This article is from page 36 of the 2008-03-04 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 36 JPG
THE West County Hotel was the venue last week for the 2008 Teagasc clare Dairy Seminar.
The meeting was chaired by Paddy Rynne, Teagasc adviser, who opened the meeting by reflecting on what was an exceptionally good year for the dairy industry in 2007.
The seminar was designed as a fo- rum to now look forward to the pos- sibilities and indeed challenges for the future of the industry.
Teagasc Specialist, John Norris, gave an in-depth review on dairy farm returns in 2007 based on profit
monitor analysis which showed that net profit increased by an average of over 7 cents/litre. He also considers that the prospects for 2008 are very positive with the current price likely to be maintained and the possibility of a 2 per cent increase in quotas. He did however point out that costs are increasing and that this rise could be in the region of 2.5 cents/litre, so he cautioned farmers to keep a close eye on costs.
The second presentation of the evening was delivered by Don Crow- ley who focussed on the whole area of mastitis control and keeping so- matic cell counts (SCC) low, so as to
avoid penalties on milk price.
He stressed the importance of hav- ing machinery serviced annually, and highlighted the absolute necessi- ty to have liners changed every 2500 milking or at least twice a year.
Frank Buckley spoke about the cur- rent trial work that is ongoing in the area of crossbreeding the dairy herd, which involves mainly Holstein Frie- sian cows being crossed with Jersey and Norwegian Red.
He outlined what crossbreds were delivering in real terms especially in the whole area of fertility, and he said how this may well be a very real op- tion as a “quick fix” solution in herds
with extreme fertility problems.
The final speaker on the night was Aidan Bugler who outlined some of the urgent requirements for farm- ers under the nitrates directive. He pointed out that derogation farms (those over 1/Okgs Organic Nitro- gen per hectare) required fertiliser records to be completed for 2007 and returned to the Department of Agri- culture by the March 1.
These farms also require a fertiliser plan be prepared for 2008 showing the maximum amount of Phosphorus and Nitrogen that may be applied. This plan must be prepared by the March | and retained on farm.