‘Making Dairy Farming More Sustainable’ is the theme for the 2018 Teagasc National Dairy Conference taking place next week.

The proceedings kick off this Tuesday (November 27) at the Rochestown Park Hotel, Co. Cork and again on Wednesday (November 28), at the Hodson Bay Hotel, Athlone, Co. Westmeath.

The objective of the conference will be to examine the opportunities for Irish grass-fed dairy products. In addition, speakers from Teagasc will highlight the lessons learned from the extreme weather events of 2018 and how to protect farm businesses from weather risks.

Most of the dairy farms across the country are reliant on grass to meet the feed demands of the herd and thus, research on the feeding value of grazed pasture will also be presented at the conference.

With the expansion of the national dairy herd, the numbers of calves born has naturally increased. As a result, the welfare of these calves is becoming more important.

Natalie Roadknight, from the University of Melbourne in Australia, will present a paper on ‘Managing all calves to a high-welfare standard: the Australian experience’.

Andrew Cromie from ICBF will give a presentation on the new Dairy-Beef Index, while Stephen Butler from Teagasc will talk about the role sexed semen can play in the industry.

Workshops

A series of workshops will also take place in the afternoon. These are designed to cover some very topical issues such as: fodder budgeting; contract heifer rearing; and labour.

Anyone attending the conference can select three workshops from the list below to attend:
  • Managing our GHG and ammonia emissions targets;
  • Grassland decisions made easy;
  • Coping with the spring workload;
  • Contract heifer rearing;
  • Building fodder reserves in 2019;
  • Making our dairy farms better places to work.

The event begins at 9:00am. Farmers and all involved in the industry are welcome to attend. To register for the event on Tuesday in Co. Cork, click here.

To attend the event on Wednesday in Co. Westmeath, just click here.