The annual Irish Grassland Association (IGA) Dairy social night and conference is set to go ahead on Tuesday, January 7 and Wednesday, January 8 in the Charleville Park Hotel, Co. Cork.
On the Tuesday at the social night, former IGA president and dairy farmer Paul Hyland will chat to two very interesting individuals on their different journeys into dairying.
Michael Ward, a successful businessman from Co. Roscommon and Christopher Cahill recently who was crowned FBD young farmer of the year will share their experiences.
The conference takes place the following day on Wednesday in the same venue, with an exciting line up of speakers for this year’s conference, addressing key issues affecting dairy farmers.
The title for this year’s conference is ‘Can you make profit easier’, with the various sessions addressing farm profitability and more efficient work practices.
With Yara being main sponsor, Eva Ross from Yara said “We are proud to be a long-standing supporter of the Dairy Conference as productivity and sustainability continues to be a fine balancing act during a time of squeezed margins and environmental challenges.”
IGA social night
Ward will be talking about his experiences being a civil engineer by profession, and now a farmer.
He owns one third of the ‘Ward and Burke Group’ that will construct €500 million worth of municipal infrastructure in Canada, USA, England and Ireland in 2024.
He owns Kilbegnet House Farm in Creggs, Co. Roscommon where he operates a 500-cow dairy herd with his share farming partner, Andrew Clarke. He grew up on a mixed dairy, beef, and sheep farm which he inherited with his brother.
Christopher Cahill will also share his thoughts and experiences as a man who hails from Co. Cavan who has picked up his Grá for dairying while helping on his uncle’s 45 cow dairy farm.
He completed the UCD dairy business degree, and subsequently a master’s degree in sustainable agriculture and spent time working in New Zealand milking cows.
He went on to work with Lakeland Agri for six years as an animal nutritionist and soon formed a farming partnership with Tony McCormack, a dairy farmer from Co. Westmeath where Christopher provides the cows and labour, while Tony provides the land and infrastructure.
IGA Dairy conference
In this first session Laurance Shalloo from Teagasc will set the scene for the dairy industry outlining the challenges that exist in relation to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, improving water quality, enhancing biodiversity on farms while at the same time improving the living standards of practicing farmers.
Joe Dean will join the discussion who is a dairy farmer originally from a 50ac dry stock farm in Trabolgan, east Cork.
Dean and his wife Laoise and family are milking 470 cows across three leased farms in 2024.
The next session will see Teagasc dairy advisor John McCabe detailing the key attributes that underpin a profitable dairy farm, examining the impact that lower grass growth had on dairy farms in 2024 and what can be learned from this experience.
Margaret Kelleher of ICBF will then present a paper on the value of improving the genetic potential of dairy herds and importantly how it can be achieved.
The final session will focus on helping farmers manage the spring workload more effectively with Conor Hogan a labour management specialist with Teagasc presenting his research on this topic.
Afterwards dairy farmers Maeve O’Keeffe and Jack Kearney will talk through how each of them mange and organise their farms during this busy period.