Irish Farm Business - Vol 9 Issue 2 Autumn/Winter 2022

FROM 100 PRODUCTS

COW TOILET: FACT OR FANTASY?

STRUCTURES

Farm Business >> SEE PAGE 22

>> SEE PAGE 38

>> SEE PAGE 46

IRISH

Volume 6 Issue 1 Spring 2019 Edition Vol 9 Issue 2 Autumn / Winter 2022 Edition Price 3.95 £2.95 (Stg) Price €4.95 / £4.50 (Stg)

DAIRYING

Feed Management: The Key To Profitability PG 8

PARLOUR PROTOCOLS HELP THE COW & THE MILKING PERSONNEL

FARM DESIGN DEVELOP A LONG-TERM PLAN FORYOUR FARM

IMPROVE YOUR PARLOUR WASH ROUTINE PG 40

LOW COST CATTLE CRUSH ACCESSORIES PG 50

HENRY WALSH: FARM PLAN FOR 2023 PG 24

Your local Co-Op Superstores for all your Farm, Home & Garden Needs

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30/05/2019 11:59

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FINANCE CHANGING FARM STRUCTURES

Foreword/Contents/Credits

Farm Business >> SEE PAGE 22

>> SEE PAGE 38

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IRISH

Features

DAIRYING

Volume 6 Issue 1 Spring 2019 Edition Vol 9 issue 2 Autumn / Winter 2022 Edition Price 3.95£4.50 £2.95(Stg) (Stg) Price €4.95

8 Dairy Production Costs And Projections 2022-2023

By Adrian O’Callaghan - Dairy Advisor Teagasc Mallow, and James O’Donoghue - Dairy Advisor Teagasc Monaghan, Patrick Gowing - Teagasc Dairy KT, Moorepark.

14 Bovine Respiratory Disease

Is BRD more commonly known as “ pneumonia” a risk factor for your herd? By Dr. Mike Reynolds.

PARLOUR PROTOCOLS HELP THE COW & THE MILKING PERSONNEL

8

24 56

FARM DESIGN DEVELOP A LONG-TERM PLAN FORYOUR FARM

40

Milk produced from the Irish dairy herd has the lowest carbon footprint in Europe. By Henry Walsh.

28 Slurry Storage - What Are Your Options?

Prepared by Aidan Kelly of Agri Design & Planning Services (ADPS) Molough, Newcastle, Clonmel, Co Tipperary.

30 Foliar Feeding Urea Plus Potassium Humate Proven To Reduce Nitrogen Use By 50%

Based on trials completed in New Zealand in 2013, Nigel Howells undertook an important three-year trial on four farms in Wales.

34 Late Lactation Once-A-Day Milking: An Option To Improve Work Life Balance?

Foreword The year 2022 will live long in the memory for dairy farmers. Through a combination of international factors, fertilizer, feed, fuel and other input prices ballooned at the beginning of the year, followed in time by a rise in base milk price. While the received milk price has cushioned the effect of cost inflation to a fair extent, especially toward the latter half of the year; it is very important that dairy farmers and the industry at large, take cognisance of cost trends.

Are the cost trends witnessed in 2022 an aberration? In terms of rate of change perhaps yes, but it must be recognised that the average unit cost of producing milk has increased consistently since the abolition of quotas. The rate of increase in costs from

Publisher: Denis Lane Editorial: Denis Lane Advertising: Denis Lane Production: Hugh Lane, Lauren McGregor Email: dlane@dawnmedia.ie Contributors: David Gleeson, Joe Patton, Donal Patton, Philip O Connor, Aidan Kelly, Richard Walsh, Tom Houlihan, Cara Sheridan,

24 Dairy Farming In Partnership With The Environment During 2023

Dave Merrins, Stephen Kelly, Rebecca Dawson, Henry Walsh, Donal Carey, Amanda Dunn, Christine Cummins, Bernadette O’Brien, Marion Beecher, Pat Aherne, Tom Farrington, Tom Fallon, Martina Gormley, Pat Griffin, Clive Bright, Alistair Chambers, Diarmuid McSweeney, Des Cronin,

2015 to 2017 was 1.9% per year. In the period 2017-2018, this rate increased to 3.4% per year. However, over the last 2 years as input price inflation has risen dramatically, the cost of producing milk has increased at a significantly higher rate. Based on data collected from the new Teagasc E Profit Monitor system, the average cost of keeping a cow in 2021 for a spring calving dairy farmer was €1,656/cow (range from €1,198/ cow to €2,211/cow). This figure includes the cost of keeping the cow and also her replacement heifer costs and is expressed on a per cow basis.

A summary provided by Emer Kennedy, Michael O’Donovan, John Paul Murphy and Kieran McCarthy - Teagasc, Animal and Grassland Research and Innovation Centre, Moorepark, Fermoy, Co. Cork, Ireland.

40 Achieving Low Bacterial Counts In Bulk Tank Milk

Actions required to maximise the effective operation of automatic washers for milking equipment. Lorna Twomey and David Gleeson, Teagasc, Animal and Grassland Research and Innovation Centre, Moorepark, Fermoy, Co Cork.

46 Your Carbon Footprint Is Fast Becoming The Key Indicator Of Farm Efficiency

Until the next time…

The greatest source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions on farms is methane gas (CH4) which is produced in the rumen and released via the mouth while bovine animals are ruminating. Writes Gerry Carty, Chief Agri Technologist with Moonsyst.

The Publisher Irish Farm Business

50 Low Cost Crush Accessories

Hope you enjoy and gain from this edition…

Sarah Rose Fitzpatrick, Stuart Childs, Tom Stapleton, Michael O Donovan, John Paul Murphy, Kate Sugrue, Kieran McCarthy, Michael Reynolds, Paul Lyons, Lorna Twomey, Emer Kennedy, Adrian O Callaghan, James O Donoghue, Patrick Gowing

Cattle crush attachments that increase safety in animal handling. By Paul Lyons.

Distribution: EM News Newspread Published by: Dawn Media Ltd, 2 Barrack St Clarinbridge Co Galway Tel. + 353 91 777 222 Email. dlane@dawnmedia.ie

56 Salmonellosis

The incidence of salmonella has seen an increase in the national herd in recent years. By Dr. Mike Reynolds.

58 Biocel Ltd – Launch New Products For The 2023 Dairy Season

Irelands leading manufacturer of Dairy Hygiene and Teat Care products have launched a number of new products for the 2023 Dairy Season.

All material contained in this edition is copyright of Irish Farm Business 2022 and may not be reproduced or electronically stored without the permission of the publisher. However items may be freely reproduced provided the source is acknowledged. Content and views expressed in this publication do not necessarily represent those of the publishers.

11:59

News

Kerry Lab Engages With Next Generation Of Veterinary Bioscientists A Co Kerry based veterinary laboratory is encouraging students to consider a career in animal diagnostic testing.

A

gri Diagnostics has delivered a short training course to students from Munster Technological University showing them the latest methods and testing techniques.

Agri Diagnostics employs 10 people and offers a range of animal diagnostic services from its state-of-the-art laboratories which are located in Dunrine, Killarney.

A group of 11 students spent a morning in the company’s parasitology lab and were shown how to detect liver and rumen fluke in cattle. Parasites remain a health issue for farm animals and it’s estimated that liver fluke disease causes annual losses of approximately €90 million in Ireland.

Marta Mackowska is Laboratory Manager with Agri Diagnostics she says, “There is a growing need for veterinary bioscientists to stay up-to-date on the latest tests to diagnose liver and rumen fluke. Anti-parasitic resistance means that it’s no longer sustainable to over-use drug treatments which is why diagnostic testing is so important. A new government scheme is set to be introduced next year so testing will continue. It’s lovely to meet the next generation of veterinary bioscientists, I think it’s a great industry to be part of, our work is meaningful and what we do makes a difference to animal health.”

Agri Diagnostics has created a 60 second video to showcase how it engages with students. The video is available to view on https://youtu.be/AKPzFuD2IpU The company is continuing to grow and is interested to hear from people with a background in Veterinary Bioscience, Molecular Biology, Biochemistry, Microbiology or a related discipline. For more information visit https://agridiagnostics.ie/

Veterinary Biosciences students from MTU Shannon Warren, Sarah Duhig, Brian Naughton, Pawel Nieniewski and Martha Mackowska from Agri Diagnostics, Rachel O’Regan, Sarah Stack, Jennifer Nemtanu, Kerrie Houlihan, Sheanna Moriarty, Saoirse Keenan, Caoimhe Fallon and Prof Peter Stewart at Agri Diagnostics in Co. Kerry. Pic: Ciara O’Donnell Photography IFB0219 ISSUE 1.qxp_Layout 1 07/03/2019 13:30 Page 1

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IRISH

Volume 6 Issue 1 Spring 2019 Edition Price 3.95 £2.95 (Stg)

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PARLOUR PROTOCOLS HELP THE COW & THE MILKING PERSONNEL

FARM DESIGN DEVELOP A LONG-TERM PLAN FORYOUR FARM

Supporting Farmers for Climate Action Teagasc has launched its Climate Action Strategy 2022- 2030 to support farmers and the agrifood sector to meet the climate challenge by reducing greenhouse gasses and increasing carbon capture.

The three key pillars of the action strategy are: • A Signpost Advisory Programme • A Sustainability Digital Platform • A Virtual National Centre for Agri-Food Climate Research Innovation

Urgent action is needed. All farmers are being encouraged to adopt the technologies that are proven to reduce emissions.

Signpost Advisory Programme The Teagasc Signpost Advisory programme complements the Signpost Demonstration Farm programme which has 65 partners and over 120 demonstration farms. The Signpost Advisory programme will be open to all farmers, to help to develop a tailored action plan for each individual farm.

Sustainable Digital Platform Teagasc in co-operation with the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) and Bord Bia, and supported by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, is building a new digital platform to facilitate a whole farm sustainability assessment.

Virtual National Centre for Agri-Food Climate Research Innovation Teagasc is establishing a new virtual centre, to co-ordinate climate research and innovation programmes, and accelerate efforts to bring ‘almost ready’ and ‘early stage’ technologies required for adoption at farm level, to fruition.

See www.teagasc.ie/climateaction for more information

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28/11/2022 16:44:05

Cow Restraint

Innovative New Cow Restraint – The TailJack

T

he TailJack easily and reliably stops cows kicking facilitating fast and safe milking and treatment. Two videos demonstrating the device in use can be seen on TailJack.com. The TailJack is a major innovation in reducing labour requirements and increasing safety on dairy farms and won three awards this year. The Enterprise Ireland Innovation Arena agri safety award, and the Engineering and Best Start Up award at the Axa National Dairy Show.

Cows kicking off milking clusters, in particular freshly calved heifers, are a time-consuming frustration. Restraints such as kickbars and tying of legs are only partially effective and pose a risk of injury to milkers. Dr Niall O’Leary faced this frustration when milking and treating mastitis when growing up on a dairy farm in Kerry and was sometimes on the wrong end of a few painful kicks. ‘I discussed with it my father and we began pondering potential solutions. We found ourselves drawn towards one form of restraint: tail lifting’.

‘Whether milking nervous heifers, treating painful teat injuries, castrations or other veterinary procedures, tail lifting is the most effective restraint method’ according to Niall. However, tail lifting’s great drawback is the need for a 2nd person as labour is a precious commodity in general, in particular, during calving season. This makes tail lifting unavailable to lone milkers and a big time sink for the ‘spare’ person who holds the tail for the duration of milking or treatment.

Niall, who did his PhD in farm management and did a post doc on dairy technology at Moorepark, discussed the challenge at length with his father. Niall’s father believed something could be designed to lift and keep the tail up. Various design approaches were explored eventually leading to the TailJack which works by attaching securely to a cows’ hips providing leverage for the TailJack to lift and hold a tail in a raised position.

Prototypes were trialled in spring 2022 on the family dairy farm where 100 heifers calved down and the benefits were immediately clear. ‘We didn’t have one heifer that kicked with the TailJack on’ according to Niall.

The TailJack calmed nervous heifers, clusters could be attached safely and “kicking off ” of clusters ceased. You could thus move on to the next cow/heifer knowing the cluster would not be kicked off.

‘It was common to see four TailJacks in use at one time during peak calving’. The TailJack effectively removed the need for a 2nd person to deal with kicking cows when milking, dry cow treatment, treating mastitis or udder injuries.

To improve the prototype further, technical expertise from Ciarán O Hara and MTU Kerry was enlisted leading to progressively better designs resulting in the easy-to-use, safe, and reliable device. Crucially, the TailJack is easy to apply from the milking parlour floor requiring no climbing. All these helped the TailJack win the Enterprise Ireland Innovation Arena agri safety award at the National Ploughing, and the Engineering and Best Start Up award the National Dairy Show.

