The 2024 Ballyhaise open day took place today (Wednesday, July 24) at Ballyhaise Agricultural College, Co. Cavan, where the theme of the day was 'futureproofing Irish dairy farms'.

Seeing as the Teagasc National Farm Survey results were released yesterday, it seemed fitting to talk through ways of futureproofing your farm and finding ways to be more efficient, while reducing costs.

Principal of the agricultural college, John Kelly, opened up the day by highlighting how important open days as such are for farmers to ask questions, raise concerns and learn about new methods for their own farm.

Kelly emphasised that at the college, they "harmonise rich biodivesity and watercourses with advanced grassland and forestry production systems".

The first stand was hosted by Teagasc's Brendan Horan and Helena Walsh, where they talked attendees through the successful establishment of white clover on a challenging soil type.

There were two methods taken to incorporate the clover - through a complete reseed and over-sowing, with white clover content being far superior in the reseed (30%), rather than the over-sown method (14%).

There was a significant reduction seen in chemical nitrogen (N) usage and there was an increase in pasture production, which improved milk solids production.

As there was such extensive reseeding done on the farm, there was a significant reduction in winter feed production - therefore, additional reserves of winter feed are required.

At the second stand, Teagasc's Patrick Gowing and the head of Dairy Knowledge Transfer, Dr. Joe Patton talked about the trends in physical and financial performance on dairy farms.

The cost structure on dairy farms has seen a significant change in the last 10 years, which was highlighted by Gowing and Dr. Patton.

Gowing outlined the importance of cost control on every dairy farm, while Patton emphasised how pasture converted to milk solids is still the main driver of margin.

At the stand, it was highlighted that increasing the amount of concentrates will not drive margin, and that the higher margin farms had an increase of 480kg grass intake/cow.

The next stand saw a display on the recommended practices to establish white clover in grazing swards, which was hosted by Teagsasc's Áine Murray and Alastair Pollock.

This was compared a full reseed to over-sowing, which was followed by post-sowing management and controlling the weeds within the swards.

Teagasc's Joseph Murphy and Owen McPartland discussed the grass review of spring 2024.

The main topics of discussion at the stand were making enough high quality silage, the importance of pasture quality on milk composition, and the importance of a good grazing infrastructure.

The final stand on the day highlighted the importance of a modern breeding strategy in order to achieve a high profit dairy system, which the Irish Cattle Breeding Society's (ICBF) Margaret Kelleher and Tegasc's Anthony Mulligan discussed.

Kelleher outlined the National Genotyping Programme, sexed semen and the increase in dairy-beef straws being used, while Mulligan spoke about taking advantage of the Dairy Beef Index (DBI) to produce high Commercial Beef Value (CBV) calves.

Attendees were then exposed to some farm statistics and figures at the end of the walk, where farm manager John Joe Collins answered any questions that onlookers had.

To round off the day, attendees were invited to join a farmer panel discussion where the topic was 'farming in partnership'.

Chairing the panel discussion was Teagasc's James Dunne, where he was joined by two young couples who have began their journey farming in partnership.

Padraig, Martin and Niamh Connaughton are farming in a family farm partnership in Co. Longford, while Michael and Sarah Malone are farming in a partnership with a fellow dairy farmer in a share farming arrangement in Co. Roscommon.

The discussion was designed to enlighten farmers on succession and to show the future career paths available for young dairy farmers.

The forum went on to address the difficulties that were involved for the two partnerships, how they were set up, and how they are operating.

Head of the Animal and Grassland Research and Innovation programme, Dr. Laurence Shalloo wrapped up the day by talking about the challenging year the dairy sector has faced and that engaging in such events is very important.

"Having days like this is important to converse, and talk about the problems and the solutions," Dr. Shalloo added.