MILK SALES DOWN €230/COW!

• As if you didn’t know, costs are up and milk price is down significantly in 2026 compared with 2025.
• Milk price for April was down 13-16c/L from 2025 – a massive decrease!
  • That means that most farmers’ milk cheques in April were down over €90 to €110 per cow from 2025.
• Based on a survey, I find that up to the end of March, milk price, on average, was down from 63.14c/L to 46.9c/L, a drop of 16.24c/L from 2025 to 2026.
  • As most farmers will sell 800L/cow during the first three months of the year, that means their milk receipts will be down over €130 per cow.
  • Believe it or not, some farmers got 8-9c/L less than others for their April milk.
• That means that dairy farmers’ milk sales are down over €230/cow by the end of April.
• I bring this to your attention so that you can make a plan now to manage your finances to year end.

TARGETS FOR JUNE

You are underperforming if you are not achieving the following standards in June:

• A milk drop of less than 2% to 2.5% from week to week. This is achieved by having adequate, quality, grazing grass.
• A post-grazing height of 4cm to 4.25cm (use plate metre to confirm).
• razing quality grass (80+% DMD) by grazing covers of 1,300kg to 1,600kg DM/ha.
• 55% of your annual nitrogen (N) used by the second week of June.
• Less than 20% of the paddocks have tall grass (dung pads).
• 80% of your silage made by late June.
• All slurry tanks empty by late June.
• Your somatic cell count (SCC) is less than 120,000.
• Your total bacteria count (TBC) is less than 15,000.
• 90% of your cows are confirmed in calf by scanning before July 1.
• All heifers must be in calf.
• On target to have less than 10% of cows calving in April next year.
• Use high EBI bulls or short gestation bulls.
• Cows should be on 1kg to 1.5kg meals; if feeding 2kg, you will be feeding over 900kg in the full year.
• Calves on weight target, on no meals.
• In calf heifers must weigh 350kg to 380kg.

GRASS MANAGEMENT IN JUNE

• The targets for quality grazing grass in June are:
  • Pre-grazing cover (PGC) 1,300kg to 1,500 kg DM/ha but it depends on stocking rate as per Table 1.
  • Overall average farm cover (AFC) should be 160kg to 180kg DM/ha
  • Rotation length should be 20-21 days.
  • Graze out to 4cm.
  • Less than 20% tall grass area in paddock.
  • Allow for grass intakes of 18kg to 19kg DM/cow/day.
• Based on past PPI yearly data, over 70% of farmers have had too much grass available for grazing in early June, having both high PGCs and AFCs. Options to be considered should be:
  • Remove paddocks for baled silage or,
  • If badly grazed out, paddocks must be topped low to 2.5 inches so as to set up quality grass for next rotation or,
  • Defer some paddocks for later cutting for silage or,
  • Reduce meal feeding levels or.
• Table 1 gives the target covers to aim at on the grazing area.

Table 1: Pre-grazing covers and average farm covers for various stocking rates.

* Stocking rate x daily allowance x rotation length + post-grazing height

** Stocking rate x recommended cover per livestock unit.

• If stocking rate is greater than 3.5 cows/ha and assuming growth rate of 65kg DM/ha/day, and a 21-day rotation, then 1kg to 1.5kg meal/cow/day will have to be fed.
  • If stocked at four cows/ha (grossly over stocked), then you need to feed 3.5kg meal/cow/day to match a growth rate of 65kg/day.
• If pre-grazing covers (PGC) and average farm covers (AFC) are greater than specified above, then take out the strong paddock for baled silage.
• If PGC are greater than specified but AFC is below target (some farmers at present), be careful before you take out the strong paddock.
• The big message is to graze covers appropriate to your stocking rate but never above 1,600kg.
• Measuring grass, even twice per week, is the most important task in ensuring adequate quality grass availability.
• As topping is effectively wasting grass or utilising less of the grass grown, we must avoid topping as an option. How?
  • Many farmers are now using a disc-mower (instead of toppers) to manage their grazing to very high-quality levels by cutting out ‘strong paddocks’ for baled silage.
• When the PGC is higher than your target, then that paddock must be cut for baled silage within two to three days of its due grazing date.
  • This material should be cut, very low at 3.5cm, tedded or left in small rows for wilting, then bagged.
• This silage will be very good quality:
  • It will be 80%+ DMD and should be labelled and fed to milking cows when grazed grass is tight and in February after calving.
  • Aim to have two bales/cow of this material for dry farms and four bales/cow in wet land/long winter situations so as to reduce your autumn-spring meal bill – this has been achieved in May this year by most farmers.
    • Apply 1,000 gallon`s of slurry for every four bales of silage removed.
  • This material will be nearly as good as meal and will only cost half as much.
• The following are the nitrogen (protected urea) recommendations for June (two rotations) grass, based on clover content:
  

  	Urea + S (kg N/ha)	Units/acre	Urea (kg N/ha/year)
  No clover	28	23	212*
  5% clover	20	16	175
  10% clover	15	12	150
  15% clover	10	8	130
  20% clover	Soiled water		105

*Note: Chemical N can be increased to 230kg N/ha/year in paddocks with no clover as long as the whole farm N does not exceed 212kgN/ha/year.

