Volac cordially invite you to our Heifer Rearing

Volac cordially invite you to
our Heifer Rearing Conference
Thursday 10th December 2015
at Charleville Park Hotel, Charleville, Co. Cork
RSVP: T 049 433 4755
or Email louella.lang@volac.com
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CALF CONFERENCE
THURSDAY 10TH DECEMBER
SESSION 1
8.30-9.15am
Coffee and Registration
Setting the scene: Pat Cahill, Commercial Director, Volac International
9.15-10.00am
Volac International Feed For Growth Program – The road map to
helping farmers optimise opportunities in heifer rearing
Speaker: Niall Jaggan, Global Products Manager, Volac International
10.00-10.30amOptimising Response To The First Feed – Cow & Calf
Speaker: Dr. Emer Kennedy, Teagasc Researcher, Moorepark
Chairperson: Matt O’Keeffe, Editor - Irish Farmers Monthly
10.30-11.15am
Coffee Break
SESSION 2
11.15am-12.15pm T
he Effect Of Nutrient Intake and Growth Rate Pre-Weaning on Long
Term Herd Performance
Presenter: Professor Mike Van Amburgh, Department of Animal Science,
Cornell University, USA
12.15-12.45pm
Putting Theory Into Practice:
Getting all of the steps right along the Calf Rearing Route
Presenter: Maggie Gould, Nutritionist, Volac International
Chairperson: Mike Magan, Chairman, Animal Health Ireland
12.45-2.00pm
Lunch
SESSION 3
2.00-2.25pm
SESSION 4
Neonatal Nutrition & Getting The Economics Right
Impact of biologically appropriate feeding of heifer calves on growth,
pubertal age, calving age and milk yield.
Presenter: John Maher, Regional Dairy Specialist, Teagasc
2.25 – 3.00pm
Impact of Calf Housing and Environment on Calf Performance
Presenter: Jamie Robertson, Livestock Management Systems Ltd.
Chairperson: Jack Kennedy, Dairy Editor, Irish Farmers Journal
3.00-3.10pm
Emerging Role of Contract Rearing
Presenter: George Ramsbottom, Teagasc Dairy Specialist
3.10-3.20pm
Best Practise In Heifer Rearing At Farm Level
Presenter: Shane Fitzgerald, Cork, National Heifer Rearer
of the year 2015
3.20-3.30pm
Presenter: Torben Kragh, High Performing Dairy Farmer, Denmark
3.30-4.00pm
Questions and Answers
Chairperson: Dr. Doreen Corridan MVB MRCVS PhD, Munster AI
4.00pm
Close of Conference: Pat Cahill
Coffee
SPEAKER PROFILES
Mike Van Amburgh
Maggie Gould
Torben Kragh
Professor, Dept. of
Animal Science, Cornell
University Group Technical
Manager, Volac
International
High Performing Dairy
Farmer, Denmark
Mike Van Amburgh is a
Professor in the Department
of Animal Science at Cornell University where
he has a dual appointment in teaching and
research.
He teaches multiple courses and leads the
Cornell Dairy Fellows Program, advises
approximately 50 undergraduate students and
is the advisor for the Cornell University Dairy
Science Club.
For the last 17 years, a major focus of his
research program has been to describe the
nutrient requirements of dairy calves and
heifers and aspects of endocrine control of
developmental functions, such as mammary
development. This has evolved into describing
and working to understand factors in neonatal
life that establish lifetime productivity functions
and outcomes.
He has authored and co-authored over 70 journal
articles and many conference proceedings and
is the recipient of several awards including the
American Dairy Science Associate Foundation
Scholar Award, the Land O’Lakes Teaching and
Mentoring Award from ADSA.
Niall Jaggan
Global Products
Manager, Volac
International
Niall Jaggan is the Global
Product Manager responsible
for Volac’s Young Animal Nutrition portfolio.
Niall is concentrating on driving the strategic
direction of the area of the business where
Volac’s agricultural business began – milk
replacers. He is an experienced marketeer,
having previously been responsible for
prescription medicine portfolios in the Zoetis
(formerly Pfizer) Animal Health business,
including the launch of Draxxin and the
re-launch of Excenel RTU and Orbeseal over 10
years. Niall has extensive marketing experience
beyond agriculture, including communications
to fleet customers on behalf of Ford Motor
Company in the UK. Niall has a Masters in
Marketing from Kingston Business School
and is based in the Head Office of Volac, near
Cambridge.
John Maher Regional Dairy Specialist,
Teagasc
John Maher is a Dairy
Specialist based in Teagasc,
Moorepark, Fermoy, Co.
Cork. He started his career in research at
Teagasc, Moorepark before becoming involved
in agricultural extension. His primary role
is to bring research to all members of the
dairy industry. Previously, he has worked as
a facilitator with Dairy Discussion Groups.
Currently, he is working with Industry Joint
Programmes with Dairygold Co-op, North Cork
Co-op and Tipperary Co-op to improve the
competitiveness of their suppliers. He is also
involved in a number of research projects with
the dairy industry.
