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2 days ago | 
farmersjournal.ie | Aidan Brennan
Up to Sunday night, there was no rainfall in any part of the country for the previous seven days, according to the Met Éireann agricultural data report. This is highly unusual because, more often than not, some part of the country would have received even 0.1mm of rain over the course of a week. When one considers that it's early May and not early July, it makes it all the more unusual.
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4 days ago | 
farmersjournal.ie | Aidan Brennan
Up to last night, there was no rainfall in any part of the country for the previous seven days, according to the Met Éireann agricultural data report. This is highly unusual because, more often than not, some part of the country would have received even 0.1mm of rain over the course of a week. When one considers that it's early May and not early July, it makes it all the more unusual.
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1 week ago | 
farmersjournal.ie | Aidan Brennan
With plentiful grass, the question on many farmers’ minds is how much meal should they be feeding? With a high milk price and a moderate concentrate price, the economics of meal feeding is weighing on people’s minds. The good news is that there is no need for pseudo-science when it comes to making these decisions around concentrate use during the summer months, as there is plenty of good science which allows farmers to make informed decisions.
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1 week ago | 
farmersjournal.ie | Aidan Brennan
MealLet there be no doubt about how profit is generated on Irish dairy farms. It is from converting high tonnages of grass per hectare into milk solids. The more grass that is utilised, the more profit that is made. As we see on pages 32 and 33, not all grass is the same, with a substantial difference in the amount of milk that can be produced from good grass, versus poor quality grass.
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1 week ago | 
farmersjournal.ie | Aidan Brennan
It was a mixed week for dairy markets this week. On the one hand, the Global Dairy Trade (GDT) auction had a really good result, with the index increasing in price by 4.6%. On the other hand, the prices achieved from the European spot market, based on market analysis, is that prices have fallen across the board. On the GDT, the star performer from a volume and price perspective was whole milk powder (WMP), which increased in price by a staggering 6.2% to reach €3,862/t, which is a big jump upwards.
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1 week ago | 
farmersjournal.ie | Aidan Brennan
1) Measure grass every five days when growth is strong. This is crucial as the situation on farm can change rapidly when growth rates are high. 2) Even if farmers don’t use PastureBase or other grass measurement tools the simple act of walking paddocks and counting how long before cows go into them will alert farmers of a surplus or deficit. 3) Ensure clean outs are at the target range of 3.5cm to 4cm post grazing heights. This is critical to ensure high quality swards in subsequent rotations.
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2 weeks ago | 
farmersjournal.ie | Aidan Brennan
It was a dull enough week on the dairy markets front, with no price change for butter on the European market. The current price of €7,260/t remains unchanged from last week and given that it’s a very high price and given the time of year, most producers will be happy to see it stay at that. Whole milk powder (WMP) took a small step forward, increasing in price by €15/t to €4,285/t. The price of WMP has been remarkably stable since autumn 2024, with only very slight price changes.
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2 weeks ago | 
farmersjournal.ie | Aidan Brennan
Nitrogen: After being a bit tight for grass last week, most farmers have too much grass this week. The growth spurt, which we haven’t seen for a few years, is certainly evident now and grass is hopping out of the ground. I would be expecting growth rates in the 90-100kg/ha/day zone for the next 10-14 days. Farmers will have to be skipping over paddocks for silage in order to keep on top of quality. In this week’s dairy pages, we take a look at nitrogen (N) fertiliser plans for the summer.
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2 weeks ago | 
farmersjournal.ie | Aidan Brennan
Milk prices in 2025 will be 10% higher than they were last year, according to Tirlán CEO Seán Molloy. Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal at the announcement of their results for 2024, Molloy said the co-op paid an average price of 52c/l including VAT and solids last year.
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2 weeks ago | 
farmersjournal.ie | Aidan Brennan
There has been a lot of movement in the league for March, as all of the out-of-season supports have been cut. So while only some co-ops cut base price, when these other payments are removed the real milk price was down for all suppliers. This means that Tirlán and Dairygold, which were in division one for February, are now back to division two for March. The four west Cork co-ops are once again top of the league after a brief hiatus.
