Correcting soil pH is the first step to improving soil productivity and exploiting our competitive advantage of maximising the level of grazed grass in animal diets. Trials have shown that by increasing soil pH from 5.5 to 6.3, increased grass production of at least 1.5t DM/ha/year can be achieved, which represents a 7:1 return on [...]
The importance of cow hygiene and comfort cannot be stressed enough when it comes to the winter housing period. During this time, the group most at risk of contracting mastitis are milking cows, as their teat canals are open for two-to-three hours per day in comparison to dry cows. Cows close to calving are also [...]
Take the opportunity to spread agri lime while conditions are favourable. As we saw last year, waiting until October to spread agri lime is risky due to poor weather and un-trafficable soil conditions. Agri lime plays a major role in improving the 3 fundamentals of soil health namely: Soil chemistry - fertiliser use efficiency Soil [...]
On many farms around the country, the spreading of lime has fallen dramatically in the last 30 years. In fact, 65% of farms in Ireland have a soil deficiency according to Teagasc. Optimising Lime For the majority of farmers, they are not optimising lime due to the lack of knowledge around soil testing and pH [...]