Preparations are in full swing for Dairy Day 2024, an event for dairy farmers and those involved in the dairy sector, organised by the Irish Farmers Journal.
Dairy Day has been running since 2017, albeit the event went online in 2020 due to the pandemic and when it returned to an in-person event in 2023 the venue changed to Páirc Uí Chaoimh in Cork and that is where this years’s event will take place on 21 November from 9am to 5pm.
For those who haven’t been before, Dairy Day is a hybrid event between a trade show with commercial exhibitors and an information-sharing or conference-style event with talks and seminars running across three stages throughout the day.
Visitors are free to roam around the trade stands or sit down and listen to the talks at their own leisure. There is full on-site catering and, last year, there were over 3,000 farmers in attendance through the course of the day.
The talks
In a new development for 2024, there will be three stages for talks and discussions.
Each of these sessions will be taking place at the same time, so those in attendance will have decisions to make as to what sessions they want to hear.
Each session will cover a topic of relevance to Irish dairy farming with experts from Ireland and overseas in addition to farmers adding value to the conversation.
These topics include a global dairy market outlook, with insights from Ornua and Bord Bia and an international dairy farming outlook with perspectives from New Zealand dairy farmer Corrigan Sowman and Dutch dairy farmer Auko Sikkenga. Interviews with Corrigan and Auko will be published in the special Dairy Day publication in next week’s Irish Farmers Journal.
The whole subject of profitability from dairying has come into sharp focus over the last two seasons. To flesh these issues out further, Laurence Shalloo from Moorepark and Cork dairy farmer Mike Bermingham will go through real figures from 2024 and a cashflow budget for 2025.
While cashflow has been tight on farms throughout 2024, much higher milk volumes in autumn, plus much higher milk prices compared to last year, have improved the financial situation greatly.
However, that doesn’t get over the fact that costs on Irish farms are high and are difficult to shift. If it wasn’t for favourable weather and a lift in milk prices the situation would be very bleak. This session will look at the steps involved and the outcomes of doing a budget for 2025 and look at ways to reduce exposure to costs.
Future
The future of milk processing in Ireland in light of falling milk supplies and what now appears to be an over-capacity in milk processing facilities will be discussed with co-op chairpersons.
Speaking on this panel will be Niall Matthews, chair of Lakeland Dairies Co-op, Sean O’Brien, chair of Dairygold Co-op and Edward Carr, chair of Arrabawn Co-op, with more to confirm over the next week.
Getting in: how to secure your tickets
While the doors to SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh open at 9am, those attending are free to arrive at any time throughout the day, with the doors closing at 5pm.
Free parking is available at the new Live at the Marquee site adjacent to the stadium, which is a five-minute walk away from the entrance but a free shuttle bus will be in operation for those who want to take it.
Your discount
Tickets to the event are €20 per person, but subscribers to the Irish Farmers Journal will get a €10 off discount code emailed to them in advance.
For readers of the print edition of the Irish Farmers Journal there is a discount code printed in the management notes of this week’s and next week’s editions.
Readers should use either of these codes to redeem a €10 discount off the ticket prices.
Tickets should be purchased online in advance at www.ifj.ie/dairyday.
Slurry storage
The whole subject of slurry storage and slurry storage capacity is a topic that is going to increase in prominence over the coming months.
Teagasc is set to shortly announce the results of research on over 100 commercial farms looking at slurry storage capacity. The principal author of that research is Pat Tuohy and he will be speaking about the project and its outcomes at Dairy Day.
Pat will be joined by Martin Merrick, buildings specialist with the Irish Farmers Journal, to outline the costs and options when it comes to building new slurry storage as it is expected that requirements are set to increase by 20% to 30% based on the outcome of the report.
The need for additional slurry storage feeds into the debate on water quality and how, with more storage, farmers can make better use of nutrients and help to prevent nutrient loss.
Water quality
John Murphy, IFA’s environment chair, will present data on water quality trends in Ireland and discuss the outlook for retaining Ireland’s nitrates derogation.
He will be joined by the international farmers Auko Sikkenga and Corrigan Sowman to compare environmental regulations in the Netherlands and New Zealand, respectively.
Grass growth rates in 2024 have decreased by approximately 1t DM/ha compared to 2023, which was not a good year either. To discuss the reasons why, we will have a panel of experts from Teagasc and the fertiliser industry to discuss some of the challenges experienced in 2024 in terms of weather, protected urea, clover and nitrogen application rates.
David Wall from Teagasc in Johnstown Castle will present the latest research on protected urea.
He will be joined by Tom Downey, a dairy farmer from Golden, Co Tipperary, to share his experiences and lessons from 2024.
Career paths
Career paths for new entrants to the dairy sector are always an important topic of conversation. The winner of the FBD Young Farmer of the Year for 2024, Christopher Cahill, will share his experiences as a share-milker.
Representatives of the Future Vision discussion group will share what they’re doing to make themselves attractive as a potential partner or lessee for retiring dairy farmers.
The panel will be joined by Richie McEvoy from Teagasc in Kildalton, who works on the new apprenticeship programme for farm managers and farm assistants.
Richie will give an overview of the programme and what farmers looking for apprentices and for others planning an apprenticeship need to do to take part.
Returning for 2024 will be the very popular Dairy Dragons session where new innovations for farming are put to the test of the farmer judges. Last year’s winner was Lely, which presented to the “dragons” its new robotic slurry scraper/accumulator.
Competition
New for 2024 is the Dairy Day 2024 Discussion Group of the Year competition in association with FRS Farm Services. This competition is for groups that are taking part in the pre-Dairy Day tour.
The competition is in two parts. The first part will be adjudicated by ICBF.
The other half of the marks will be assigned based on the results of a live quiz at Dairy Day, with one representative of each discussion group taking part.
The questions will be a mix of farming and general knowledge.
Full schedule next week
The full schedule of all the talks and speakers will be published in next week’s Irish Farmers Journal, including a new technical hub for 2024, which will be an area where farmers can interact with specialists from the Irish Farmers Journal to discuss specific topics such as renewable energy, dairy calf to beef, buildings, etc.
In addition to the talks there will be over 80 trade stands in attendance from farm machinery right through to products and services that dairy farmers require. Dairy Day is supported by Bord Bia, National Dairy Council and Ornua.
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