What did we learn?
The dust has now settled on the Dairy Open Day 2021 at Moorepark in Co. Cork, and now is a good time to reflect on what we learned.
Teagasc did not reveal any groundbreaking new research that is going to solve all the issues facing the Irish dairy sector.
Instead, it was very much about ‘back to the basics’ and getting the simple things right.
We learnt that Irish dairy farmers have one of the lowest carbon footprints: The Irish dairy sector carbon footprint is at 0.99kg C02/kg FPCM (kg of carbon dioxide equivalents/kg of fat and protein corrected milk).
Clover
If you are involved in the Irish dairy sector and have not heard ‘clover’ mentioned, you have done very well.
Clover was once again one of the main topics of discussion at the dairy open day, with the environmental, production and economic benefits of it highlighted once more.
On more than one occasion at the event, it was noted how clover can reduce the need for chemical nitrogen (N), particularly from June onwards.
It was also noted that once managed correctly, this reduced N application had very little impact on growth rates of these swards.
One of the demonstrations attendees would have seen at Moorepark was the clover growth trails – Teagasc advisors showed the growth rates from two clover swards.
Each plot was divided into a high-N and low-N plot. The high-N areas received 20 units of N/ac, with the low-N areas receiving 10 units of N/ac from June onwards per round.
