Tel: 1890 47 47 20 | www.lakeland.ie | Twitter: @DairiesJPTOGETHER WE’RE STRONGER

July 2019

Celebrating high milk quality production

Lakeland is proud to put the efforts of our farmers at the centre

All the action from the Lakeland Dairies Milk Quality Awards > page 2

1

Eamon Duignan Head of Member Relations

At the Lakeland Dairies Milk Quality Awards, dairy farmers from North-ern Ireland the Republic of Ireland won were honoured for the excep-tionally high quality of milk pro-duced on their farms. The awards publicly recognise the achievements of Lakeland Dairies milk suppliers who are committed to quality in all aspects of their milk production. Winning a milk quality award is a truly excellent achievement.

The winners emerged from among 3,200 farm families who produce milk for the 1.8bn Lakeland Dairies milk pool.

The awards were presented by Mairead McGuinness MEP (Vice-President of the European Parlia-ment), with Lakeland Dairies Chair-man Alo Duffy and Group Chief Executive Officer Michael Hanley at a special event on Friday 28th June.

SUPREME MILK QUALITY AWARDAlan and Catherine Doak, Omagh, Co. Tyrone won the Lakeland Dair-ies Supreme Milk Quality Award. The Doaks also won the 0 - 1 Million

litres Northern Ireland milk produc-tion category, for the exceptional quality of their milk supply to Lake-land Dairies.

MILK QUALITY AWARD WINNERSJohn Anthony McNally of Drumroo Farm, Drumrooghill, Lisnalong, Co. Monaghan, won the 500,000+ li-tres milk production category. The runner-up in this category was John Malone, Walshestown, Mullingar, Co. Westmeath.

David Boyd and Trevor Keith from Glaslough, Co Monaghan won the 0-500,000 litres milk produc-tion category, closely followed by runner-up Patrick Reilly, Cammagh, Moyne, Co Longford.

SUSTAINABILITY AWARDPeter Robinson from Ballinagore, Co. Westmeath, won the Sustain-ability Category of the awards for outstanding commitment to sustain-able milk production.

NORTHERN IRELANDJ.B. McLean and Partners, Bush-mills, Co. Antrim, won the 1 million+ litres milk production category. The runners-up in this category were

B. S. and J. Johnston, Ballinamal-lard, Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh.

Alan and Catherine Doak, Omagh, Co. Tyrone won the 0-1 million litres category and were also crowned Supreme Milk Qual-ity Award Winners. The overall run-ners-up in the 0-1 million litres milk production category were Sean and Padraig McKee, Toomebridge, Co. Antrim.

NEW ENTRANTSIn the category for New Entrants to Dairy Farming, Ciaran Boylan, Shercock, Co. Cavan and Ian McClel-land Banbridge, Co. Down both won awards for exceptional milk quality.

COMMITTMENT TO EXCELLENCELakeland Dairies Chairman Alo Duffy paid tribute to all of the award winners: “Winning a quality award is something really special.

“The awards symbolise many years of commitment and hard work in achieving the highest possible standards of milk production.

Lakeland Dairies CEO Michael Hanley said: “Lakeland is proud to put the efforts of our farmers at the centre of our business.”

Dairy farmers Alan and Catherine Doak, Omagh, Co. Tyrone won the Lakeland Dairies Supreme Milk Quality Award. The Doaks also won the 0 - 1 Million litres Northern Ire-land milk production category, for the exceptional quality of their milk supply to Lakeland Dairies. Alan received the award from Mairead McGuiness MEP, Michael Hanley, left, CEO, Lakeland Dair-ies and Alo Duffy, Chairman, Lakeland Dairies, right.

Tyrone Farmer takes home Lakeland Dairies Supreme Milk Quality Award

Winning a quality award is something really special

2

Recognising milk production excellence

TOGETHER WE’RE STRONGER

At the Lakeland Dairies Milk Quality Awards, the prize for Republic of Ireland new entrant winner was the Boylans from Shercock, Co Cavan, pictured with Lakeland Dairies CEO Michael Hanley, MEP Mairéad McGuiness and Lakeland Dairies chair-man Alo Duffy.

