most part, are adopting many of the measures that are needed to lower emissions from the sector.

The carbon footprint of Irish milk is one of the lowest in the world; based on national activity data from 2017-2019, the average dairy carbon footprint was 0.97kg carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e)/kg of fat and protein corrected milk (FPCM).

When the carbon sequestration is included in the calculation this figure is closer to 0.86kg CO2e/kg FPCM.

*Deirdre Hennessy, lecturer in sustainable agriculture, University College Cork at Moorepark 2023*

Analysis based on 2022 data suggests the footprint has reduced to 0.93kg CO2e/kg FPCM and with more representative Irish emission factors is 0.86kg CO2e/kg FPCM, according to analysis from Teagasc.

When sequestration is included, this figure will be closer to 0.61kg CO2e/kg FPCM.

But water quality and nitrates were also a big concern among many of those in attendance.

But again, farmers in attendance were reminded that improving water quality is a long process involving increased uptake in measures such as:

Using low emission slurry spreading (LESS);
Improving soil fertility;
Reducing crude protein percentage in concentrates;
Hedgerow management;
Strategic fertiliser use;
And more.

These were all highlighted to farmers as measures that they need to adopt and continue using to improve water quality and reduce emissions from their farms.

Grass

Grazed grass is key to the Irish dairy production systems and although stocking rates have increased on milking platforms, grass utilisation has not.

The target, according to Teagasc, is to have 70% of the cows’ diet from grazed grass – which equates to 265 days at grass.

But as many farms are not achieving this and stocking rates have increased – the additional cows means increased purchased-in feed requirements.

*Overall (*green area) *and milking platform (*yellow area) stocking rate (SR) for farms growing various levels of pasture on the milking platform (t DM/ha). The red area reflects SR in excess of marginal levels where no additional pasture is utilised and the entire requirements of the additional animals are supplied from outside the system
*Source: Teagasc*

It was noted that milking-platform stocking rates can be higher than overall farm stocking rates if silage can be harvested from out-blocks.

However, that milking-platform stocking rate should not be pushed too far.

The advice here is very much to determine the amount of grass you can grow on your farm and stock it accordingly.

Brendan Horan from Teagasc speaking at the Moorepark Open Day

High milking-platform stocking rates can work on some farms, but for many it may actually be increasing cows and lowering overall farm profitability.

Breeding

The economic breeding index (EBI) has revolutionised breeding within the Irish dairy herd since its introduction over 20 years ago.

It will still continue to play a key role in breeding plans on the majority of Irish dairy farms, but with the recent increase in sexed-semen usage, has placed a major focus on beef from dairy.

Although the use of sexed semen should result in higher genetic merit females being born on Irish dairy farms, the beef from the dairy herd cannot be forgotten.

Siobhan Ring from ICBF speaking at the Moorepark Open Day

In the coming year the potential is that 70% of calves from the dairy herd could be from beef sires.

This means that farmers should ensure they use tools such as the Dairy Beef Index (DBI) when selecting beef sires.

The advice from Siobhan Ring from the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) at Moorepark was to select beef sires with a beef sub-index higher than €80 for Friesian cows and €100 for cows with Jersey genetics.

Working week

The working hours on dairy farms were also highlighted at Moorepark 2023. A study conducted by Teagasc determined that 25% of the most time-efficient farmers worked on average 51 hours/week.

The key areas that researcher Conor Hogan said farmers could look at between February and June was milking start and finish time, along with calf care.

Calf care can take up to 20% of dairy farmers’ time during this period, and it was noted that automatic calf feeders are covered under the new Targeted Agricultural Moderation Scheme (TAMS).

Milking accounted for 31% of dairy farmers’ time during this period, with key areas to look at improving this being:

Milking start time;
One person milking during mid-lactation;
Milker not leaving the pit during milking;
Using quad or jeep to herd cows;
Being able to operate gates from anywhere in the pit and automatic clusters removers.

It was noted that farmers need a life outside the farm and that although a normal working week may not be achievable, there are a number of ways to shorten working hours.

Moorepark 2023

Sustainability

Grass

Breeding

Working week

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