Maggie Gould leads the Animal
Nutrition Technical team at
Volac, a family owned business specialising
in dairy nutrition. The team is responsible
for Volac’s global research and development
activities in the three key areas of rumen
protected fats; forage preservation and young
animal nutrition and for supporting Volacs’ aim
to sustainably advance livestock productivity.
Working with customers in the International
dairy sector for over 30 years, Maggie rapidly
realised that success in the dairy herd was
closely linked to success in the young-stock
rearing enterprise. This led to Volacs’ support
for ongoing research in this area and Maggie’s
great enthusiasm for promoting and supporting
improved young-stock nutrition, encouraging a
more sustainable approach to dairying through
a greater focus on the management of the young
calf as the foundation stone of the future dairy
herd.
Jamie Robertson
Research Consultant,
Livestock Management
Systems Ltd.
Jamie is a research consultant
with Livestock Management
Systems Ltd. He works with the livestock levy
boards AHDB Beef & Lamb and Scottish and UK
Government programmes engaged in animal
health. Focus is on understanding and improving
chronic animal health problems through better
management and design of housing systems.
He has worked extensively with the veterinary
profession and on regional animal health
programmes for cattle. Jamie provides design
and consultancy on animal housing.
Jamie is an Honorary Research Fellow with the
School of Biological Science at the University
of Aberdeen. Previously he worked with S.A.C at
the Centre for Rural Buildings for many years;
with a particular interest in the influence of the
environment on animal health. He has carried
out research on respiratory disease and air
quality in pigs, poultry, cattle and stock people.
George
Ramsbottom Teagasc Dairy
Specialist George graduated from UCD
with a degree in Agriculture
and holds Masters degrees in Extension and
Reproductive Physiology. He has worked
with Teagasc as a dairy adviser in Tipperary
and Wicklow and as a dairy specialist in
Kildalton, Grange and currently Oak Park. His
work focuses on three main areas: improving
the reproductive performance of the national
dairy herd; improving facilitation skills of both
advisers and consultants; further development
of collaborative farming initiatives including
contract rearing of replacement heifers.
• Self-employed farmer for 26
years
• Member of Danish Holstein Society
• Farmhouse “Stortoft” Henne Stationsby West
Jutland, Denmark. www.facebook.com/stortoft.
• Married to Tove and together they have three
girls 20, 23 and 25 years of age.
• Total number employees - 10 people
• No. of cows: 550 Holstein. Milk yield 13000L;
milking three times a day
• First calving age less than 21 months
• Total cultivated land 600 hectares -corn, alfalfa,
grass and fodder beet.
Shane Fitzgerald
Cork National Heifer
Rearer of the Year 2015
Shane Fitzgerald comes from
a small village called Ballynoe,
located in East Cork.
Alongside his wife Fiona and their twin boys
Adam and Cillian, Shane runs a grass based dairy
operation, currently milking 220 cows. Shane
owns 62 hectares and is currently renting 74
hectares. Shane also rears 140 replacements and
his herd is a crossbred herd.
Since quotas were abolished in April, Shane has
increased from 170 cows and plans to milk 260
cows next year while in partnership with his
uncle John.
Dr. Emer Kennedy
Teagasc Researcher,
Moorepark
Emer Kennedy graduated from
UCD in 2003 after completing
an Agricultural Science degree
(Animal and Crop Production). Following this
she went to Teagasc Moorepark to undertake
her PhD. In 2008 she began work on rearing
replacement heifers for the dairy herd and now
has a large programme of work in progress which
focuses on rearing the new born calf right up
to the pre-calving stage. Over the past number
of years this work has focused on colostrum
management and ensuring calves get the best
start possible.
CHARLEVILLE
Ready, steady,
grow
Why Feed for Growth?
The dairy industry is not where it needs to be for a sustainable, proactive future.
Average dairy cow performance
Feed for Growth
Don’t just take our word for it, the figures speak for
themselves. A dairy cow is currently averaging:
Up to 40% improvement will
be seen in all key areas if age
at first calving is reduced from
30 to 24 months.
3.5
8k
litres
Average number Average milk yield
of lactations.
per dairy cow.
29
months
Average age at
first calving .
60 ∕
00
Of live born heifers fail
to make lactation 3.
40%
BETTER
COWS
Ref: Cooke et al
✓ More lactations
✓ More profit
✓ Improved fertility
✓ Improved longevity
How can we help?
We know that every farm is different, but with just a few pieces of farm data and by using our resources and tools
at www.feedforgrowth.com, we can help you set targets and achieve better results than ever before
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
Understand the massive
opportunity to grow
better cows
Plan your targets and how to
accomplish them.
Manage the FFG programme
and monitor the outcome.
Review your progress
and the improvements
Volac Ireland
Volac House, Church Street, Killeshandra, Co. Cavan, Eire
T +353 494 334 755 F +353 494 334 760 infoireland@volac.com www.volac.ie
Feed for growth is a registered trademark of Volac International Limited, Copyright © 2015 Volac International Ltd.