• Because of outside parcels of land being understocked, more N than specified here should be applied on the milking platform (MP); but stay within the overall farm N limit of 212kg N/ha.
• On sulphur-deficient farms, you will get a response of 10% to 50% more grass by spreading 5-10 units/acre of sulphur in June.

FINISH BREEDING IN JUNE

• You must be on the ball with heat detection in June as a missed heat will cost you €250.
  • It could be much greater (€800 to €1,000) if it results in the cow not in-calf.
• This period of reproductive management is all about using the records to guide heat expectations and subsequent actions.
• If you are having a lot of repeats, the possible causes of the problem may be some or all the following:
  • Cows are being underfed due to tight grazing, shortage of grass, stemmy grass, letting cows out directly after milking onto 12-hour grazing block or very wet conditions.
  • Cows are too thin or losing weight.
  • Bad semen (infertile bull – check in your discussion group if any particular bull is causing more repeats).
  • Cows under stress due to lameness, mastitis, lack of water, stray electricity (don’t underestimate), health issues (IBR, BVD, neospora, leptospirosis, fluke).
  • Cows are under stress on service day or when the heat was due.
  • Service procedure was poor (never presume you or your technician are perfect AI men). Over 70 % of repeat service must be between day 18 and 24.
  • Herd is infertile for the yields expected is a major issue,
  • Minerals may be a problem (could be iodine, copper, selenium or cobalt).
• Cows being served in June will calve from March 11 to April 10 next year.
• Do everything within your power to have all cows in calf in June.
  • Use short gestation Friesian bulls in June.
  • Use short gestation Angus or Hereford beef AI bulls.
• Scan all cows 30 days after mating start date (MSD)
  • Why? You will identify non-pregnant cows and weak pregnancies. Then, with records you can resynchronise them and they will be bred 10 days later.
  • This scanning takes place once/week for three week, as follows for an MSD of May 1:
    • June 6: (37days post MSD) all cows served week one of AI.
    • June 13: (44 days post MSD) all cows served week two of AI.
    • June 20: (51 days post MSD) all cows served week three of AI.
    • Records will help you with this beneficial task, but you need a highly competent scanner.
• Managing stock bull – I don’t recommend them as they are an excuse for opting out of heat detection and carry a huge risk of more cows calving in late April/May (the target for April calving = 10%).
  • You need one young bull for every 10 empty cows or one mature bull for every 25 empty cows (very expensive).
  • Rotate bulls every 24 hours.
  • He must: have had all the necessary vaccines; not be lame; have a footbath on arrival; and be fertility tested.
  • To avoid the ‘lull’ in calving after the introduction of the bulls continue AI-ing for 10-14 days after introducing the bull until fewer than two cows/day need to be served by the bull.
• Vasectomised bulls are very useful, but it is too late now to get one but if you have one he should not be used when more than two cows/100-cow herd/day are on heat.
  • You must use a chin-ball on him – top up the paint regularly.
  • Reduce injuries by training him with the heifers.
  • Remove him when the synchronised group of females are due to repeat.
  • Young bulls court cows 24 hours before standing heat, marking them on the side – the marking must be on the top of the back.

MAKE ENOUGH SILAGE

• Because of the long winter, silage pits on most intensively farmed farms were empty going into this year’s silage-making season.
• A lot of high-quality silage was made in May this year but the yield per acre was low. This put pressure on to get heavier second cuts.
  • We usually get 15-16 tonnes (t)/acre of silage from two cuts of silage. Usually, the first cut is 9t to10t followed by a light second cut, but it will be reversed this year,
  • Therefore, it is important to have adequate fertiliser on for the second cut; two to three bags of 0:7:30 and 70-80 units of N. Top up in early June if necessary.
• The second cut must take place six to eight weeks after the first cut.
  • Cut it in dry weather; a few days’ delay doesn’t make much of a difference.
  • Use an additive if sugars are low. Get a refractometer to confirm sugar levels – co-ops also do same, as does Teagasc.
• You must have 80% of your silage (first cut) in the pit before the end of June.
  • In a year of high silage making costs, refrain from making too much baled silage as it is very expensive.
• Over the last few years, we have had fewer fish kills due to silage effluent, let’s keep it that way by collecting all effluent. The consequences of being responsible for a fish kill are great.
• Bare silage fields provides an ideal opportunity to empty all slurry tanks:
  • Last real chance to spread large quantities of slurry.
  • Spread 2,000-3,000 gallons per acre immediately after silage has been cut and apply the nitrogen (65units/acre) six to seven days later (never, ever apply the nitrogen before slurry because N losses will be great)
  • Dilute slurry in tanks with water to minimise loss of ammonia to the atmosphere and increase the efficiency of nitrogen to grow more grass.
  • No one should be using a splashplate to spread slurry in this era.
  • Slurry gas kills without giving you any warning, so be extremely careful when agitating by keeping children, other adults, animals and yourself out of the house during agitation.