David Boyd, winner in the 0-500,000 litres category, with Lakeland CEO Michael Hanley, MEP Mairéad McGuiness and Lakeland chairman Alo Duffy.

Ian McClelland from Banbridge, Co Down won the Northern Ireland new entrant category.

Runner-up in the 500,000+ litres category was John Malone, Mullingar, Co Westmeath.

The McLeans from Bushmills, Co Antrim won the one million+ litres category pictured with Lakeland CEO Michael Hanley, MEP Mairéad McGuiness and Lakeland chairman Alo Duffy.

The Reilly family from Moyne, Co Longford were runners-up in the 0-500,000 litres category.

The Robinsons from Ballinagore, Co Westmeath, won the Sustainability Category.

Runners-up in the 0-1 million litres production cat-egory the McKees, Co. Antrim pictured with Lakeland CEO Michael Hanley, MEP Mairéad McGuiness and Lakeland chairman Alo Duffy.

The McNally family from Lisnalong, Co Monaghan won the 500,000+ litres category pictured with Lake-land CEO Michael Hanley, MEP Mairéad McGuiness and Lakeland chairman Alo Duffy.

The runners-up in the one million+ litres category was the Johnston family, Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh.

3

TOGETHER WE’RE STRONGER

With favourable weather condi-tions over the last number of weeks, growth rates remained steady across the Lakeland region.

For the week ending 5 July growth rates on our Grasswatch farms are in the range of 59kg dry matter per hectare per day (DM/ha/day) to 104kg DM/ha/day.

This has provided a great oppor-tunity to remove surpluses as baled silage which has been happening on all our Grasswatch farms.

GRASS QUALITYFrom our visits to farms over the month of June we have encountered one common scenario which is hav-ing an impact on the farms perfor-mance

Scenario: Cows were grazing covers of 1,700 – 2,000+ which had a lot of stem present. Cows were unable to graze these paddocks out cleanly and the energy levels in this grass were low.

As a result, milk yields are de-pressed by 1 litre to 2 litres /cow/day and milk protein percentage is de-pressed by 0.1% of what is possible for the herd.

A further consequence is that

RULES WHEN GROWTH IS GOOD1 Shorten rotation length to match

growth rates. 16-18 days when growth rates up at 80kgs DM/Ha.

2 Increase demand by matching sup-plementation levels to farm grass supply.

3 Remove surpluses in the form of bales. Remove immediately to en-sure ground is coming back into the rotation.

4 Continue to apply fertiliser as per the recommendation outlined be-low.

RULES WHEN GROWTH IS SLOW1 Rotation length – this should be

held at 20 – 25 days (5% - 4% of the milking platform to graze per day).

2 If grass supply is scarce and growth rates are slow, DO NOT graze more than 5% of the grazing plat-

form on a daily basis.3 Introduce concentrates when the

grass deficit is small and/or forage in cases with larger deficits.

4 Topping paddocks should be a last resort a

5 12-hour grass allocations will be required again to ensure correct grass allocations and to ensure good clean-out in the paddocks.

6 Keep fertiliser applications up-to-date.

Each month we will take a look at how farmers can help reduce our Greenhouse Gas emmission footprint. This month we look at slurry.

Low emission slurry spreading or LESS machines, eg trailing shoe and dribble bar, retain more N on farm to grow more grass.

The LESS machines retains three more units of Nitrogen per 1,000 gallons of slurry verus the tradition splash plate machines.

This equates to a 30% to 50% improvement in the slurry value due to lower ammonia-N emissions.

Teagasc reserach has shown that cows prefer to graze LESS spread pastures due to lower grass contamination. Another benefit is allowing the interval between slurry spreading and grazing to be reduced.

Advice for the futureUse contractors with trailing shoe or dribble bar

tankers or umbilical systems to retain as much nitrogen out of the slurry as possible.

