Aidan Brennan

Dublin, Ireland

Dairy Editor at Irish Farmers Journal

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Articles

Farm succession: how one Cork farmer stepped down but not out of his farm

3 days ago | farmersjournal.ie | Aidan Brennan

In last weeks’ report from the sharemilking open day at Shinagh in west Cork, we outlined the arrangement between the landowners Shinagh Estates and sharemilker Kerry Desmond. Kerry described sharemilking as being the perfect option for him: “I enjoyed milking the cows on the farm that I was managing before, but I always said I’d prefer if they were my own. It’s definitely a different feeling milking my own cows now,” he says.
Dairy Trends: GDT drops by 1.6% as powder prices wobble

3 days ago | farmersjournal.ie | Aidan Brennan

Whole milk powder (WMP) prices took one of the biggest hits in price at this week’s Global Dairy Trade (GDT) auction, falling in price by 3.7%. The overall GDT index fell in price by 1.6% this week, following a 0.9% decline at the previous auction. This means that the GDT has fallen by 2.5% over the last month, which is just over half of the gain made at the second-last auction, where it increased by a big 4.6%.
Succession: leasing versus sharemilking

3 days ago | farmersjournal.ie | Aidan Brennan

In last weeks’ report from the sharemilking open day at Shinagh in west Cork, we outlined the arrangement between the landowners Shinagh Estates and sharemilker Kerry Desmond. Kerry described sharemilking as being the perfect option for him: “I enjoyed milking the cows on the farm that I was managing before, but I always said I’d prefer if they were my own. It’s definitely a different feeling milking my own cows now,” he says.
Dairy Management: managing stemmy grass paddocks

3 days ago | farmersjournal.ie | Aidan Brennan

Grass: This is a difficult time of the year to manage grass. On some farms grass is scarce because not enough rain has fallen, while on other farms too much rain has fallen and that’s causing different problems. Aside from all of that, grass wants to go to seed now regardless and that means quality is going to suffer because seed heads and stem replaces the nice lush leaves that grow when grass is in the vegetative state.
Top AI bull drops 200 places on EBI list

1 week ago | farmersjournal.ie | Aidan Brennan

Tankardsrock Teak - whose AI code is FR7929 - has suffered a major crash in economic breeding index (EBI), based on the latest evaluation by the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF). The NCBC-owned bull was the highest EBI bull in the country at the previous evaluation in March and was the most used AI bull in the 2024 season. His new EBI is €287, down from €370 in March, meaning he drops from first to 202nd position on the active bull list.
Generating a 27% return from sharemilking

1 week ago | farmersjournal.ie | Aidan Brennan

For Cork farmer Kerry Desmond, becoming a sharemilker on Shinagh’s Gurteen Farm was the next logical step in his career. Hailing from a beef farm near Bandon, when Kerry left school he didn’t really know what he wanted to do next, but knew he liked farming, so began working on a dairy farm. Two years after, he started his formal agricultural training in Clonakilty and four years later, he qualified as a trained farm manager.
Dairy Trends: falling milk supplies across Europe

1 week ago | farmersjournal.ie | Aidan Brennan

It was another steady week on the dairy scene, with only very marginal changes in price. The main mover was butter, which increased in price by €100/t to hit €7,220/t. There are more price rises to come in butter over the coming months if the futures are anything to go by, with €7,400 to €7,500/t available for June and July deliveries.
Milk League: west Cork co-ops top the April league

1 week ago | farmersjournal.ie | Aidan Brennan

Most of the co-ops held milk price for April deliveries, which is the first of the big milk months, accounting for over 11% of annual supplies. Only a handful of co-ops cut milk price. Kerry Dairy Ireland was one of those and so it drops out of division one, but is at the top of division two for April. This means it is just the four west Cork co-ops that are in division one for April, paying an average price of €6.887/kg MS, which is 19c/kg ahead of the average price for April.
Dairy Management: pica, sharemilking and reseeds

1 week ago | farmersjournal.ie | Aidan Brennan

PicaIt seems to be a year for pica problems, with increased reports of cows eating stones and bits of plastic over recent weeks. It’s a symptom of a phosphorus deficiency, and it usually presents itself after a period of very high or low growth rates. The problem is linked with a number of other problems such as acidosis. Needless to say it’s not good, so action needs to be taken if cows are showing signs of pica.
Dairy management: unsettled weather for the week ahead

1 week ago | farmersjournal.ie | Aidan Brennan

For many farmers in the southern part of the country, unsettled weather is not what they want to hear. For those that got little or no rain last week, they are looking for a settled period of wet weather in order to replenish soil moisture deficits. Last week at the Shinagh owned Gurteen farm open day in west Cork, farm manager Kerry Desmond was planning to start feeding silage this week as growth rates were crashing and the farm was visibly burning up.