A video of the TailJack in use on a real cow and from a milking parlour floor can be seen on TailJack.com. ‘For delivery in time for calving 2023 we need orders sooner rather than later’ according to Niall. The TailJack is priced at €300 plus VAT (€69) & €12 delivery in Ireland. For more information or to place an order, log onto TailJack.com. Enquires about the TailJack can be sent to niall@tailjack.com or you can call/text +(353) 89 611 5403

Use cases:

Dairy farms: • Kicking • Teat injury and mastitis treatments.

• Teat sealing treatment of heifers.

• Calving; Keeps tail clear and help inhibit “forcing” when correcting calf malpresentations.

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CLIMATE CHANGE SOLUTIONS COW TOILET: FACT OR FANTASY?

FINANCE CHANGING FARM STRUCTURES

Farm Business >> SEE PAGE 22

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IRISH

Volume 6 Issue 1 Spring 2019 Edition Price 3.95 £2.95 (Stg)

DAIRYING

PARLOUR PROTOCOLS HELP THE COW & THE MILKING PERSONNEL

FARM DESIGN DEVELOP A LONG-TERM PLAN FORYOUR FARM

Veterinary services: • Teat injury treatments and mammary gland assessment • Providing local anaesthetic for caesarean sections and other flank surgeries (eg for LDA’s) • Stop kicking during surgery • Epidurals • Passing a urinary catheter For more information please contact me, Niall O Leary at niall@tailjack.com

Niall demonstrating how the TailJack works. A full video is available on TailJack.com.

Cost Control

Dairy Production Costs And Projections 2022-2023

By Adrian O’Callaghan - Dairy Advisor Teagasc Mallow, and James O’Donoghue - Dairy Advisor Teagasc Monaghan, Patrick Gowing - Teagasc Dairy KT, Moorepark.

Summary •

Input price inflation is likely to increase the cost of production to €2,218/cow on average based on projected costs from E Profit Monitor data.

Direct costs associated with feeding the cow have increased to 51% of total costs.

Changes in cow numbers should be assessed taking into account cost and source of feed, overhead costs, and implications for labour requirement. Assuming a linear change based on current costs can be misleading.

• •

Introduction The year 2022 will live long in the memory for dairy farmers. Through a combination of international factors, fertilizer, feed, fuel and other input prices ballooned at the beginning of the year, followed in time by a rise in base milk price. While the received milk price has cushioned the effect of cost inflation to a fair extent, especially in toward the latter half of the year, it is very important that dairy farmers and the industry at large, take cognisance of cost trends.

Are the cost trends witnessed in 2022 an aberration? In terms of rate of change perhaps yes, but it has to be recognized that the average unit cost of producing milk has increased consistently since the abolition of quotas. The rate of increase in costs from 2015 to 2017 was 1.9% per year. In the period 2017-2018, this rate increased to 3.4% per year. However over the last 2 years as input price inflation has risen

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CLIMATE CHANGE SOLUTIONS COW TOILET: FACT OR FANTASY?

FINANCE CHANGING FARM STRUCTURES

Farm Business >> SEE PAGE 22

>> SEE PAGE 46

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IRISH

Volume 6 Issue 1 Spring 2019 Edition Price 3.95 £2.95 (Stg)

DAIRYING

PARLOUR PROTOCOLS HELP THE COW & THE MILKING PERSONNEL

FARM DESIGN DEVELOP A LONG-TERM PLAN FORYOUR FARM

dramatically, the cost of producing milk has increased at a significantly higher rate. Based on data collected from the new Teagasc E Profit Monitor system, the average cost of keeping a cow in 2021 for a spring calving dairy farmer was €1,656/cow (range from €1,198/cow to €2,211/cow). This figure includes the cost of keeping the cow and also her replacement heifer costs and is expressed on a per cow basis.

Projecting a final cost of milk production for 2022-23 To budget forward to examine the costs for 2022 we used the following input cost assumptions: • Same quantity of inputs as 2021 • Average meal price of €415/t in 2022 • Fertilizer cost increase by 250% • Contractor cost increase by 50% • Total variable costs on average increase by 49% • 10% increase in fixed costs When these are used in a cumulative projection, average costs is projected to have increased from €1,656/cow to €2,218/cow. This is equivalent to a 33% increase in the cost of production which will equate to an average cost of 37.84c/litre for 2022. To put this in context, the average Gross Output on Teagasc E-Profit Monitors over the last 5 years (2017-2021) has been 40.88c/litre. It is clear therefore that the final margins achieved on dairy farms in 2022 will have been almost entirely dependent on the higher milk price returned.

Looking forward to 2023 we are likely to see a further increase in

Cost Control concentrates costs while other costs will likely increase at an inflation rate of 8% leading to total costs per cow increasing to €2,331. This underlines the need for dairy farmers to maintain close control on costs despite a seemingly high milk price, to prioritize investment in high return areas such as soil fertility, and to stress-test capital expenditure projects against possible changes to base milk price.

Impact of feed budget balance on milk production costs The projections shown illustrate that the trajectory of production costs has risen steeply. However, in particular the direct costs of feeding the herd (purchased concentrate and forage, fertilizer and contractor) have increased faster than the overall average. In fact in 2022 51% (€1,141/cow) of the cost of production will be associated with direct feed costs. This proportion has increased from 41% in 2021. Therefore, as we look forward and want to control costs, it is essential to manage the feed budget and overall projected feed balance for the farm. This will have the biggest impact on cost structure going forward.

An analysis of 2021 E profit monitor data looks at whole farm stocking rate compared to the purchased feed cost on spring calving herds.

Based on this real farm data, some farmers are deciding to stock the farm to buy no imported fodder, while others are stocking beyond the

Table 1. Spring calving 2021 vs 2022 (Projected)

Table 2. Purchased fodder compared to stocking rates

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PARLOUR PROTOCOLS HELP THE COW & THE MILKING PERSONNEL

FARM DESIGN DEVELOP A LONG-TERM PLAN FORYOUR FARM

9

Cost Control potential grass grown of the farm and purchasing back the additional fodder required. To explore the impact this will have on the cost structure of the farm, we standardized the farm to a 40 Ha block and assumed only cows on the farm. Two stocking rates scenarios were examined i.e. self-sufficient for forage at moderate stocking rate, or the higher stocking rate with additional cows supported by importing feed into the system. Annual pasture growth was assumed to be similar across the scenarios.

If stocked at the moderate SR the farm will carry 88 cows (40 X 2.21). If they run the farm at the higher SR they will carry 98 cows (40 x 2.47). To carry the additional cows no additional grass was grown and in fact grass utilized figures declined from 9.84t/ha to 9.75. The additional costs to keep the 10 extra cows to the feed budget were 0.14t/ of meal per cow and 443kg DM of purchased forage. This may

not appear significant expressed on a ‘per cow in the herd’ basis, however it is useful to isolate the effect to the extra 10 cows, as these are the cohort creating change in the feed budget (Table 3).

On the lower stocked farm, each cow was fed 1.01t x 88 cows giving a total meal purchase of 92 tonnes with no additional fodder required.

On the higher stocked farm each cow was fed 1.15t or a total of 113t and additional 443 kg DM/ cow or 43t DM was required. Across the two feed market price scenarios shown, annual feed budget cost difference ranged from €14,920 to €18,666, or €1500 to €1900 per additional cow. This is before any account is taken of vet, AI and other variable costs, which may be €350 to €400 per extra cow, or €35004000 in total costs for the example shown. From experience, the effect on feed cost of adding more cows than grass growth can support, is usually much higher than most clients assume it to be. This is simply

Table 3. Effect of stocking rate and feed input pricing on herd feed cost

Budget H = Meal €400/t and silage €250/tDM; Budget L Meal €320/t and silage €200/tDM

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CLIMATE CHANGE SOLUTIONS COW TOILET: FACT OR FANTASY?

FINANCE CHANGING FARM STRUCTURES

Farm Business >> SEE PAGE 22

>> SEE PAGE 46

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IRISH

Volume 6 Issue 1 Spring 2019 Edition Price 3.95 £2.95 (Stg)

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PARLOUR PROTOCOLS HELP THE COW & THE MILKING PERSONNEL

FARM DESIGN DEVELOP A LONG-TERM PLAN FORYOUR FARM

Cost Control

because these extra cows are being fed 100% on imported feed.

Labour and costs associated with providing accommodation and slurry storage will vary by farm but must be accounted for. A useful guide for costing labour is that the extra cows will add around 22 hours labour per cow per year, which in the current example is approximately €3000 in extra paid labour. Fixed costs and labour will increase further if higher stocking rate results in significantly more days when buffer feeding pasture is required. When all such extra costs plus associated risks and non-cash implications are collated, they should be compared to likely changes in milk revenue effects sold. This will give a much better picture than simply focussing on the short-term milk price. Your Teagasc adviser is available to help with these calculations and projections through our dairy business planning service. We have showed one simple example here but factors such as maximizing value from out-farms, rearing replacements, and own financial commitments/requirements, can be included in the analysis.

Conclusion Clearly, calculating the economic impact of changes to cow numbers is highly dependent on the assumptions used.

However, it is a vital step to clarify the likely economic outcome and risks involved. The cost of keeping cows on farm have increased dramatically, in particular the costs associated with feeding the cow. When looking at future changes to herd size, it is useful to assess the likely impact on the total inputs, costs and outputs from the farm, rather than assuming a straight line increase based on current average costs.

MORE THAN 50 YEARS IN BUSINESS

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Volume 6 Issue 1 Spring 2019 Edition Price 3.95 £2.95 (Stg)

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PARLOUR PROTOCOLS HELP THE COW & THE MILKING PERSONNEL

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11

Animal Health

Intra Eco-Bath – The Organic Way To Combat Lameness

A th to

Intra Eco-Bath is an organic, antibiotic free solution for farmers wishing to maintain optimal hoof care in their herds.

I F

I b d t P c T t

Intra Eco-Bath contains a blend of 100% organic ingredients that helps prevent bacteria from growing in damp environments. When cows are lame, or their hooves are not in good condition, their milk yield can be lower, using Intra Eco-Bath will provide clear benefits to herd health and bottom- line profit.

Intra Eco-Bath can be added to a foot bath and contains a long-lasting agent which helps keep hooves healthy for the long term. When a cow’s hooves are passed through a bath containing Intra Eco-Bath, they turn a fresh, green colour. This makes it easy to see which cows have been in contact with Intra Eco-Bath.

The long-lasting ingredients contained in the solution keep the hooves fresh and green for longer. Even after 250 cows have passed through an Intra Eco-Bath, the water retains a fresh green colour. This demonstrates Intra Eco-Bath’s strong adhesion for fresh green hooves and long-lasting activity.

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CLIMATE CHANGE SOLUTIONS COW TOILET: FACT OR FANTASY?

FINANCE CHANGING FARM STRUCTURES

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IRISH

Volume 6 Issue 1 Spring 2019 Edition Price 3.95 £2.95 (Stg)

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PARLOUR PROTOCOLS HELP THE COW & THE MILKING PERSONNEL

FARM DESIGN DEVELOP A LONG-TERM PLAN FORYOUR FARM

E p r g

Intra Eco-Bath contains peppermint oil which acts as an air freshener, creating an attractive minty smell that reduces hesitancy in cattle in walking through the bath. This means it won’t be a battle to care for herds with Intra Eco-Bath,and will make it easier for farmers to maintain excellent hoof health.

By using Intra Eco-Bath, farmers can be guaranteed that they are using completely 100% natural ingredients. This unique combination of organic ingredients, including chelated zinc and essential oils, are sourced, and mixed in accordance with the highest European standards.

Intra Eco-Bath’s organic formula means that fewer harmful emissions are produced, which keeps our air fresher and cleaner. This gives farmers an opportunity to contribute to creating a safe and healthy organic environment for cow and farmer.

Farmers can access Intra Eco-Bath through local vet shops, merchants, Co-Ops and other agricultural outlets. Distributed by Agrihealth. For more information contact 047 71800. www.agrihealth.ie

V0622-EN

Intra Eco-Bath is the latest addition to the Intra Hoof-fit range, a range of hoof care products containing all-natural ingredients which is available from Agrihealth stockists nationwide.

LA

5 REASONS TO C INTRA ECO-BATH

INTRA ECO-BATH: READY FOR A FRESH AND GREEN FUTURE

Are you familiar with the organic alternative to battle lameness?

