Paula Hynes: Will we see any recovery in milk prices?
Team Ireland: Josh Sinnot, Becky Hynes, Manus Murphy, and Kate Mansuel in Montichiari, Italy.
All eyes will be on global dairy markets over the next two months to see if they stabilise to deliver any sort of recovery in milk price in early spring.
Dairygold dropped the base price of milk by 3.75 cent for September supplies, which in reality is no surprise, as when it dropped the August milk price by 3c, we said at the time the September base price for milk would be 42 cent.
While Dairygold is just below 42 cent for September, it baffles me why they and all other Irish dairy processors have to wait so long to tell farmers what they will pay for milk — it seems like we as farmers, are still expected to live in the dark ages with processors.
It is about time Irish dairy processors joined the 21 st century with the technology and market info that is available to them and told farmers the price they are willing to pay for the following month — at the very least this would allow farmers to make a decision on whether to feed more or dry cows off.
Well while dairy processors continue to spout uncertainty and weakness in dairy markets — in the real world that translates to dairy markets that have been in complete freefall.
It has been frightening to see, and currently, the best-case scenario is that base price for milk might settle in the mid 30c region — yes there are more cuts coming to the base price for milk in Ireland.
Preparations for full winter mode on the farm stepped up a gear in the last week, and all the cows had their tails clipped to help them stay cleaner when they are in the sheds. One of the cubicle sheds was used to house heifer calves during the summer so the power washer was back out to give those cubicles a quick spruce up, and we have also been preparing for drying of some cows, ensuring we have dry cow tubes and Fatroseal teat sealers on hand for early November.
Ian Giles scanned all the cows during the week — we prefer to scan a little later as the vast majority of cows can be scanned from outside and it is less invasive.
Ian always gives us very accurate information on days in-calf and it is easy to correlate this against service dates. He always comes early in the morning so we scan cows straight after milking and they can get on with their grazing day without standing around for hours.
Briefly, looking through scanning results, we will be extremely busy in early January through to February, but thankfully we won’t have many late calvers.
European dairy markets look shocking but it was an exciting week for European dairy showing with the European Open Junior Show in Montichiari in Italy.
Becky and Manus Murphy certainly had the Irish flag flying high throughout the show as senior team members in the 18 to 26 year old category.
With 11 nations competing, Thursday was clipping day, the junior clippers were first to go and then two hours later the senior clippers started, with just one hour and 45 minutes to have a heifer fully clipped and prepared for the show ring.
As the senior competitors entered the Italian show ring to display their skills, team leader Georgia Greenan messaged to say Becky had been pulled into first place, having impressed the judge, who then wanted a closer look at the line-up and then minutes later we got a message to say it was a team Ireland win.
Becky had retained top spot with team Germany in second and team GB in third. Manus kept the flag flying placing sixth. Becky truly loves to clip show animals, has a huge attention to detail and just like her showmanship skills, she remains cool and never overdoes it.
She was the same at national championships in July when she won the clipping competition — she finished 10 minutes before time and just chilled, content with the job she had done.
It is hard to believe she only picked up a clippers three years ago when she was on work experience with Gary Jones and he handed her a clippers to clip a cow for a show with him.
Gary gave her the confidence to get going, but his brother Richard has been a huge mentor to her — he works with us at all the bigger shows and Becky always clips with him so she has picked up a wealth of knowledge and experience from him on how to fit dairy animals for the show ring.
Friday in Montichiari gave the open junior competitors a chance to show the heifers they were allotted in classes at the national show — a huge honour to compete the heifers in big classes for the Italian breeders.
Saturday morning was showmanship day: with a big class of senior handlers the team Ireland flag remained flying high.
It was a Spanish victory in the class, with Manus claiming second place for team Ireland ahead of the two German competitors, with Becky in fifth place — a huge achievement to see both team Ireland members inside the top six in both competitions, and great credit to Georgia for leading such a strong team, keeping them motivated and relaying info back to us at home.
The team spent the rest of Saturday watching the very best of Italian Holstein cows compete in the show ring, and attend the breeders' party on the Saturday night before returning home on the Sunday.
It has been such a positive experience for Becky competing for team Ireland YMA this year, she told me she always wants to put her best foot forward, but when you are on a team you are conscious you are representing your breed society and your country, and that makes good results even more special.
