Milking 230 Montbéliarde's in a split calving system

In the latest episode of Agriland's limited podcast series "The Dairy Trail", technical dairy specialist, Cathal O'Shea visited the farm of Dan and Danny Somers in Co, Wicklow.

 

The father and son partnership are milking 230 Montbéliarde's in a split calving system, with 40-50 cows calving down in autumn.  

Dan talks on how they got into Montbéliarde's and how the herd is working out for them on their farm.

 

He tells us about the diet they feed over the winter months to achieve their target of 7000 litres at 557kg/MS.

Dan also talks about the current tasks at hand on farm, between drying-off and calving down.

 

We hear about balancing issues with banding, and dive into calf care, breeding, grass management, lameness, and the farms infrastructure. 

What is The Dairy Trail?

Agriland's brand new limited podcast series 'The Dairy Trail' takes listeners inside the yard of dairy farms across the country to hear what is happening on the ground.

The new four-part series will cover everything from calving down cows, managing calves, herd nutrient requirements, getting cows out to grazing, and spreading slurry and fertiliser.

Listeners will get to hear how other farm systems operate, how different genetics perform, how different land types grow grass and how each farmer puts milk in the tank and money in their pocket in their own unique way.