Have you met the you world’s mostwith Are familiar Are you familiar with eco-friendly hoof with the organic alternative the organic alternative Are you familiar to battle lameness? bandage? to footbath solutions? the organic alternative

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Bath remains fresh & green up to 250 passes

5 REASONS TO CHOOSE INTRA ECO-BATH LAMENESS REDUCTION IMP Intra Eco-Bath is a newly developed, innovative < 5%to a UNIQUE Evenhoof after 250Maintenance COW of lameness Thanks Ess Contains a bath solution to maintain and support healthy hooves and A unique organic composition with chelated zinc passages the bath ORGANIC BLEND OI dermis. Based on natural ingredients the product fits in and essential oils UNIQUE BLEND The In remains fresh and pathogenic bacterial mu the European organic farming philosophy.

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colour, which clearly indicates which ones have passed.

The fresh minty smell stimulates all cows to easily walk through without hesitation.

and essential oils

Intra Eco-Bath strips Safe and friendly for cow, farmer and biogas manure digester

mainte

INTRA ECO-BATH: READY FOR A FRESH AND GREEN FUTURE

5 REASONS TO CHOOSE INTRA ECO-BATH

V0720-EU

ECO TAPE: FUTURE PROOF 6 REASONS TO CHOOSE to5 INTRA battle lameness?

REASONS TO CHOOSE INTRA ECO-BATH FOR PLANET AND ANIMAL INTRA ECO TAPE

FRESH AND GREEN FUTURE or on the field.

Intra Eco Tape, the new degradable

V0720-EU

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maintenance. is farmers’ first choice! are used on lame cows by hoof trimmers, professionalThis green concept Good stretchability, easy-tear LEARN MORE livestock farmers and veterinarians worldwide. These and great adhesive properties DEGREE OF DEGRADATION IN non-degradable hoof tapes (approx.7 km2), end up Soft fit in our environment in waste containers, manure pits Apply up to 4 hooves with 1 roll or on the field. Intra Eco Tape, the new degradable Ecologically HOW TO APPLYpacked without plastics tapeDEGRADABILITY preserves its original properties such as a good No chemical coloring TO APPLY stretchability, easy-tear and great adhesiveFor properties. more information callHOW Agrihealth

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Agrihealth

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on 047 71800 or email info@agrihealth.ie Distributed in Ireland by Agrihealth. www.agrihealth.ie Volume 6 Issue 1 Spring 2019 Edition Price 3.95 £2.95 (Stg)

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Animal Health

Bovine Respiratory Disease Is BRD more commonly known as “ pneumonia” a risk factor for your herd?

Dr. Michael Reynolds BVM&S DCHP MRCVS Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons Recognised Specialist in Cattle Health and Production Senior Clinical Director and Farm Animal Clinical Lead (N. Ireland), CVS UK Ltd.

Post mortem examinations are an important tool in disease work ups.

B

ovine Respiratory disease complex (BRD) is a commonly encountered production limiting disease and welfare issue for cattle under modern farming conditions. On a global scale, it is believed to cost the industry £2 billion per annum.

Predisposing factors BRD is a complex, multifactorial disease, commonplace in modern farming systems. It is a disease influenced by the host (animal), the pathogens (viruses, bacteria) involved, and the environment in which the animal resides. It is most often referred to and known, as “pneumonia” to those within the industry.

The bovine respiratory tract hosts a variety of bacteria and viruse’s which normally exist without causing any clinical disease. However, in the presence of predisposing factors such as reduced immune function, for example, following the stress of transportation/weaning, suboptimal environmental conditions such as extremes of temperature / humidity, or poor nutrition, clinical disease outbreaks may occur.

• High stocking density, overcrowding and mixing of animals from multiple source • Poor ventilation • High humidity and poor drainage • Concurrent disease; for example bovine viral diarrhoea virus causing immunosuppression.

• Host factors such as age, immune status, genetics and poor nutrition; for example trace element deficiency • Physiological stress; for example, disbudding, weaning, transportation and so on.

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Poor drainage increases building humidity and predisposes animals to BRD

Animal Health Clinical signs Both acute and chronic forms of the disease are commonly encountered.

Acute: • Increased respiratory rate and effort • lethargy • coughing, particularly after exertion / physical effort • inappetance • nasal and ocular discharge • Fever • low head carriage with an extended neck • lying away separation from the group Chronic form: • ill thrift and under-performance • inappetence • increased respiratory rate and effort, often associated with open mouth breathing.

• More severely affected individuals may be referred to as “respiratory cripples” and often • necessitates euthanasia on welfare grounds.

BRD is caused by a number of pathogens, with both viruses and bacteria commonly implicated in disease outbreaks.

Viral agents include Infectious Bovine Rhinotracehitis (IBR), Bovine Respiratory Syncytial Virus (BRSV), parainfluenza III virus (pi3), and bovine viral diarrhoea virus (BVDV).

It is often suggested these, along with the mycoplasmal agents (Mycoplasma bovis, Mycoplasma dispar and Ureaplasma species) are the primary infectious agents in the majority of BRD outbreaks.

Fatality is often not associated with viral infections per se. Instead, their role is to assist the establishment of a respiratory environment that is favourable for pathogenic bacterial replication and colonisation for example, by Pasteurella multocida, Mannheimia haemolytica and Histophilus somni. With mortality and severe disease, most often associated with the impact of these secondary pathogens.

Diagnosis Regardless of the test used, selection of more recent (acute) clinical cases is critical to ensure an accurate diagnosis.

Group housing is a challenge in BRD control

Tests include conjunctival and nasopharyngeal swabs, bronchial alveolar lavage and trans-tracheal wash, paired blood serologies, to identify rising antibody titres and post mortem examination.

During disease outbreaks, your veterinary surgeon is best placed to recommend the most appropriate diagnostic approach based on your individual circumstance.

Treatment Treatment protocols generally constitute the use of antimicrobials and non-steroidal anti-inflammatories based on guidance from your veterinary surgeon.

However, successful outcomes are dependent upon the prompt identification and treatment of clinical cases, in combination with careful monitoring to assess disease progression/resolution and the necessitation for further treatments.

Prevention As with most disease situations in livestock, prevention is always better than cure.

Adopting an immunity led approach to BRD control is a good starting point.

This starts with ensuring the adequate delivery of good quality colostrum within the first six hours of life, in conjunction with an appropriate vaccination program under the guidance of your vet or animal health adviser.

The primary aim of vaccination is to boost the immunity of the calves at a herd level and increase the relative resistance of the individual.

Environmental considerations High stocking densities have a profound effect on ventilation requirements within a shed. It has been shown that a two fold increase in stocking density, necessitates a ten fold increase in ventilation requirement. Producers should be mindful of this as the housing season approaches and consider ways to improving ventilation through either enhancements of passive ventilation, or the use of positive pressure ventilation.

The recommended required airflow is 4 air changes per hour in winter and 30 air changes per hour in summer. The bacterial count of air can be used as an approximation for air quality and whilst research has shown that the majority of air borne bacteria are dead,

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15

Animal Health they still serve as a burden on the respiratory tract of calves thereby predisposing them to disease. Risk factors for increased bacterial air populations in calf sheds includes high stocking densities and high humidity.

Poor ventilation also often leads to a build up of ammonia and other noxious gases (from urine and faeces) which serve to reduce the movement of ciliary hairs in the calf respiratory tract which are the animals main defense mechanism against pathogen invasion, thereby making them more susceptible to disease.

Improvements in ventilation and increased air changes are most commonly achieved in calf housing through the use of positive pressure ventilation (PPV) systems, such as fans that draw air into, or out of the shed and air tubes.

In circumstances where PPV is not possible, alterations of the shed can help improve air quality, including increasing both the air inlet and outlet of the barn. These include the incorporation of Yorkshire boarding or gale breakers to replace solid walls, or opening a ridge to promote airflow under the stack effect.

Group housing It is widely known that group housing is beneficial for the welfare and behavioural development of calves. However, in terms of BRD it can be a challenge, with increased risk of disease in larger groups of animals, particularly those groups where there is a wide range in age. Under this circumstance, older, more immune animals infect those younger individuals cohabiting the same air space.

The recommended stocking density for calves less than 100kg is 3m² per calf (minimum 1.5m²), with ideally 8 to 12 calves per pen, which were born within 2 weeks of each other.

Cold stress Cold stress has been shown as a major risk factor for BRD in young calves whilst also contributing to poor growth rates and general ill thrift. Consideration should be given to prevent draughts, providing deep, dry straw to encourage nesting behaviour and the use of calf jackets.

Physiological stress Stress causes a rise in cortisol levels, which suppresses the immune system and increases the animals susceptibility to disease, including BRD. Methods of decreasing stress should be actioned as part of a BRD management plan and may include the maintenance of a consistent management routine, minimal group changes, avoiding multiple stresses at once, for example, castrating and dehorning and step weaning.

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Young cattle at grass are at risk of lungworm, which will predispose them to BRD.

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Calf Management

Investing In A Computerised Feeder An investment in a computerised calf feeding machine can bring greater control and consistency to the rearing period. These modern feeders can also reduce the time and labour required to rear calves. However, to be effective, good hygiene standards and sound overall management are the critical success factors.

Liam Gannon, Volac Business Manager

A

ccording to Volac Business Manager, Liam Gannon, the technology available from automatic feeders is advancing all the time, but the key to getting the most out of these innovative machines is attention to detail.

“Rearing calves on a computerised feeder can definitely make calf milk feeding easier and more time-efficient, but it is not an alternative to spending time with the calves. It is essential that feeders are maintained well and that you still observe calves regularly for signs of any problems, such as disease.

“Essentially, we advise farmers that when you make the switch from manual to computerised feeding you will still be spending a similar amount of time with your calves, but what you will not be doing is spending this time moving the milk around in buckets. View a computerised feeder as a way of smoothing out the potential variables in the rearing process (such as inconsistent calf formula mixing rates and milk feeding temperatures), not a short cut to better animal husbandry,” he says.

able to take easily to the feeder and cope well with the move.

“As with all calf feeding systems, we advise our farmers to ensure calves are fed sufficient high-quality colostrum as soon as possible after birth. This means giving them three litres within two hours after birth, followed by another similar sized feed within six to 12 hours after birth. After this they should be introduced to a good quality milk replacer before moving onto the feeder at seven days of age,” says Liam.

Siting the feeder Farmers investing in a computerised feeder typically tend to install them into existing sheds rather than into new, bespoke calf rearing housing.

“First and foremost, make sure you have the right number of feed stations for the number of calves you want to feed. Regardless if the building has been used for rearing calves before, it is important to spend some time making sure ventilation and drainage are up to scratch. Ideally, pen floors need to slope from the back to a drain at the front (a 1 in 20 fall is ideal) to ensure the calves are always kept in a clean, dry environment.”

Liam points out that most computerised calf feeding machines will do multiple hot washes a day, which means about 10 litres of water will be used. “When sorting out your drainage, this issue needs to be considered too.”

For more information visit www.feedforgrowth.com or contact your local Volac Business Manager.

Starting calves on the feeder Volac recommends that calves can be moved onto a computerised feeder when they are one week of age, by which stage the calf should be

Efficiency gains from computerised feeding Initially, the calf should be able to access a total of six litres of performance-formulated milk replacer ‘little and often’ – for example, three two litre feeds during a 24-hour period.

“You can programme the feeding curve on the machine, which makes life a lot easier. What’s more, maintained well, a computerised feeder should always mix calf milk replacer accurately with water and also ensure that the milk is always delivered to the calf at the correct temperature.

The technology available from automatic feeders is advancing all the time

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Volac Ireland, Feagh, Mullagh, Kells, Co. Meath, Ireland, A82 E7C5 T +353 (0) 49 433 4755 · infoireland@volac.com · Copyright © 2022 Volac International Ltd. All rights reserved.

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Farm Plan

Dairy Farming In Partnership With The Environment During 2023 Milk produced from the Irish dairy herd has the lowest carbon footprint in Europe. By Henry Walsh

A

s we look forward to the farming year of 2023 there are many challenges to be faced across the spectrum from day to day farming matters, to our environmental obligations, to our own general health and wellbeing. The new reality is the CAP is no longer a scheme to support food production but rather a scheme to support biodiversity and the environment.

In this article I am going to touch on some details in our farming plans for the year as well as actions to reduce our carbon footprint and improve the environment. I will also refer to some of the challenges we face and our obligations under the eco scheme to secure 25% of our payments. We know the EU “Farm to Fork” green deal legislates that we reduce the usage of chemical nitrogen by 20% and the use of pesticides by 50% by 2030. We know our own government brought in legislation requiring us to reduce agri emissions by 25% by 2030.