PREVENT HOOSE/STOMACH WORMS

• I am not a believer of the ‘kill all parasites’ solution to parasite control; my approach is to let the animal build up some immunity.
• For hoose, you should not dose calves until a few of the strong calves start to cough. Then dose all calves with a white or yellow dose.
  • This bestows immunity to the calf, and he/she will not usually get hoose again in its lifetime.
• For stomach worms, dose all calves in late June/early July with a white or yellow dose, leave them in same field for a few days and then move to aftergrass.
  • As stomach worm infection is predictable, they could get re-infected if they are not kept on clean pastures; that is, fields that didn’t have calves grazing yet this year.
  • Rotate them round the aftergrass as long as possible, and no dose will be necessary during this period.
  • If you then practice the leader-follower system with the R2s, there will be no need for a further dose until housing. Having the older heifers in the system will increase growth over the summer 0.2kg/day because the calves will be getting the best of the grass (top of leaf) where no parasites live.
• If bulling heifers or first calvers show symptoms of hoose (coughing) or stomach worms (sticky dung around tail head) they will have to be dosed.
• Late or small calves: use the ‘buddy-buddy’ system to rear them.
  • Pair two calves together in several cow paddocks and leave them there for the remainder of the summer (10 calves require five paddocks)
  • They will get a fantastic thrive because they will be eating fantastic quality grass all the time with no exposure to parasites. Therefore, no dosing or meal required.

FIVE S RULE TO STAY SUN SAFE

• Skin cancer is a major problem among farmers and the wider Irish community, and so I list the Health Service Executive’s (HSE’s) SunSmart 5S rule to prevent skin cancer:
  • SLIP on clothing that covers your skin, such as long sleeves, and collared t-shirts.
  • SLOP on broad spectrum suncream on exposed areas, using factor 30+ for adults and 50+ for children. No suncream can provide 100% protection; it should be used alongside other protective methods, such as clothing and shade.
  • SLAP on a wide-rimmed hat to protect your face, ears, and neck.
  • SEEK shade, especially if outdoors between 11am and 3pm, and always use a sun shade on a child’s buggy.
  • SLIDE on sunglasses to protect your eyes.
• Visit www.cancer.ie for information on causes, signs and symptoms of skin cancer.

Bits and pieces

• Water: Cows require 95-200L/cow/day, depending on the moisture content of the feed, the quality of the water, sunshine, and milk yield per cow.
  • The flow rate should be 14L/cow/hour.
  • 100 cows require 1,400L/hour (100x14) or 25L/minute.
• Drought may be affecting some very ‘light’ soil farmers. What are the options?
  • Use weather forecasts and draw on your own previous experiences with drought.
  • Graze down to 400kg DM of an AFC before introducing silage.
  • Keep the rotation length at 30 days depending on the deficit of grass in the diet from that allocation, introduce more meal and silage.
  • PKE has been successfully fed in mobile troughs in such situations in the past.
  • Make sure to graze out to 4cm.
  • If little or no growth occurred from last grazing, do not apply any N; but wait until rain is forecast,
• Target weights (kg) on June 1 for replacements must drive your management.

• Any animal under these weights must be separated out and get priority grass or be fed 1-2kg meal.
• Dose for worms and move to aftergrass.

• The IBR annual vaccine may be due in June/July.
• Consider one of the forage crops listed in table 2 – particularly important for farmers with low levels of winterfeed.

Table 2: Summary of forage crop management

• Change milk liners at 2,000 milkings.
  • If you have eight rows being milked twice per day, then each liner does 16 milkings per day. Therefore, you will need to change liners after 125 days (2,000 divided by 16) or 4.25 months.
• Milk recording.
  • You should now have at least two recordings done.
  • Make full use of the information to cull chronically infected cows because of the damage they are doing, by spreading infection, to your herd – you need to be clinical on this decision!
• Clover (the less nitrogen you apply on clover fields (or none at all) the more clover will grow.
  • It is vital and really important that farmers sow and manage clover so that it is a major part of our grassland farming in Ireland,
  • Graze out paddocks really well,
  • In clover-rich fields, to avoid bloat, allow the cows a small area of the paddock when they go out so that they do not ‘gorge’ themselves with a clover feed, because they will eat all the clover first. Then, allow them the remainder of the paddock.
  • Let all the cows into the paddock together.

Quote of the month

“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, and the second-best time is now.”