Winter milk and pigs are two sectors of agriculture where efficiencies are crucial. Aspects such as cost control, animal health, fertility and output payment structure have a big bearing on what is left for the farmer. In this week’s Focus, we examine some of these key factors individually and tease out the issues.

Teagasc adviser Louise Clarke talks about the ongoing threat of African swine fever (ASF) to the Irish pig sector. She explains that under the current Rural Development Programme, funding is available to pig herd owners through the Targeted Advisory Service for Animal Health (TASAH) to have a comprehensive biosecurity review carried out on your farm by a trained, private veterinary practitioner. Animal Health Ireland is delivering the service using the University of Ghent Bio-Check scoring tool (introduced to Ireland by Teagasc Pig Development Department).

Teagasc’s Ger McCutcheon compares the feed prices of the Netherlands and Ireland, showing a price differential of €15, €22 and €20/t for sow, weaner/rearer and finisher diets respectively. This gives the Dutch a seven cent per kg pigmeat advtantage. It might sound small, but add that to a slightly poorer performance and it can make the business uncompetitive very quick.

Recently-appointed Teagasc winter milk specialist James Dunne outlines appropriate feeding strategies for milking freshly-calved cows this winter. The key message is to ensure a balanced diet, and the only way to know this is by getting silage tested.

Aidan Brennan looks at breeding strategies on winter and liquid milking herds and suggests that more emphasis needs to be placed on breeding commercial cows that are high-EBI, citing recent analysis by Teagasc’s Joe Patton, which showed that high-EBI cows in winter milking herds have more potential for profit than low-EBI cows.