This was a hard-fought figure with other sectors and members of government pushing hard for the 25% to be increased to 30%. This figure would have been impossible to achieve without a major cull of the national herd which contrary to a lot of misinformation put out there by vested interests is the exact same size as it was in 1999 and incredibly less than it was in 1973 when we joined the EU single market.

There is a huge amount of media discussion around climate change, global warming etc. A lot of the blame is being placed on agriculture and because Ireland is a farming country. Using current measurement criteria 37% of total emissions come from the agri sector. This really suits the media as they stoke controversy against the livestock sector in particular while completely ignoring the argument in support of Biogenic methane which we know is a short life gas (10 or 12 years) when compared to the 100’s of years carbon dioxide released by burning fossil fuels coal, oil and gas stays active in our atmosphere.

The intergovernmental (IPCC) report recently published stated that methane generated by the Irish cattle herd could be overestimated by as much as 3 or 4 times and to my mind in effect means the data in the report is unreliable, yet it is still being forced on us until further measurements confirm otherwise.

Coming nearer to home the implications for us farmers are IFB0219 ISSUE 1.qxp_Layout 1 07/03/2019 13:30 Page 1

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quantified by the government’s requirement of a 25% reduction in emissions along with improvements to the water quality in our rivers and estuaries. It is my belief that optimising the profitability of our farms and protecting our environment must be seen as two sides of the same coin. However, I believe it is vital that we are fully clear on the Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) that have the greatest influence on the viability of our dairy enterprise. In some ways the rate of change being thrust upon us with massive inputs inflation and so many new closing dates for slurry spreading, parlour washings, storage capacity, biodiversity, re-wetting etc are almost impossible to achieve. Having said all that, I still believe the spring calving blueprint developed by Teagasc Moorepark is the best option available so we will continue to work towards implementing it on our farm.

Importance of Food Production All my life I have been motivated to increase my knowledge and do better. Looking back over 40 years of my farming life, the EU and our own government policies changed with every decade and in many instances have gone full circle. In the 80’s we were grant aided to drain and reclaim land and plant forestry. This has now gone full circle as the powers that be have concluded that draining peat land has allowed carbon stored in the wet peat to be released adding to global warming.

Unfortunately, most of our sitka spruce forests were planted on these soils and the drains facilitated the rapid runoff of water resulting in the deposition of silt and nutrients in the lakes and rivers they flowed into. However, I would suspect the worst has yet to come as the EU will force farmers to re-wet drained peatland returning it to nature and away from productive farming. Even more worrying if this is followed through on as currently proposed by the EU it will by default be a land grab of peoples farms and probably destroy their livelihoods.

One of our obligations in the new CAP is to provide space for nature. This is a wonderful initiative that is also a full circle contradiction of their actions over the last 20 years where the mapping section for the BPS circled every grove of trees every whitethorn or fir patch visible and removed them from your eligible area. So many of

Farm Plan these actions are contradictory and at this point very frustrating but we have to work with the hand we are dealt and hope that our department of agriculture meet to discuss and agree with Teagasc, and our farm lobby groups and honour the commitment given by government when they signed the Climate Action Bill into law to recognise the special characteristics of biogenic methane, the importance of food production and the importance of agriculture to the economic and social fabric of rural Ireland.

Reduce Inputs Taking everything back to our own farm, the intention for 2023 is to continue with our spring calving grass-based system of milk production which has proven itself to be economically sustainable over the past 20 years.

Our ambition is to reduce purchased inputs and to make greater use of the resources available on the farm starting with our slurry but of equal importance is understanding our soils and implementing best practice so that we maximise the returns from the resources available to us because no input is unlimited, and we are consuming them at a very fast rate. We will continue reducing the amount of purchased nitrogen/urea and pesticides which will reduce the emissions on the farm, reduce nutrient loss to the groundwater and help biodiversity on the farm. These goals require a plan and the one we intend to use is the Teagasc “marginal abatement cost curve” (MACC) which has 17 actions we will continue to implement. It has been our experience to date that there is a financial gain over the cost from a number of them so that makes them very attractive starting with soil testing where simply correcting the PH can release up to 80kg of N per hectare.

Getting the P & K indices to 3 increases the efficiency of applied N

and even better supports the clover plant which has huge potential as we learn how to manage it. We are focusing on clover now in every re-seed and while there are challenges in establishing it and some concerns around bloat issues we are fully committed to improving our knowledge in this area. This year we had good success with some fields of clover on the out-farms resulting in good tonnage of high quality crops that received almost no bag nitrogen but instead got 3 applications of slurry with the dribble bar/LESS another key tool of the MACC.

Red Clover This year also we planted our first field of grass with red clover to see if we can follow the path laid out by James Humphreys in Solohead producing super silage crops without artificial nitrogen. Over the last number of years, we have been using other components of the “MACC” such as the EBI to choose our bulls, milk recording to identify our best cows to breed them to and for the past 3 years sexed dairy semen plus much greater use of beef AI. There is so much pressure on us from outside forces and no patience to allow time for changes to work that it can lead us to doubt what we are doing even though science is supporting us.

Rate of Change When I look back over the last 5 years, I see huge progress across so many parameters on our farm starting with CAN (which releases nitrous oxide, an extremely potent greenhouse gas) being almost completely replaced by protected urea. Not alone has that change occurred but we are spreading about 35 units less per acre, an

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Farm Plan

incredible 15% reduction in overall N applications at the same stocking rate. Ongoing soil testing is resulting in us spreading more lime which is the cheapest and most effective fertiliser of all. Soil testing has also helped us target P & K imbalances allowing us to apply our slurry to the fields most in need and where we will get the best return. As well as that we now are more conscious of weather events around spreading time and without doubt LESS facilitates later application of slurry in spring when the grass is actively growing and, in a position, to utilise more of the nitrogen present in the slurry. Another area that gives me great hope when I look back over the last 5 years is around breeding and milk production. I referred to them earlier but milk recording, AI, EBI, sexed semen and Beef AI has been a game changer for us. In that 5-year period milk solids per cow has increased from 430 kg to 480kg and is continuing. We are now using 100% AI on the cows allowing us to only breed our best cows for the first 3 weeks to get adequate numbers of replacement heifers. Sexed semen is now being used more confidently in that first 3 weeks resulting in a lot less dairy bull calves and then beef AI is used exclusively from 3 weeks on with the added reassurance on reliable calving data.

Carbon Sequestration An area we are all trying to understand is the role our farms and agriculture in general have in relation to renewables and carbon farming or sequestration. This to my mind is a double-edged sword in that re-wetting as I mentioned earlier if not properly implemented has the potential to be the largest land grab or sterilisation this country has known since Cromwell’s reign. The Irish and EU legislators must realise that agriculture is the only sector capable of sequestering carbon and proper policies need to be implemented and supported for this to succeed. The spin coming from the dept telling us about their ambitious targets for forestry plantings that have never been achieved in any year due to failings to grant either planting or felling licences is a warning to us all. We intend to plant more hedges and some groves of trees, but I have grave concerns that need to be addressed before I plant forestry of my own free will for example.

Serious Questions 1.

If I plant forestry, is that land in effect lost forever from food production.

Do I own the carbon credits my farm sequesters and can I offset them against my own carbon footprint or can I trade them if a market to trade emerges.

Is it true that farmers who got a grant for forestry do not own the

2.

3.

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Farm Business >> SEE PAGE 22

>> SEE PAGE 46

>> SEE PAGE 38

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4.

5.

6.

carbon being sequestered even though it’s their own land.

If I invest my money in solar panels on my roof, is it true that I get no credit for the carbon savings that are all credited to the electricity sector?

If I buy an electric vehicle and charge it with the solar panels on my roof why does all the carbon savings get credited to the transport sector?

Is it true that all the carbon credits generated by the loss-making Willow renewable energy crop I grow on our land fertilised with our farm yard manure using farm diesel to harvest and transport it again belong to the electricity sector.

Conclusion Even though there are more questions than answers in some areas I am facing 2023 with optimism in the knowledge that our grassbased system of farming gives us a competitive advantage over other milk production systems. Contrary to what the media would have us believe we have the best water quality in Europe with only Finland and Norway testing better than us. We know milk produced from the Irish dairy herd has the lowest carbon footprint in the EU and one of the lowest worldwide. However, there can be no doubt we have plenty of work to do and change is an everyday reality that we must become familiar with if we are to survive and prosper as dairy farmers.

Finally, it was never as important to look after our physical and mental wellbeing and remember to put farm safety as the highest priority.

Henry Walsh farms with his family at Oranmore Co. Galway.

Technology

Save Money and Manage Your Vet Records with VetLink Kingswood is renaming its market-leading Kingswood Mobile Cloud software as HerdHub.

T

his reflects its key focus on connecting the equipment that farmers use on a day-to-day basis (parlours, heat detection, drafting gates, weighing scales) and the external agencies that are critical to herd data collection – in particular vets, marts and factories.

Of all these links, probably the most immediately useful – in the sense of time and money saving – is VetLink. VetLink links the vet’s management software directly with the farmer’s database on the Kingswood server, thereby enabling the transfer of veterinary purchases and prescriptions details for use in Bord Bia audits. VetLink is compatible with the most commonly used vet management systems including Vetscope, VMS, Telios and Comtag.

Kingswood has constantly refined this facility over the years. It uses its own database of well over 1,000 commonly used drugs (and developed with the help of the HPRA – Health Products Regulatory Authority) to identify the product purchased and treated. From its up-to-date herd profile, it validates the animal numbers supplied by the vet or allows the farmer to specify the correct animal or group of animals dosed, injected or vaccinated.

What are the benefits of this sophisticated approach to Animal Remedy recording?

It means the farmer doesn’t have to fiddle with a phone every time he treats an animal (though the Kingswood phone app allows keen fiddlers to do this!). It means he doesn’t in desperation have to pay an outside agency to do his remedy recording. Most important of all, it means his veterinary records are integrated with his breeding and fertility records coming from the ICBF, milking parlour, heat detection unit or directly input into the Kingswood phone app. The benefits of this integrated approach should be obvious to any farmer, who has to make a decision about breeding, drying off or culling a cow.

Check out Kingswood’s HerdHub and VetLink facility by calling us at 087-2564486, emailing us at info@kingswood.ie or looking us up at www.kingswood.ie

KINGSWOOD VETLINK Bord Bia audits slowing you down?

Let Kingswood's VetLink facility take the pain out of Animal Remedies recording Direct link with your vet

- Direct link with your vet

Veterinary practice emails file containing medicine purchases and prescription details to the Ki gswood server.

Bord BiaBia reports automatically generated - Bord reports Kingswood Mobile processes purchases and prescriptions automatically generated to generate the key Bord Bia reports.

Save Money

No need to pay outside agencies to keep your Animal - Save Money Remedies records.

Integrated Herd Records

- Integrated Herdyour Records Kingswood Mobile integrates animal treatments with your other herd data such as breeding & fertility records.

Call Kingswood at +353 1 459 6677 for more info or Visit kingswood.ie IFB0219 ISSUE 1.qxp_Layout 1 07/03/2019 13:30 Page 1

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27

Slurry Storage

Slurry Storage What Are Your Options?

Prepared by Aidan Kelly of Agri Design & Planning Services (ADPS) Molough, Newcastle, Clonmel, Co Tipperary.

There are 3 main types of slurry storage • Lined Lagoon • Overground tank • Concrete tank (open or slatted) Indicatives Costs per €/m3 for net storage • Lined lagoon - €34 to €40 • Overground tank - €75 to €85 • Open concrete tank - €70 to €80 • Slatted tank - €80 to €100 Key points to remember • Dig out, fill and hard-core costs for concrete tank and lagoons.

Removed soil must go somewhere and there is a cost to do this.

• Cost of safety fence for lagoon and open concrete tank.

• Some councils do not allow Lagoons.

• Some council make planning difficult for overground tank • Rain water in a lagoons or open tank is also something to be consider.

• If you’re on-rocky ground somethings it is cheaper and easy to go overground

Lined Lagoon

Advantages • Most cost-effective way of storing large volume of slurry

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Farm Business >> SEE PAGE 22

>> SEE PAGE 46

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•

Construction is quick and normally complete within 2 weeks

Disadvantages • Planning permission for lagoons can be difficult to achieve in some councils • Some sites are not suitable for lagoons (very rocky areas) • A safely fence is required • Difficult to extent in the future • Dig out & fill and hard-core costs • The dig out material must go somewhere • Will need to be roofed in 2026 • Can take of large area of land • Liner is vulnerable to damage, especially when emptying • Surface-to-volume ratio is high, so it will collect a lot of rainwater • liners can have a limited lifespan • Unsuitable for areas with high water table as liner will float on groundwater

Overground tank

Advantages • Speed and ease of construction one week can have them completed • No dig out so work on 95% of all site • Can be safer option compared to open tanks • Great for existing yard looking for more slurry storage quickly

Slurry Storage

Disadvantages • Slurry needs to be pump up to tower from existing tanks.

