Converting from winter milking to a fully spring calving herd

In the second episode of Agriland's latest limited podcast series 'The Dairy Trail', technical dairy journalist, Hugh Harney takes a trip to Larry Hannon's dairy farm in Ballitore, Co. Kildare.Larry Hannon has 235 cows to calve down this spring and has over 70% of the herd calved. The aim is to have 220 cows milking strong at the peak of the lactation.The focus on the farm is to get the cows out to grass for a few hours every day and to maximise the cow's dry matter intake in the early lactation. In the episode, Larry explains how he has been managing his calving season from colostrum feeding to the dietary requirements of the cow.Larry goes through how he went from having about 20% of his herd calving down in the autumn and filling his winter milk contract, to going to a fully spring-calving herd.The brand new limited podcast series ‘The Dairy Trail’ takes listeners inside the yard of dairy farms across the country to hear what is happening on the ground.The new four-part series will cover everything from calving down cows, managing calves, herd nutrient requirements, getting cows out to grazing, and spreading slurry and fertiliser.