With two main stages and over 70 trade stands, Dairy Day is the ultimate indoor dairy event of the year. Organised by the Irish Farmers Journal, the day is a mix of panel discussions and talks, with leading experts and farmers from home and abroad.

The topics at the Skills Hub stage are geared towards technical, on-farm advice, while the Beyond the Parlour stage is geared more towards markets, the co-ops, finance and what’s happening globally. Doors open at 9am, with the first talks starting at 10.30am.

Each stage runs throughout the day and attendees are free to hop in and out of each session as they please.

International

Keynote speakers at this year’s event include New Zealand couple Simon and Lisa Lynskey, who are milking over 1,500 cows across two farms in the North Island. They will be joined by French farmer Hermjan Darwinkle, originally from the Netherlands, who has purchased his own farm in France.

For an update on global markets, Christophe Lafougere, a leading market analyst with GIRA, is coming over to discuss what’s happening to milk prices.

With so much happening in US politics and the US economy, we are running a live feed to New York ,where Bord Bia’s Henry Horkan is going to give an overview of what’s happening Stateside, particularly in the grass-fed food category.

Skills Hub stage

Cork builder and dairy farmer John Mulcahy will be joined by Bertie Troy from Grasstec, to discuss different options when it comes to capital expenditure on buildings. With dairy farmers requiring an extra 21% of slurry storage by 2028, the panel will discuss designs and costs.

Another area being looked at in this session is cubicle shed design, with a growing cohort of farmers building lower-spec steel roofs over cubicles. The panel will look at cost savings and pros and cons.

How to make dairy farming a more attractive career option for young people is being discussed at this session. Teagasc’s Conor Hogan, who leads the people in dairy section, is being joined by Cork farmer Tom O’Connell and New Zealand’s Simon Lynskey.

The session will cover rosters, what works and what doesn’t, and the secrets to employee satisfaction and retention.

With summer droughts now common on many dairy farms, particularly in the south and east, Dairy Day has assembled a panel to look at on-farm actions for dealing with droughts.

From managing demand to finding the right feeds, to managing the workload and morale, this session is a must-see for anyone farming on dry land. Brendan Horan from Teagasc will outline the Curtin’s Farm experience, while reigning Grassland Farmer of the Year will outline how he deals with dry spells. For a fresh perspective, Simon Lynskey will outline how he manages herd demand in a dry spell.

The drop in milk price is sending a very strong signal that farmers need to reduce costs if they are to protect margin in 2026. Simon Lynskey is one of the most profitable farmers in New Zealand and he will be joined by Limerick’s Peter Cagney to discuss costs with farm consultant Ashley Primrose.

The session will focus on immediate actions farmers can take to reduce costs, with the farmers sharing their costs and how they achieve them.

What constitutes a good investment for dairy farmers and what is best left on the maybe file? Daire Cregg will outline 20 investment options and the panel will rank them based on personal preferences. The panel is as follows: Lisa Lynskey worked as a banker in New Zealand before farming; Paul Hyland is a partner in the family farm running multiple units in Laois, while Patrick Ryan is the business banking manager with PTSB.

While water quality and the nitrates derogation are the most pressing topics in Ireland, the obligations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) from farming hasn’t gone away.

The panel will look at recent developments in GHG data recording and what’s coming down the track. Niamh Bambrick from Bord Bia will discuss AgNav, while Tipperary farmer and winner of the Kerrygold/NDC Quality Milk Awards Michael Ryan will discuss what sustainability measures work for him. Meanwhile, Lisa Lynskey will outline what’s happening in New Zealand.

Beyond the Parlour stage

This session is all about dairy markets and milk prices. As CEO of Ornua, Conor Galvin is the largest purchaser of Irish dairy products and is responsible for the Kerrygold brand.

Kerry Dairy Ireland is one of the few fully integrated dairy businesses in Ireland manufacturing commodity dairy products and branded products. It’s CEO Pat Murphy will be on the panel. The two CEOs will be joined with global market analyst Christophe Lafougere from GIRA.

With increased spending needed on environmental compliance and with uncertainty over the future of the nitrates derogation, the Irish Farmers Journal Agribusiness editor Lorcan Roche Kelly sits down with leading experts from the world of banking and farm finance to discuss the issues.

The panel includes IFA chief economist Tadhg Buckley, ifac’s Philip O’Connor, Barrie Breen from Finance Ireland and AIB’s Nicola Fetherstone.

What next for Ireland’s dairy co-ops? Has the drop in dairy markets exposed cracks in the sector and what can be done to strengthen Ireland’s co-operatively owned milk processing assets in the face of global competition and changing consumer demand?

The chairs of six of Ireland’s leading co-ops will share their vision for the co-ops they govern. These include James Tangney, chair, Kerry Dairy Ireland; John Murphy, chair, Tirlán; Edward Carr, chair, Arrabawn Tipperary and president, ICOS; Raymond Barlow, chair, Aurivo; Vincent O’Donovan, chair, Carbery and Pat Clancy, chair, Dairygold.

With a growing divide between the society that knows and understands farming and those who don’t, it is more important than ever that farmers are advocates for the sector through their every day activities.

To thrash out this role, NDC farm ambassadors Katie Gleeson and Patrick O’Kelly are joined by NDC’s Niamh Gunn and New Zealand farmer Lisa Lynskey.

What’s happening on the ground in the US, France and New Zealand? We speak to French farmer and member of the European Dairy Farmers group Hermjan Darwinkle, New Zealand farmer Simon Lynskey to discuss what’s happening on the ground in their countries. We are also joined on the panel by Bord Bia’s Henry Horkan, who works in the New York office, and Christophe Lafougere from market analysts GIRA, who has a great understanding of what’s happening internationally.