• This is another job and cost some farmers don’t want • If green field site a reception tank is required adding significantly cost • Tank can be had to agitate even with propeller agitator fitted • Safety valves and safety wall are required to protect the tank from accidental damage • Some council will be required clay bunding of accidental damage or if tank were left open to control slurry run off • Reliant on pumps so not suitable for manures with high dry matter content • Will need to be roofed in 2026 • No safe access inside so unsuitable for bedding that settles • Danger of impact damage

Concrete tank

Advantages • If originally an open tank it can be slatted later and used to house animals • Can be used for two job slurry storage and animal housing • Some council prefer to grant for underground concrete slurry tanks over other slurry storage • Possible to extent in the future if required • Can be placed into existing building in farmyard and used as winter housing • If slatted no roof required with new regulation in 2026

Disadvantages • It is a more expensive option normal • Dig out & fill and hard-core costs • The dig out material must go somewhere • If an open concrete tank you will require a safely fence • Will need to be roofed in 2026 if open tank with no slat Contact Details: Agri Design & Planning Services (ADPS) Molough, Newcastle, Clonmel, Co Tipperary. 0857466211, Aidan@ADPS.ie www.adps.ie IFB0219 ISSUE 1.qxp_Layout 1 07/03/2019 13:30 Page 1

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CLIMATE CHANGE SOLUTIONS COW TOILET: FACT OR FANTASY?

FINANCE CHANGING FARM STRUCTURES

Farm Business >> SEE PAGE 22

>> SEE PAGE 46

>> SEE PAGE 38

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29

Grassland Management

Foliar Feeding Urea Plus Potassium Humate Proven To Reduce Nitrogen Use By 50%

B

ased on trials completed in New Zealand in 2013, Nigel Howells undertook an important three-year trial on four farms in Wales. The trials, undertaken in conjunction with EIP Wales and supported

by Farming Connect, were completed in 2021 and produced results which have important implications for not only dairy farmers, but livestock farmers in general.

Most nitrogen fertiliser is applied as solid prills and rely on soil biology to convert the N into NO3- (nitrate) molecules for uptake by plants. Ireland has above average levels of rainfall, which means there is greater potential for nitrate loss by leaching. Best practice matches application to periods of growth, therefore, and foliar feeding programmes enable this.

While reducing nitrogen inputs use has already been legislated for, in an era of prohibitively expensive fertiliser, improving Nitrogen Use Efficiency (NUE) (and reducing N use) is key to farm profitability and sustainability.

This trial proved conclusively that foliar feeding urea that was stabilised using potassium humate increased NUE by up to 400% on grazing systems and 200-300% on silage ground. In addition, there is little scorching with urea treated this way.

As a result of the trials, farmers should, realistically, be able to half their nitrogen inputs while maintaining grass yields.

Under poor growing conditions, foliar fed systems achieved higher yields, as nutrient uptake via the roots is compromised in a cold/wet/dry soil environment.

Furthermore, foliar fed grass has higher DM% and sugars.

For further details, Nigel Howells can be contacted on 07973 545056. High quality potassium humate (Powhumus®) is available through Aphaeas Agriculture www.aphaeas-agri.com and approved agents.

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CLIMATE CHANGE SOLUTIONS COW TOILET: FACT OR FANTASY?

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Farm Business >> SEE PAGE 22

>> SEE PAGE 46

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No.1 in Holland & USA. 25mm floor, 22mm Auger and 8mm side walls

CUBICLE BEDDERS

Kubota diesel or Honda petrol engines, 85cm Brush, Quality Components.

Made in Germany

JOHN O’DONNELL | TEL: 086 2497983 | EMAIL: anneragri@gmail.com WEB: www.anneragri.com | Killaloan, Clonmel, Co. Tipperary

Animal Health

Effective Foot-bathing

Without Antibiotics The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) has issued advice warning against the ‘off label’ use of soluble antibiotic powders such as erythromycin and lincomycin in footbaths to treat lameness in dairy cows. The unauthorised use of antibiotics carries a significant risk to public health, due to potential residues in milk and meat, antimicrobial resistance and environmental contamination. Alternatives to antibiotics must be the first choice for use in footbaths as part of a prevention programme to control lameness.

F

oot-bathing for lameness control helps to reduce the incidence of new infections and improve the condition of the hoof - effective foot-bathing can reduce lameness by up to 70%! Renowned cattle veterinarian Roger Blowey, FRCVS steadfastly advises fellow farmers to treat hoof issues as you would treat mastitis and footbath all milking cows daily, just like teat dipping. He emphasises that for effective control of lameness, prevention is the best approach. He also asserts that greater economic benefit comes from foot-bathing more frequently than any other animal health change made on farm.

Mortellaro, or digital dermatitis (DD), is an infectious condition and one of the major causes of lameness reducing mobility, comfort, feed intake, milk yield and fertility. This infectious condition can spread quickly through the entire herd and can reduce milk yield by at least one litre per cow per day. Foot-bathing throughout the year consistently keeps the number of lame cows to a low number and is an important way to reduce the DD challenge.

Footbath solution

Formaldehyde and copper sulphate are the most commonly used non-antibiotic footbaths and both have issues for sustained use. These chemicals quickly become ineffective when in contact with organic matter so choosing a scientifically proven footbath solution which also has robust on-farm data is important. A clinical trial by the Royal Veterinary College compared Hoofsure Endurance to formalin. 90 cows were involved in a 24 week split footbath study. Results after 12 weeks showed Hoofsure Endurance to be 19% more effective than formalin*. The Journal of Dairy Science published a study comparing Hoofsure Endurance to copper sulphate. After 9 weeks, Hoofsure Endurance was 7% more effective than copper sulphate at reducing the incidence of lesions*.

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While foot-bathing plays a vital role in preventing many lameness conditions, topical applications to lesions is required where infection rates or pressure are high.

Hoofsure Endurance can be used as a 25% topical spray in conjunction with or as an alternative to foot-bathing. Provita Konquest Gel (see image 1) is a unique concentrated blend with potent penetrating action and advanced bio-adhesion properties. Can be used with or without a bandage on those larger lesions. Provita Combat is a unique film-forming spray which provides long-lasting activity, it can be used easily in the parlour.

New Developments

Spraying infected animals with 25% Hoofsure Endurance Solution Hoofsure Endurance can be used as a 25% topical spray using an acid resistant sprayer in conjunction with or as an alternative to footbathing. This involves 4 simple steps: 1. Clean feet if necessary.

2. Do not overfill the sprayer, leave at least 1 litre space at the top. If overfilled and/or over pumped the sprayer will be damaged.

3. Spray feet with Provita Hoofsure Endurance (1 part product to 3 parts water).

4. Apply for three consecutive days.

For further information please contact Whelehan Animal health at 01 4688900. *References available on request

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Farm Business

Farm Business

PARLOUR PROTOCOLS

PARLOUR PROTOCOLS

>> SEE PAGE 22

32

Topical application

>> SEE PAGE 46

>> SEE PAGE 38

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NATURALLY BETTER than formaldehyde and copper

Increase productivity and reduce lameness with Hoofsure Endurance – the safe, clinically proven and cost-effective footbath: Clinically proven – Active organic formulation that helps to clean feet and prevent lameness. Up to 44% more effective than copper and formaldehyde.*

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Safe to use & dispose – Biodegradable, natural footbath solution that’s better for the environment and safer for animal and human health.

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20 litre Hoofsure Endurance 5000 COWS

MORE COWS PER LITRE! Contact Whelehan Animal Health on: (01) 5742410 PROVITA EUROTECH Ltd. 21 Bankmore Road, Omagh, Co. Tyrone, Northern Ireland, BT79 0EU Tel: +44 (0)28 8225 2352 Fax: +44 (0)28 8224 1734 FREEPHONE 0800 3284982 Email: info@provita.co.uk www.provita.co.uk

Milking Options

Late Lactation Once-A-Day Milking: An Option To Improve Work Life Balance?

A summary provided by Emer Kennedy, Michael O’Donovan, John Paul Murphy and Kieran McCarthy - Teagasc, Animal and Grassland Research and Innovation Centre, Moorepark, Fermoy, Co. Cork, Ireland

A

s the year is starting to draw to a close for many it is time to take a rest after a long year and recharge before calving starts again in earnest next spring. As unemployment levels fell to a 21-year low this year (4.2% in July) it is becoming increasingly more difficult to source labour to work on farms. Consequently, alternative methods of reducing labour input on farms need to be identified and also help improve work life balance. Milking is regarded as one of the most labour intense tasks on the farm, followed by cow care, where the majority of time is attributed to winter feeding. Reducing the number of milkings per week, particularly in autumn/early winter when cows are potentially also being fed indoors, is an efficient way to reduce labour demand on the farm.

Over the past number of years a series of experiments have been undertaken at Teagasc Moorepark looking at once-a-day (OAD) milking, both on a long-term and short-term basis. Short-term OAD milking is often used as a tool at different stages of lactation e.g. during early lactation to reduce workload. Milking OAD in late lactation (autumn) was also investigated for those wanting to reduce labour input at the end of the year.

As part of this study cows, which were milked twice-a-day (TAD) from calving, were changed to OAD 11-weeks before dry off (~ last week of September), a second group were changed from TAD to OAD seven weeks before dry off (~ last week of October). Their production

was compared to cows which were milked TAD for the entire lactation.

During the autumn study period cows were grazing high quality grass and were offered 2 kg DM/day of concentrate.

Decision rules for drying off Although a target dry off date was identified, as the cows were approaching the end of lactation decision rules surrounding dry-off were put in place, as some cows needed to be dried before the target date for a variety of reasons. Cows were dried if they were: • Milking less than 5 kg/day • Within 8 weeks of calving • BCS <2.75 within 10-weeks of calving • SCC did not reduce following treatment for a clinical infection • SCC >500,000 for two consecutive weeks

Effect of OAD milking in autumn on milk production As is generally the case when milking OAD milk production dropped immediately. During the first four weeks of OAD milk yield was 19% lower when compared with cows being milked TAD (Table

Table 1. Comparison of twice-a-day milking (TAD) with once-a-day (OAD) 11-weeks before dry off (OAD11) or 7-weeks before dry off (OAD7) on milk yield

Table 2. Comparison of twice-a-day milking (TAD) with once-a-day (OAD) 11-weeks before dry off (OAD11) or 7-weeks before dry off (OAD7) on milk solids yield IFB0219 ISSUE 1.qxp_Layout 1 07/03/2019 13:30 Page 1

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Farm Business >> SEE PAGE 22

>> SEE PAGE 46

>> SEE PAGE 38

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Milking Options 1). Interestingly, milking OAD caused milk yields to reduce faster towards the end of lactation compared to TAD milking. After eleven weeks of OAD milking cows were yielding 37% less milk compared to cows being milked TAD (12.8 kg/cow/day). However, the relative production loss with OAD milking is less in late lactation compared with early lactation, as milk volumes are considerably lower in late lactation than early lactation.

Milk solids yield (kg fat + kg protein) reduced by 11% in the first four weeks after cows changed from TAD to OAD milking. The difference between the cows being milked OAD and TAD increased to 20% the longer the time cows were on OAD milking. After 11-weeks of late lactation OAD milking the cows were producing 0.8 kg milk solids/day while the TAD cows were yielding 1.2 kg milk solids/day.

immediate increase in SCC. Although the SCC reduces somewhat, the longer the cows are being milked OAD, it is always higher than cows being milked TAD. On average the SCC was 12% higher with OAD cows compared to TAD cows. It is clear that if a farm is switching to OAD milking in late lactation SCC needs to be below 100,000 cells/ ml. If there are a number of cows with high SCC they should be dried before the herd is switched to OAD. Of course high standards of hygiene need to be maintained and a good milking routine implemented. As cows are only coming through the parlour once per day it is important to be vigilant and take extra care when checking for mastitis.

Effect of OAD milking in autumn on SCC

Although there are significant drops in milk yield the positive is a reduction in the labour required. When the amount of time saved was examined there was a big difference between OAD and TAD milking.

Milking cows OAD reduced milking time by 43% compared to milking

One of the risks with OAD milking is an increase in somatic cell count (SCC). When switching to OAD milking in late lactation there is an

Labour saving

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35

Milking Options twice daily. The time saving was calculated using only ‘cups on’ or actual milking time as estimates of other tasks e.g. collecting and returning cows to paddocks depends on farm layout and herd size etc., and is quite farm specific. Although milking time is dramatically reduced in reality the time saving would be much greater when all tasks are included i.e. collecting and returning cows to the paddock and washing yards etc. after milking. Once the cows are milked at the same time every day it does not matter what time of day they are milked at, morning, midday or evening, therefore milking time can be selected to best fit with the farmer’s requirements.

