Arrabawn Ingredients Butter wins top spot
Bord Bia SDAS
Focus on Fertility - Drying Off

Guest Attendee on Representative Committee
Farming Smarter - Not Harder Open Day
Fertiliser and Soil Analysis

Arrabawn Open Day at Gurteen
Mastitis / SCC
Animal Feeding for the Autumn period
Autumn grassland management

Bord Bia SDAS
EU Milk Rejection Standards
Farm Walk at Pat and Eddie Kennedys

Arrabawn Milk Supplier of the Year
CellCheck Tip of the Month
AGM Brexit Report
Fertilizer for Summer Grass -2017

Winter Bonus Revised
Thermoduric Bacteria
Fresh Grass and Low Milk Protein
Grassland Weed Control - 2017

Arrabawn’s continued growth
Getting cows back in calf
Grassland Weed Control
Silage Mineral results and Fertility

All things breeding were discussed on John Armitage’s farm Cloughjordan last Wednesday, 29th March

Portfolio of Arrabawn Ingredients
Pasture Renewal
Greenvale Eazy Calver
Grassland Weed Control

Tyone Store - Official Opening
Looking after the Cow this Spring
Spring Grass

Tyone Store – Official Opening (Friday 10th February 2017 @ 11am)
Winter Milk Quality
Bord Bia SDAS Bonus
Dairy Feed – which one?

AHI Cellcheck Awards
Milk Quality - Mastitis and SCC
Annual review of Milk for Profit Development farms

Great Value on CPL Products

Origin Green Carbon Footprint Reduction Winner
Feeding and Breeding for Winter 2016
Drying Off
Transition Cow Minerals

The message was clear and simple for the 80+ suppliers that attended last month’s workshop at Michael Freeneys – We have to calve heifers down at 2 years old and then make sure that they calve down every 365 days thereafter. Why? To reduce costs and maximise profit. Rearing heifers to 2.5 years instead of 2 years costs an extra €10,000 (based on rearing 17 heifers) with the majority of this cost attributed to increased feed costs. To make matters worse when heifers calve down at 2.5 years they end up having a lower lifetime milk yield and take longer to get back in calf. Maintaining a 365 day calving interval is equally important to maximise profit.

A walk through the farm of John Dowd, Kilconly, Tuam, Co. Galway
Topics for discussion include:
Establishing goals based on current performance
Improving soil fertility to maximise grass growth
Achieving optimum heifer weights
Importance of financial planning for farm development

A walk through the farm of Seamus and Brian Molamphy, Castlelough, Portroe, Co. Tipperary
Topics for discussion include:
Establishing goals based on current performance
Increasing milk solids per cow
Achieving optimum heifer weights
Succession planning and partnership options

Development farm walks at John Dowds and Molamphys
What are Thermoduric Bacteria?
Focus on fertility - Drying Off

Over 160 farmers attended the milk quality seminar held in Nenagh last month. Our three speakers David Gleeson, Pamela Ruegg and John Penry are leading researchers in the fields of milk quality, mastitis and milking machines. David Gleeson gave a thorough presentation on wash routines and minimising residues in milk. Detergents should have less than 3.5% chlorine in order to minimise the risk of chlorine residues in milk. The most common wash failure on farms identified by Gleeson was the shortage of water used for the rinse cycle. 15L of water per unit should be used per unit for the rinse cycle. The use of peracetic acid was also advocated as an alternative steriliser to chloras.

Discussion of roadways, paddock layout, water and finances. To achieve maximum performance from cow’s, optimal covers (1,300-1,600kgDM/ha) of grass need to be consistently offered to the herd. This can only be realised if appropriate grazing infrastructure is installed.

Two workshops were held in late March aimed to prepare suppliers for the breeding season.