'Farming for the Future: A sustainable future' explores the motivation family provides and the challenges and potential the dairy industry has in store.

Lakeland Dairies, Lakeland Dairies Agribusiness, and Agriland Media have teamed up for a brand new series, going behind the scenes on a farm with a spring-calving herd to showcase the busy, but rewarding, nature of dairy farming.

The series takes us to the Corrigan family dairy farm where Eoin Corrigan talks us through his farming system which he farms in partnership with his wife, Roisin, and his parents Sean and Catherine.

Calving down 275 cows might seem like a challenge, but for Eoin, the support of his team of staff and the support from his family makes the calving season that bit smoother.

There is no doubt that it is all guns blazing on the Corrigan farm at the moment, but Eoin believes that when you have the right people around you and people that motivate you, it makes the busy times a lot more rewarding.

In this episode, head of dairy knowledge transfer at Teagasc, Dr. Joe Patton talks about the challenges the dairy sector faces in the coming years and gives an insight into how the sector has moved from a period of expansion into a period of consolidation.

Patton also highlights what separates the best performing farmers from the bottom third, as he highlighted that there is a €800-900 margin/cow which can be attributed to the amount of grass the cow intakes, the amount of supplement fed, and having the right type of cow.

There is a lengthy discussion around the topic of generation renewal where Patton emphasised the importance of making the industry an attractive one for young people which has to be driven through an attractive family income.

He described dairy farming as "the ultimate working from home job" and that farmers need to find a better work-life balance, finding time off during the quieter times of the year.

Patton made it clear that dairy farming has a sustainable future and that getting the basics right can lead to more profitability/cow, and he said that being full-time in dairy is still the key to making a decent income.

Lakeland Dairies chairperson, Niall Mathews discusses the uncertainty around the nitrates derogation and acknowledged the improvement in water quality that farmers have achieved in the last number of months as the nitrates levels in water are at their lowest since 2018.

Mathews highlights that over 40% of their suppliers in the south of the country are in derogation and contribute to about 70% of their milk pool.

Making full use of the Farming for Water European Innovative Partnership (EIP) €60 million funding was also described as hugely important to improve water quality on each and every farm.

This EIP funding needs to be used up by farmers, and Eoin, who has the river Boyne running through his ground, is doing his bit by fencing away from the water course, implementing buffer zones, having adequate storage, and effluent and rainwater management.

However, Mathews said that momentum is changing and he expects more farmers to make use of this funding and for more farmers to do their part in protecting water quality as it is going to take everyone to pitch in.

Eoin also discusses the help he received from Lakeland Dairies when he was trying to get set up and line up his financials before he started milking cows in 2021.

The dairy farmer goes on to describe his innovative idea to use polytunnels as calf housing in the silage yard, meaning for six months the space is used for storing silage and for another six months, it is used for rearing calves.