Factors which need to be considered Switching to OAD milking in the autumn may not be suitable for everyone and it certainly needs to be questioned when milk price is currently so high. Furthermore, given increases in SCC with OAD milking in late lactation it may not be suitable for all herds; the decision regarding switching needs to be made on an individual farm level. But, that said on farms where it is suitable OAD milking in late lactation can free up a lot of extra time at this time of year and ensure the batteries are recharged heading into next spring!

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Farm Business >> SEE PAGE 22

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Parts Now Available

BOBMAN Bedding Machines

online bobman.ie

BOBMAN -Value Your Time

CLEANS 150 CUBICLES IN UNDER 5 MINUTES Features z 3 in 1 – All Bobman bedding machines scrape the slats, brush the cubicle bed and

spread an even layer of bedding. z Bobman Bedding machines can spread all types of bedding, including Lime or

powder disinfectant, sawdust, chopped straw, peat bed, paper mulch and more. z Bobman Bedding machines can also be fitted with a disinfectant sprayer to spray

the cubicle bed. z Using a Bobman will reduce farm workload, saving the average farm over 1 hour

per day. z Cleaning the beds and shed with a Bobman regularly will help to reduce herd

disease and cell count. z The majority of herds using a Bobman will reduce their use of bedding materials. z Using a Bobman reduces the risk of physical injury to farmers or their employees

whilst cleaning the cow shed.

Moreway Ltd 086 8130876 or 01 5332875 Email - info@bobman.ie web www.bobman.ie

Herd Support

How to Support Your Herd During the Transition Period Ahead of Spring Calving How to be Proactive throughout the Transition Period?

I

t is no secret that the transition period is the most important period in a lactating cows lifecycle. 3 weeks prior to calving, right through to 3 weeks post calving, cows will undergo major changes and challenges as they dry-off, calve and re-enter the milking herd.

During this time, it is imperative that these cows receive first class management, with rigid protocols in place. In order to provide the best support possible, it’s important to understand how the transition period affects production, reproduction, overall health and how this in turn, effects profitability and efficiency.

Key Factors There are many factors that affect the transition period. In order to set cows up for success in their next lactation, cows must be properly managed in their previous lactation. Following correct drying -off protocols are important for avoiding challenges around this time and to establish the transition period on the right path. Many environmental factors also contribute to the success of the transition period, such as temperature, bedding, stock density etc.

How to be Proactive throughout the Transition Period?

Routine protocols can benefit the transition period greatly. Supporting the entire herd will significantly improve overall animal health, production, reproduction and longevity – which is the main goal – having healthier cows, producing quality milk, in the herd for longer.

AHV have designed the Transition Protocol for grass-based systems, to be used during this period in order to support the cow at calving and during her lactation.

• At the first signs of calving administer AHV Milk Start Tablets – this will support the cow for mineral deficiencies at the point of calving.

• After the cow has just calved an abundance of support is required.

She will be lacking in energy, and we want the cow to begin eating as soon as possible, therefore AHV advise administering a combination of AHV Metri Tablet and Milk Start Paste. The Metri will cleanse the Uterus of the placenta and Milk Start will encourage the cow to eat, whilst also supplying a large boost of IFB0219 ISSUE 1.qxp_Layout 1 07/03/2019 13:30 Page 1

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Farm Business >> SEE PAGE 22

>> SEE PAGE 46

>> SEE PAGE 38

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Energy, Calcium, Phosphate, Magnesium and active Vitamin D3. AHV Aspi can also be given at this stage to provide recovery support.

• AHV Booster tablet is also administered post calving to reduce Negative Energy Balance (NEB) by improving rumen and liver function. The optimal time to administer the Booster tablet is 2 weeks prior to calving, but this is not practical on a grass based, spring block calving system. Therefore, the advice is; the sooner the better to reduce the risk of NEB in early lactation.

• 7-10 days post calving – AHV Extra tablet and Aspi tablet to cleanse out the udder tissue and start the lactation with a healthy, well-balanced udder.

Metabolically, prior to calving, the cow’s body is operating one way, but immediately after calving the body begins to operate in a different way. After calving, the demand for minerals and energy increases. In response to this change, challenges can occur as the immune system will be temporarily compromised. If we take a proactive approach and support the herd of cows with these essentials by implementing them in a routine protocol, you are fully supporting your cows through this critical period. A herd that is supported correctly, is a healthier herd that has a higher chance of being fully productive, and therefore, more profitable to the farm.

AHV Ethos At AHV we understand every farm is different, with different pressures and challenges. If you are faced with challenges during the transition period, it is important to remember that due to increasing resistance, efficacy may be decreased, and your current standard of protocols may need to be readjusted. Your AHV Area Consultant will be on hand in these instances to adjust and advise on the best protocol practice for your farm.

For more information on implementation of the AHV Transition Program ahead of the upcoming calving season, or any AHV Protocol, get in touch.

Call the office now on +353 5786 88858 or email ireland@ahvint.com and we will put you in touch with your Local Area Consultant.

With our tailor-made protocols, AHV can support you in making your herd more productive and efficient.

AHV CALVING PACK SUPPORT YOUR HERD DURING THE TRANSITION PERIOD AND CALVING SEASON WITH AHV! Scan me!

Make an appointment with your local AHV consultant to see how we can support your farm this calving season.

Animal Health Vision Ireland Ltd // 057 868 8858 // www.ahvint.co.uk //

Milk Hygiene

Achieving Low Bacterial Counts In Bulk Tank Milk Actions required to maximise the effective operation of automatic washers for milking equipment. Lorna Twomey and David Gleeson, Teagasc, Animal and Grassland Research and Innovation Centre, Moorepark, Fermoy, Co Cork.

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s Irish dairy farmers approach the end of their second season producing milk using non-chlorine chemicals for cleaning many flaws still exist in the wash routine on the majority of farms; but particularly on farms with automated washing systems.

These flaws are preventing the achievement of pristine milking equipment hygiene and low bacterial counts and were observed during a recently conducted Teagasc study focusing on milk quality management on commercial dairy farms. The basis for these flaws was a lack of awareness about the day-to-day operations and features of automatic washers on milking machines and to a lesser extent bulk tanks. Many farmers were unaware of the frequency of hot washes, if these washes were acid or caustic, cycle times and how much detergent they were actually using. In many cases the actual frequencies, temperatures and chemical usage rates were observed to be suboptimal and the root causes of elevated TBC, thermoduric counts and milk residue build up on equipment surfaces.

Admittedly automatic washers were conceived and installed to reduce labour requirements and save time on farms which they undoubtedly do but like any machine they require regular monitoring and calibration to ensure that they are working correctly, which is even more vital now when chlorine free chemicals are used. As the dry

period approaches on many spring calving dairy farms machines will be dormant for a period and will most probably receive their yearly service. Take advantage of this to check the operations and calibration of your auto washer and take action where necessary; but be mindful that these checks can be and should be undertaken at multiple points throughout lactation.

Monitoring the operation of your automatic washer & milking plant:

Detergent Usage 1. To know how much detergent or acid is required at each wash it is necessary to establish the water volumes used for both rinsing and washing the machine. This can be deduced by measuring the wash trough via the following formula: • Length (cm) x Width (cm) x Height (cm) • The trough height measured is based on the water level used for either the rinse only or the detergent wash cycle. The detergent wash cycle water line mark is almost always lower than that for the rinse water only. Where the width of the trough is tapered

Using graduated containers to determine how much acid descaler and caustic detergent the automatic washer is using.

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Milk Hygiene •

measure the widths at both the top and bottom of the trough; get the average width and use this in your calculations.

Divide the answer (that you get from the above formula) by 1000 to convert to litres. Divide the volume by the number of milking units that you have to determine the volume available per unit.

The target volume per unit is 14 litres/ unit for rinsing and a minimum of 9 litres/ units for washing.

A wash trough calculator is also available on the Teagasc milk quality webpage: https://www.teagasc.ie/rural-economy/farmmanagement/farm-machinery/machinery-calibration/dairywash-trough-calculator/

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2. Ascertain the usage rates of the chemicals that you are using by reading the label on the drum. Please note that most chemicals will have a different usage rate for hot and cold washes as a greater chemical volume is needed for cold washing (to compensate for the lower temperature).

3. Calculate how much detergent your machine requires by multiplying the volume of water used for washing by the usage rate declared on the product label; For example; • Hot wash rate: 200 litres x 0.7% = 1.4 litres of detergent required • Cold wash rate/ acid rate: 200 litres x 1% = 2.00 litres of detergent required • Some products describe the usage rate in a way such as 400mls per 45 litres of water. In such cases you divide the volume of water that you have available for washing by the stated volume on the label and multiply the answer by the detergent volume.

For example; 200 litres/ 45 litres = 4.44 x 400mls = 1.78 litres of detergent required.

4. Check to see if your auto washer is using the correct amounts of detergent. This can be done by; • Placing a volume of chemical into a jug • The volume in the jug must be greater than the volume needed by the machine.

• The bottom of the pipe must be touching the bottom of the jug to maximise “suck up” capacity.

• Take care not to mix up the “suck up” pipes – blue pipe for caustic detergent and red pipe for acid.

• Use appropriate protective equipment when handling chemicals and ensure that open jugs cannot be easily accessed by pets or children.

5. Run the wash cycle as normal.

6. Check the jug to see what volume of detergent remains after the wash and subtract the volume that remained from the initial volume placed in the jug to deduce how much was used.

7. Check if the amount used agrees with the calculation from step 3 above.

8. This exercise must be undertaken separately for hot caustic, cold caustic and acid washes.

9. In the event of over or under use contact your service technician to recalibrate the auto washer.

Biggest issue with automatic milking machine cleaning: a. Usage settings not allowing for increased usage rates required for cold circulation cleaning.

This same method can be used to calculate both acid and caustic chemical usage rates on milking machines and bulk tanks. A bulk tank should use a volume of water that is equivalent to 1 – 2% of the tanks

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volume for washing.

For example; 5,000 litre tank x 1.5% = 75 litres of water used for washing 75 litres x 0.7% = 525mls of detergent required for a hot wash.

It is recommended that a bulk tank is descaled at least every 3rd collection. If using a fully automatic system and you do not know the frequency of descaling your tank ask your tank technician to check this and set it up if necessary; at the correct volumes.

Biggest issue regarding bulk tank cleaning on farms: a. Detergent suck up tubes in the wrong drums (Red for acid, Blue for detergent). b. No acid being used.

Hot Wash Temperature 1. Check the temperature of the hot wash solution just before it is drawn into the machine for washing; it should be 75 – 80oC at the start of the cycle. Do not depend on the temperature of the water on the thermostat or the tap as this is not reflective of temperature in the trough.

• If the hot wash temperature is not reaching these levels; have your heating system inspected by a professional and adjusted to achieve these temperatures if possible.

• Reduce the amount of time that it takes to fill the trough with hot water to reduce heat loss by: • Increasing the water pressure • Increasing the diameter of the pipe filling the trough • Cover the trough to minimize heat loss with either a steel or perspex lid.

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To effectively wash a machine with chlorine free liquid chemicals a minimum of seven hot washes are required. Three acid washes are also required and these can be included in or applied in addition to the seven hot washes. When calculating the costs associated with daily or twice daily hot circulation cleaning the reduced usage (30%) of chemicals required per wash should be considered.

Detergent Circulation Time Eight to ten minutes is a more than sufficient amount of time for a hot wash to circulate in the milking machine. Circulation of detergent solutions for >10 minutes will likely result in the solution temperature dropping below 45 oC which has a negative effect on cleaning efficiency. It would be advisable to stay in the dairy during a wash cycle and time the wash on your phone or watch to see if it is within this recommended time frame and if not have it adjusted by your service technician.

Machine Drainage Observe the milking plant to see whether it is draining effectively.

Drain points are usually located near the milk pump in the pit (to drain the receiving vessel) and on the wash line (in low line plants).

These may be automatically operated or need to be manually opened.

Either way it is vital that they serve their purpose and expel as much water from the plant as possible between wash cycles. Poor drainage can result in low circulation temperatures in hot wash solutions due to the mixing of retained cold rinse water with hot detergent solutions.

Thereby, reducing the efficacy of the wash and wasting energy and money heating water that cannot be used to its full potential.