If you are considering buying a new slurry tanker, buy a tanker with a trailing shoe or dribble bar attached.

Use the Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Scheme, or TAMS, capital investment to avail of a 40% grant or 60% grant for a young qualified farmers.

Low-emission slurry spreadingDealing with varying grass growth

Grasswatch

grass quality on the next rotation will be poor as paddocks were not being grazed out fully. In some cases, these paddocks will have been topped, which will improve the quality of the regrowths provided the paddock is topped low enough to remove the stem.

In this scenario, where no top-ping or removal of surplus grass as silage has occurred, grass quality will remain poor for a longer period.

There is no option but to top these paddocks after their next graz-

ing or to close a number of them, stocking rate dependent, for silage (this will be easier if some of the first cut silage area is back in the system). Cows grazing these paddocks will need higher levels of supplementa-tion for a longer period as the energy content in these paddocks with a lot of stem will be quite low.

With varying growth rates it is critically important that you con-tinue to walk the farm on a weekly basis to quickly identify a surplus or deficit.

FERTILISER APPLICATIONSThe rates of nitrogen detailed in the table above are the recommended spreading rates for July. As always farms should adhere to the upper limits of the nitrates directive.

Stocking rate (cows/ha) July (units/ac)

2.0–2.4 14

2.4–2.9 19

2.9–3.2 23

3.2–3.9 25

3.9+ 28

Table 1: Recommended fertiliser spreading rates for July

With varying growth rates it is critically

important that you walk the farm on a weekly basis

4

ContactThe Lakeland Dairies’ Member Relations Division works close-ly with all our milk producers to help drive profitability at farm level as well as providing information on the progress of the Society. We are always excited to hear from new entrants. Contact us by calling 1890 47 47 20 (ROI) or +44 (0) 28 3026 2311 (NI).

Eamon Corley and his daughter Rachel took home the Elite Award at the 2019 Breffni / Oriel Holstein Friesian Breeders Club recent Herds Competition.The Corleys (pictured) are first-time winners of the prestigious award which was announced on Friday 21st June last. Lakeland Dairies sponsored the event.

The Herds Competition recognises top per-forming breeders from across the Breffni Oriel region of Cavan and Monaghan.

Lakeland Dairies CEO Michael Hanley pro-vided the keynote speech on the night and was on hand to present trophies to the winners along with Lakeland Chairman Alo Duffy and General Manager of Agri Trading Mark Delahunty.

Pat Gaynor (IHFA), Brian and Rachel Corley, Michael Hanley (Lakeand CEO) and Alo Duffy (Lakeland Chairman).

TOGETHER WE’RE STRONGER

Corleys claim top prize

A continued uncertainty hangs over the global dairy markets at present. The biggest concern fac-ing the industry and, by exten-sion, the markets is the continued uncertainty as a consequence of Brexit and other geo-political is-sues such as tensions between the US and China as well as the US and Europe.

In terms of demand, the mar-ket remains tepid with weak sen-timent in Europe. In an overall sense, proteins are performing much better than fats. This was the exact opposite in recent years when prices for butter spiked.

Butter prices are at four-year lows in Europe. This was reflected in the recent Global Dairy Trade (GDT) auctions as well as the Or-nua (Irish Dairy Board) Purchase Price Index (PPI) which both re-corded declines as a result of but-ter prices coming under pressure.

In New Zealand, butter prices have come closer in line with Eu-ropean prices after being ahead of the European prices for much of the spring.

The positive remains around the whole area of milk produc-tion in the main dairy countries. After a strong start to the season, New Zealand production tapered off towards the end. The USA has been slowing in recent months while most the larger producers in Europe have been under pressure as a result of weather and environ-mental constraints. The less milk on the market the better it is for serving demand.

The markets remain delicately poised as we come off peak. We will continue to monitor the situa-tion closely in order to be able to return a sustainable price back to the Lakeland farmers.

Dairy markets