Poor drainage of final rinse water can also have a negative impact on milk residue levels; especially where chlorinated water (which will almost always contain chlorate) is used for cleaning. Water containing chlorate that remains in the plant will enter the bulk milk tank as it will mix with the first milk through the line. Therefore, this is liable to cause chlorate contamination of the bulk milk tank.

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Milk Hygiene

Utilise Useful Features Warm rinse - Some types of auto washers are fitted with a function allowing a post milking warm rinse to be conducted; 300 C-35oC is sufficient as it will aid in the removal of milk fat deposits and is very beneficial during late lactation when fat levels in milk are higher. It also serves to keep the pipework warm which will contribute towards the maintenance of the temperature during the hot circulation cycle provided all other aspects of the machine are working correctly.

The amount of water sent to waste is based on time and is adjusted until the water temperature is suitable for circulation. Only after the appropriate temperature is reached will the detergent be added to the trough. This discarded water will be the cold water that remained in the plant since the post-milking rinse. This function combined with effective drainage of the plant, adequate initial water temperature and adequate detergent usage rates can maximise the efficacy of your hot wash and therefore, it’s cleaning ability, which will maximise your chances of having a clean plant with low bacterial counts in bulk milk.

Discarding the first of the wash solution through the line - Some types of auto washers have the facility to discard the first portion of water that goes through the machine at the beginning of the hot circulation wash.

To see if you can avail of these useful features contact your service technician.

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Milk deposits on both the claw bowl and the milk level in the receiver jar because of inadequate hot washing with inadequate amounts of caustic detergent.

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A steel lid on the wash trough reduces heat loss from the hot wash; thereby improving the circulation temperature of the wash solution and the efficacy of the subsequent clean.

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Check the temperature of the hot wash solution in the wash trough prior to circulation. The hot wash should begin with a solution temperature of 75 – 80oC and finish at no less than 45 oC.

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Carbon Footprint

Your Carbon Footprint Is Fast Becoming The Key Indicator Of Farm Efficiency The greatest source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions on farms is methane gas (CH4) which is produced in the rumen and released via the mouth while bovine animals are ruminating.

Writes Gerry Carty, Chief Agri Technologist with Moonsyst.

Carbon footprint ratio:

The carbon footprint on your farm is calculated as the ratio of total (GHG) emissions versus the outputs of the farm enterprise i.e., fats and protein from dairy or live weight gain for beef. Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions amount to 2.35kg CO2-e per litre of milk produced on farm.

Vastly improving and maintaining a lower ratio will be the key to a successful farm enterprise in the future. Inputs like fertiliser and feed will not only be measured in actual costs but in its ability to deliver efficiency in the reduction of the farms carbon footprint.

Improving your carbon footprint:

As replacement heifers come into the milking herd, they already have a (GHG) negative balance as the carbon footprint of raising such animals has had nothing to offset itself against other than live weight gain. Performing a life cycle assessment on all farm animals will not only assess the commercial viability of the animal it will in future consider her carbon footprint as a measurement across the entire herd. Improving overall animal health will reduce GHG per litre/kilo produced thus reducing the replacement rate and increase production and profitability.

Improving the Economic Breeding Index (EBI) of your herd by selecting high-EBI AI bulls for your better dairy cows and replacement heifers will see an increase in productivity such as milk solids. The management and performance of first lactation cows is crucial, as any drop in output as a result of illness will affect the long-term carbon footprint of the animal.

The importance of farm data:

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based on precise information has always been promoted as best farming practice. Simply put, without data you are reliant on opinions or comparative actions from a previous experience.

Farmers have become keen observers of animal behaviour and are extremely sensitive to the changes associated with illness or unusual signals especially at the latter stages as symptoms or behaviour start to become more apparent. Farmers are willing participants when it comes to tackling illness and with the expert advice of their veterinary surgeon create a treatment plan that sometimes requires the use of antibiotic therapeutics.

Catching illness early is key:

The most common illnesses that can have a negative effect on your profitability but also your carbon footprint are listed below: • Mastitis • Metritis • Pneumonia • Lung infections • Digital Dermatitis • Milk fever • Lameness • Fertility issues Animal recovery is a time-consuming exercise which can involve daily intervention to provide the recommended treatments, some illnesses require milk withdrawal and isolation from the herd depending on the complaint. Had the illness presented milder symptoms that were observed earlier this could have led to a much more effective recovery plan both in labour, treatment costs and recovery time for the animal.

Carbon Footprint Temperature monitoring, the future is here:

Early detection of illness is fast becoming a must for all dairy herds, the ability to receive confirmed notification that an animal is starting to become unwell is vital to herd management. Body core temperature monitoring has been proven to be a trusted source providing accurate data to indicate early detection of disease or illness. Herd insight is paramount when managing large cow numbers, with limited labour resources you can now target the animals most needing your attention quickly.

Irish Farm Business Dairying recently spoke with Gerry Carty of Moonsyst International an Irish based company that provides a cattle monitoring solution that uses a rumen bolus sensor to alert the farmer of health, heat, and sustainability events with his/her herd.

Once administered, the bolus settles in the rumen (specifically reticulum) where it will remain for the lifetime of the animal. The bolus starts to measure key indicators of health including body core temperature, changes indicating health issues or illness, events associated with active or silent oestrous cycle events, pre-calving signals, and many other data sets related to cow behaviour. If a prolonged elevated temperature change or an anomaly becomes obvious, the system collects the animal’s data makes a comparative analysis and sends an alert to the farmer indicating that the animal requires attention.

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Reduced feed costs.

Focus on sustainability and animal health.

Probiotics over antibiotics.

Automatic integration to other farm systems.

Future of Irish farming

The challenges that farmers have in protecting the environment are real. With more pressure being put on the industry to cut herd size and reduce their carbon footprint, solutions driven by joined up thinking at government level and good technology are the way forward to protect both the environment and family farm incomes.

Solutions like Moonsyst exists to support farmers achieve their reduction goals.

Some of the benefits Moonsyst described for dairy farmers include: • Optimised reproduction rate.

• Reduced labour costs.

• Early disease/heat stress detection.

• Higher milk yield.

• Removal of stock bull.

• Individual animal history, improving EBI. • Optimise calving system.

• Reduced cost of Artificial Insemination (AI).

• Less use of antibiotics.

• Reduced veterinary bills.

• Enhanced herdsmanship.

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Animal Bedding

Animal Bedding

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ottenham Timber, established in 2003 is a family run business providing specialist supply & services within the Forestry, Farming and Animal Bedding sectors. We are one of Irelands leading independent suppliers of Quality Animal Bedding for the agricultural, equine & industrial sectors, providing a nationwide delivery service throughout all of Ireland & the Uk. Various grades of high quality Sawdust, Woodchip, Woodshavings are available to choose from in stock.

Tottenham Timber provide a wide range of supply options from single pallet deliveries to bulk walking floors using our in-house fleet of vehicles for our animal bedding supply. We strive to have a product and suitable delivery option for all our clients depending on their various circumstances.

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Animal Handling

Low Cost Crush Accessories Cattle crush attachments that increase safety in animal handling.

By Paul Lyons

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n the past 10 years, 9 people who were handling livestock didn’t make it to bed that night. Nine families were decimated with the loss of a Father, Brother; Mother, Son, Daughter or Sister being taken in tragic circumstances involving livestock.

As upsetting as these figures from the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) are, they are not a surprise. Working in farm building and farm yard design, I come across stories of fatalities, injuries and near misses all the time. They range from the shocking to the comical but all hint at one theme; if you have poor facilities, the risk of incidents are high.

While it is not always feasible to completely redesign your crush race, in this article, I am going to focus on low cost improvements to a cattle race than can add safety, give peace of mind and reduce ‘questionable’ practices!

Anti backing bars

Backing bars are without doubt a cost effective way of improving cattle crush safety and a firm feature now on almost all Irish farms. The principle is that once an animal moves forward in a crush race, the backing bar can be placed behind them to stop them ‘backing up’ the crush. There are a number of versions available that can be manually slid into place or have springs so that they automatically function one the animal passes. Backing bars are indispensible when it comes to TB testing or simple encouraging a large animal to stand still or move forward to engage the crush head gate. They are a particular relief to Vets and AI technicians who have the enviable job of entering a crush race and approach an animal from the rear. Should the mechanism in a head gate fail, a backing bar is another failsafe to keep the animal from crushing a person in the race.

One thing to note before you buy a backing bar is to know the diameter of your crush panel or tube as it is essential that the backing bar matches the crush or it will not work. There are also varying designs so do your homework beforehand to ensure the backing bar is of good quality and will it will do what you expect it to do.

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Figure 1 – Spring loaded anti backing gate

Figure 2 – Manual Anti backing bar

Animal Handling

Crush Squeeze/Crush Fingers

Hoof Lifter

Figure 3 – Crush squeeze/Crush fingers

Figure 4 - Hoof lifter

The principle for this piece of equipment is very similar to an anti backing bar. A tubular bar can be inserted behind the animal. A set of fingers that are hinged allow the bar to be rolled forward and push the animal up to the head gate. This helps reduce the amount of movement of the animal and makes for safer operations if dosing, reading tags/ TB testing etc. This unit can be bought from a number of suppliers and easily attached to an existing crush race.

The crush squeeze has the added benefit that it is fixed to the crush race whereas a backing bar generally relies on friction with the crush tube to stay in place. The down side is that the crush squeeze is not a portable device and is fixed to a given crush race.

Price guide - €200 to €250 Inc VAT

Hoof care in cows is a constant headache on farms of all sizes. Whilst specialist contractors are now very popular to deal with hoof issues, it is possible to add an attachment to a cattle race to enable to safe lifting of a leg for inspection and treatment. As with all of the devices described here, there are various designs and quality of builds available so its important to shop around and do your homework before you buy. Figure 4 shows a typical hoof lifter, it works by clamping to the tubular bars of the race. It then has a ratchet operated winch to allow the lifting of the animal’s leg. The hoof lifter is also easily portable and can be easily moved from one crush to another.

Price guide - €300 to €4000 Inc VAT

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Animal Handling

Crush Mate

Crush races are often designed with a set width of crush to suit a variety of sizes and age of animal. Problems occur when trying to handle young stock. Some of the more elaborate mobile crush systems/ crate allow for the narrowing of a crush around the animal however it was difficult in the past to implement this feature in a fixed crush race.

Crush mate is a new Irish product that can now allow for narrowing a crush race to suit a smaller animal and prevent side to side movement.

This will immobilise the young animal and allow for safe inspection, treatment etc. The device is adjustable and can be fitted to most crush side gates and rails. It was developed primarily to help with freeze branding however it is also useful for castrating, clipping, testing and also training of heifers before beginning use with robot milking machines.

Price guide - €325 Inc VAT

Figure 5 – Crush mate restraining a young animal

Figure 5 – Crush mate restraining a young animal

Figure 6 - crush mate kit

Head scoop/lifter

The power in the neck of a large animal can often be under estimated.

A head scoop is an invaluable piece of equipment for dosing, bolusing and ringing bulls. They have been around for some time and of all the accessories described here, they are probably the most expensive; however I have yet to encounter someone who fitted one and now wants to take it out.

A head scoop is fixed to the same post as the crush head gate, once the handle is pushed down, a ratchet mechanism means the travel of the scoop is one way until the release handle it operated. This means that a large animals head can be incrementally raised until in a suitable position to give a bolus or dose.

There are many designs on the market and the features that set them apart are how easy they are to remove from the head gate and how easy they are to release. The release mechanism is the key to the whole device. Head scoops incorporate a powerful leverage action and as such it is possible to cause injury to an animal, it’s very important that the scoop can be disengaged easily even from the largest of animals.

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Figure 6 - crush mate kit Safety around handling of animals in crush races might be a life or death affair especially if the design of the race leaves the user vulnerable or with limited choices but to take risks in order to complete the work being carried out. In this article, I have given a short introduction to a number of crush accessories that with a small investment can great enhance the safety and usability of a cattle crush race. One big thing to take away is that there is a lot of variation of devices out there, shop carefully, cheap may not equal safe.

Paul Lyons is a Design Engineer with Bó Steel Ltd who specialise in cattle handling solutions. paul.lyons@built2last.ie

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Animal Health

Safeguarding Your Calving – New Easy To Use Range Launched An exciting new range of supplements to help the farmer during calving season have been launched.

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nder the FIRST DEFENCE branding, six different easy to use products are available.

They are all high quality formulations designed to quickly address common issues at calving and are colourfully packaged so that they can be easily found on a busy farm!

The six products are: 1. Day One – a probiotic calf paste with added colostrum and energy for early health 2. Scourlyte – an instant rehydration tonic for early signs of scour 3. Rumenade – for rapid rumen recovery after infection 4. Lifesaver – an energy drench for ketosis 5. TripleCal – a fast acting calcium drench for milk fever 6. Recharger – a fresh cow drink for after calving.

All products are available directly online at a very easy to use shopping site at www.calvingfirstdefence. com. They have plenty of promotional offers so a visit to the site is definitely worthwhile.

SAFEGUARDING YOUR CALVING FIRST DEFENCE have developed a new range of products to make your calving season easier and more productive.

The range is a simple to use high quality solution to all the common calving risks including: Milk Fever, Ketosis, Scour, Ill Thrift and a slow transition into lactation.

20% OFF

Purchase 2 or moreFirst Defence items.

Valid until 31/12/2022.

Apply code at checkout

EYNE9RTADF20

www.calvingfirstdefence.com

Terms and conditions apply see belowfor details.

Terms and Conditions: The following terms and conditions apply in addition tothe Promotersstandard terms and conditions for the sal e of goodsas amended from time to time. Whenyou redeem this voucher you are deemed to accept these terms and conditions. Purchase required, minimum of2 items or more(max spend 600 Euro). The voucher is available to all residents of the United Kingdom & Ireland who are aged 18 years and over except employees of First Defence, their immediate families or anyone professionally associated with First Defence. The voucher is limited to one transaction per customer and can be redeemed against orders made online. Delivery charges and restrictions may apply. The voucher is valid until 31/12/22 and cannot be used after this date. It is non transferable and cannot be exchanged for cash, credit or gift vouchers, used in conjunction with any other voucher, or redeemed against First Defence gift cards. This voucher will not be replaced if lost, stolen or damaged. The promoter is First Defence.

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CLIMATE CHANGE SOLUTIONS COW TOILET: FACT OR FANTASY?

FINANCE CHANGING FARM STRUCTURES

Farm Business >> SEE PAGE 22

>> SEE PAGE 46

>> SEE PAGE 38

IRISH

Volume 6 Issue 1 Spring 2019 Edition Price 3.95 £2.95 (Stg)

DAIRYING

PARLOUR PROTOCOLS HELP THE COW & THE MILKING PERSONNEL

FARM DESIGN DEVELOP A LONG-TERM PLAN FORYOUR FARM

Machinery News

Merlo Reports Growth In Irish Market Merlo telehandlers distributor in Ireland, McHale Plant Sales, is reporting a buoyant sales performance again this year.

O

n foot of year-on-year growth, and the expectation of further expansion down the line, sales director, Denis McGrath says ‘assuming economic conditions in Ireland remain favourable, and with the increasing emergence of niche players in food and commodities sectors, Merlo is well positioned to secure an expanding share of the telehandler market in Ireland next year and in the years to come’.

Driven largely by a ‘strong showing’ on the agricultural front, backed by an ‘expectedly-steady’ performance in construction sales, the current year out-turn represents what McGrath says is ‘a virtual doubling of sales compared with recent years.’

Key models within the Irish market are the Merlo 50.26S Plus, P40.14 and P40.17 – reported to be the biggest seller in the construction sector – and the Merlo P27.6 and TF35.7 which McGrath describes as ‘the biggest seller by far’ in the farming and agricultural contracting sector.

Another strong performer across both sectors is the TF33.7 with the TF42.7, TF50.8 and TF65.9 units showing strongly in the agrimarket, and the P50.18, and 50.30s Plus models performing well also in construction.

Looking ahead, the company is forecasting growth through the unique Merlo Mulitfarmer MF34.7and MF44.9 machines – which are

The TF35.7 telehandler, a unit which Merlo distributor in Ireland, McHale Plant Sales says is its biggest seller in the farming and agricultural contracting sector. currently performing well in both quarries and agriculture nationwide – whilst also anticipating the arrival of a larger range of electric machines for which orders are already on hand for a 2.5-tonnes, 5-metre, 90kW, EW25.90 eWorker unit.

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>> SEE PAGE 38

IRISH

Volume 6 Issue 1 Spring 2019 Edition Price 3.95 £2.95 (Stg)

DAIRYING

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FARM DESIGN DEVELOP A LONG-TERM PLAN FORYOUR FARM

55

Veterinary Profile

Salmonellosis The incidence of salmonella has seen an increase in the national herd in recent years.

Dr. Michael Reynolds BVM&S DCHP MRCVS Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons Recognised Specialist in Cattle Health and Production Senior Clinical Director and Farm Animal Clinical Lead (N. Ireland) CVS UK Ltd.

Introduction

In recent years, we have seen an increasing prevalence of salmonella in the national herd causing reproductive and production losses in cattle and being a zoonotic disease (transferrable to man), a disease risk to the people that work with them.

In Ireland, the two most commonly encountered serotypes in cattle are Salmonella enterica serovar Dublin and Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium. Salmonella Dublin is the cattle adapted strain and has an ability to exist as a carrier state, often in clinically normal animals, intermittently shedding bacteria during times of physiological stress.

These individuals therefore serve as a potent source of infection and help ensure the disease persists in the cattle population on a global scale.

• Carrier state in which animals appear clinically normal Salmonella Dublin has a predilection site for the liver / bile ducts and may be activated by the presence of migrating liver fluke. As such, in endemically infected herds, fluke control becomes an essential component of salmonella health planning.

Clinical signs

Infection most commonly occurs via the faecal oral route of administration, but may also occur across the conjunctivae or via the respiratory tract.

• Fever • Diarrhoea • Abortion, which often occurs in the last trimester, but may occur at any time.

• Milk drop / production under expectation • Acute septicaemia / Sepsis, typically in young calves, but may also occur in adults.

• Respiratory disease, an increasing number of salmonella Dublin infections are seen presenting as respiratory / pneumonia outbreaks.

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FINANCE CHANGING FARM STRUCTURES

Farm Business >> SEE PAGE 22

>> SEE PAGE 46

>> SEE PAGE 38

IRISH

Volume 6 Issue 1 Spring 2019 Edition Price 3.95 £2.95 (Stg)

DAIRYING

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FARM DESIGN DEVELOP A LONG-TERM PLAN FORYOUR FARM

Salmonellosis in cattle shows a seasonal trend in disease, with most cases occurring in Autumn / Winter. (Courtesy of AHA).

Veterinary Profile

Diagnostic Investigation

Culture and sensitivity of blood, faeces, joint fluid or aborted foetuses from infected individuals are the most common means of achieving a diagnosis. However, given its intermittent nature in shedding, whilst a positive result can be, taken as a positive, a negative may be truly a negative, or a positive animal that was not shedding at the time of sample collection or shedding very low, undetectable levels of bacteria.

Therefore, culture and sensitivity testing is not without its limitations and will be confounded further if antimicrobial therapy has been used on the animal.

Environmental samples may also be taken for culture, but will often be much less sensitive in terms of achieving a positive test result.

Serological blood testing on a cohort of young animals (6-9 months of age), or a bulk tank sample is an inexpensive means of testing and will indicate the presence or absence, of antibodies to Salmonella and give an indication of long term exposure to disease. However, in the face of a disease outbreak may be of limited use, as time is required for an antibody response to occur.

Treatment

The use of antimicrobials is controversial given the zoonotic nature of the disease and should only be administered on the basis of culture and sensitivity results and upon advice from your veterinary practitioner.

• Non steroidal anti inflammatories may be used to reduce fever and provide pain relief.

• Supportive therapy, for example oral rehydration fluids, heat source.

• Intensive nursing is often required over a protracted period of convalescence.

Control and Prevention • • •

Prompt identification, isolation and treatment of infected individuals Strict isolation of ill animals. For example, no ill animals should be held in the calving facility.

Maintaining a closed herd or sourcing replacement animals from known, high health herds where possible.

•

• •

• • • • • •

• • •

Ensure excellent hygiene in calving pens and neonatal housing.

Infection will often build up towards the end of the calving period, when infective pressure becomes increased and hygiene standards more important to reduce disease transmission.

No pooling of colostrum or feeding waste/dump milk to calves.

As with any neonatal calf disease, housing calves by age will prevent the disease multiplier effect whereby older, more immune, calves, pass on disease to their younger, more naïve and vulnerable counterparts.

Do not overstock to reduce faecal contamination and infective pressure.

Prevent run off contaminating feed stores.

Prevent bird / rodent / wildlife access to feed stores as they serve as a potent source of infection.

Vaccination should be used, in endemically infected herds or where risk assessment suggests practices may be supportive of disease incursion.

Attention should be paid, to transition and fresh cow management, to limit physiological stress and reduce the chance of recrudescent shedding from chronically infected individuals.

Slurry management, Salmonella can survive up to 300 days on pasture after slurry spreading and will persist considerably longer in slurry tanks. Efforts should therefore be made, to reduce the chance of bacterial contamination of grazing pastures.

Limit the use of agricultural contractors or ensure they are clean.

Limit visitors, provide a footbath and ensure all visitors to the farm are clean before entry.

Thorough cleaning and disinfection of facilities between groups of individuals using an approved disinfectant.

Conclusions

As with any faecally / orally transmitted organism, control measures are easy to describe, often less easy to instigate Endemicity causes a cyclical nature of disease with a wide spectrum of illnesses ranging from the more classic presentations such as abortion storms, to more subtle, milder illnesses which may often go undiagnosed for an extended period of time without thorough investigation.

A haemorrhagic, catarrhal enteritis on post mortem investigation is a common finding in salmonellosis.

Acute sepsis and gangrenous necrosis of extremities is a common finding in young calves infected with Salmonella.

Hutches are easily cleaned and disinfected and prevent disease spread between individuals.

Calves should be housed in similar age groups to prevent older immune animals infecting younger, more vulnerable individuals.

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Farm Business >> SEE PAGE 22

>> SEE PAGE 46

>> SEE PAGE 38

IRISH

Volume 6 Issue 1 Spring 2019 Edition Price 3.95 £2.95 (Stg)

DAIRYING

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FARM DESIGN DEVELOP A LONG-TERM PLAN FORYOUR FARM

57

Milk Hygiene

Biocel Ltd – Launch New Products For The 2023 Dairy Season Biocel Ltd – Irelands leading manufacturer of Dairy Hygiene and Teat Care products have launched a number of new products for the 2023 Dairy Season.

CirCool – Cold Wash Technology

Since the removal of Chlorine from milking plant detergents, many milk suppliers have faced ongoing challenges in achieving the required target temperatures for effective results from Chlorine Free products in the market.

Due to temperature of the wash solution falling below target temperatures at the end of the hot wash cycle, this has resulted in formation of a fat/ protein build up in plants, seen on Perspex components & Milk meters. This deposit when formed is very difficult to remove in a standard wash program and if not removed leads to a rise in TBC/ Thermoduric counts.

Biocel Ltd with over 55 years of experience in the development and manufacture of detergents / disinfectants for the Agri & Industrial Food Sector, researched this issue and developed a high specification Powder & Liquid product that would deliver effective cleaning when used cold as part of a program.

The other big advantage in using this cold wash program is that water heating costs can be reduced by up to 85 % along with CO2 emissions, which with current high energy costs and pressure on reduction of CO2 emissions is another bonus.

CirCool P is a mixed alkaline powder with a high level of cleaning additives that can be used in manual systems and is available in 20kg packs

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CLIMATE CHANGE SOLUTIONS COW TOILET: FACT OR FANTASY?

FINANCE CHANGING FARM STRUCTURES

Farm Business >> SEE PAGE 22

>> SEE PAGE 46

>> SEE PAGE 38

IRISH

Volume 6 Issue 1 Spring 2019 Edition Price 3.95 £2.95 (Stg)

DAIRYING

PARLOUR PROTOCOLS HELP THE COW & THE MILKING PERSONNEL

FARM DESIGN DEVELOP A LONG-TERM PLAN FORYOUR FARM

CirCool L is mixed alkaline liquid with a high level of cleaning additives that can be used in manual or auto wash systems and is available in 20/200/1000lt packs.

Serpent 15

Biocel Ltd were one of the first companies to promote the use of Peracetic Acid at farm level in the 1990s, where again our Technical Team applied the knowledge of this product from Industrial Food applications.

Serpent our market leading Peracetic Acid product which delivers unique disinfection and scale prevention properties, has now been launched in a super concentrate Serpent 15.

Serpent 15 delivers all the benefits of the current formulation at very low usage rate which will make the product the lowest end use cost in the market.

Serpent 15 is suitable for use as a final rinse Disinfectant / Scale inhibitor & Cluster Disinfectant.

Serpent 15 is available in 20/200/1000lt packs Biocel Ltd offer a full on support package for all our Dairy Hygiene & Teat Care products and are our Technical Team are available for Tele & On farm support by contacting info@biocel.ie or 021 4353516

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