Agritech, one of Ireland’s leading agricultural input specialists, is currently recruiting Full-Time Sales Advisors in Monaghan, Louth and Donegal. Manage farm visits, hit targets, and ensure customer satisfaction. Competitive pay plus commission. Grow your sales career. Apply today at careers.agritech.ie or email careers@agritech.ie

As one of Ireland’s leading specialist agricultural companies, Agritech is renowned for manufacturing and distributing a range of quality and innovative nutrition and forage products.

At Agritech, you’ll have the independence to grow your income, build relationships, and develop your potential. With unlimited earning opportunities, long-term progression, and a team that backs you every step of the way, this is your chance to build a successful professional sales career in agribusiness.

Key Responsibilities:

• Meet & support farmers in your region, building long-term relationships

• Drive new business and nurture existing accounts

• Promote Agritech’s range of proven nutrition and forage solutions

• Conduct on-farm advisory visits, recommend solutions, and follow up

• Achieve or exceed sales targets and capture repeat orders, and report on performance

• Participate in events and demonstrate technical expertise

Candidate Profile :

• Commercial mindset, self-driven, goal-oriented

• Strong farming interest and background

• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills

• Full clean driving licence and willingness to travel daily across your region

What We Offer:

• Competitive salary + bonus + holiday pay

• Company vehicle

• Structured training and continuous support

• Progression within a growing company

• Collaborative and flexible work environment

How to Apply?

If you are interested, submit your reply at careers.agritech.ie or directly to careers@agritech.ie

In recent weeks, slow growth has been the common factor noted across the regions, with much of the focus devoted to balancing grass availability and maintaining quality.

Where grass growth is slow, wasting grass must be avoided. Residuals of 3.5 – 4cm must be achieved in order to create high-quality covers for the next rotation when growth rates will hopefully rectify themselves. Grass walks should be undertaken at least once weekly but ideally twice weekly where grass is tight.

Milk output must also be monitored; average milk yield decline should be no greater than 2.5% per week at this point in lactation.

Where volume or solids are falling quicker than this, quality and quantity of grass needs to be revised. Where quality is low, or silage is introduced into the diet, ensure the cows’ energy requirements are being met accordingly. Increased supplementation may be required.

Reduced energy density in the diet will result in decreased milk protein % and reduced milk output. Once growth has increased and quality has been rectified (with breeding also concluding), feeding rates can be reduced.

Looking ahead to the winter, now is a good time to assess how much fodder is on farm with first cuts completed, while some early 2nd cuts and surplus bales have been taken.

It’s important to plan for the forthcoming winter while noting how much subsequent forage remains unharvested.

At this point, Spring-born calves should have smoothly transitioned to grazing.

Weighing scales remain one of the most underutilised management tools on farm and should be used to gauge where we are at regarding target weights ~ 200kg by mid-September (33% of mature cow weight) or 07-0.8kg/hd/day.

Parasite burdens can also have a huge impact on youngstock performance over the 1st grazing season and should be discussed on a herd-by-herd basis with your veterinary practitioner.

For more information and calf rearing advice, contact your local Agritech Sales Advisor here. 

Farmers must prioritise the next generation of milking cows by ensuring that the target weights of their replacement heifers are realised over the coming months.

With this in mind, heifers should reach 30% of their mature bodyweight at six months of age and achieve 60% of mature weight when bred at 15 months.

Over the next few months, optimal average daily gain may be difficult to maintain when grass growth/quality declines and grazing conditions become more challenging. So it is important to consider where your replacement heifers are in relation to targets (% of mature weight) currently.

By weighing heifers in early autumn as opposed to weighing at the point of housing, farmers can identify which animals are behind target. The best advice is to group accordingly and make alternative plans for heifers below their target weights.

Underweight heifers are considered to be those that are 5% or more below target bodyweight. Therefore, the regular weighing of heifers can help farmers to keep track of performance through the season.

Heifers that are lighter than this should be separated and given priority access to the highest quality grass and be re-introduced to concentrates depending on their weight relative to the herd’s target.

Higher weight gains can be achieved from grass rather than from winter/silage diets and a good response to autumn supplementation can be achieved. Should grass be in short supply and quality or when conditions are deteriorating, under-target replacement heifers should be fed a supplement until housing time to maintain weight. To increase growth rates, 1-2kg of concentrate/head/day should be sufficient.

Research shows that youngstock at grass in summer can achieve a weight gain of 0.85kg/day on grass alone. Come the autumn, where 1kg of concentrate plus high-quality grass are offered, average daily gains of 1kg/head/day can be achieved.

For more information, contact your local Agritech Sales Advisor here.

In the weeks post-calving, cows will produce more milk than their feed intake can provide for, resulting in Body Condition loss due to Negative Energy Balance. A cow typically reaches peak milk output 6-8 weeks post-calving but will only reach peak dry matter intake 10-12 weeks after calving. However, the success of breeding 2024 is mainly dictated by the severity and duration of this period of NEB during the weeks post-calving.

NEB will firstly appear in the form of low milk protein % in the short term and in the more long-term have detrimental consequences on fertility during the breeding season. The overall objective is to have calved down the cow at a BCS of 3.25 and maintain an average herd BCS of 3.0 (range 2.75 – 3.25) at the start of breeding, to achieve optimal fertility.

Keeping body condition loss to less than 0.5 BCS between calving and breeding has proven to significantly increase the likelihood of conception to first service, with cows that lost <0.5 body condition score between calving and breeding typically shown to ovulate 15 days sooner, than cows which lost >1 BCS.

In very practical terms, this means bridging and filling the energy gap between what the cow outputs relative to what is put into her in regard to feed. Forage quality (which is lower in many cases after the difficult 2023 silage season) and getting high quality grass into the diet will be the main dictating factors here.

After this, most of the energy deficit will have to be filled via concentrates in the parlour, with milk output coupled with silage analysis and ability to get to grass, dictating feeding rates this spring.

For more information, contact your local Agritech Sales Advisor. 

The efficiency of grass-based systems is hugely influenced by the calving pattern on farms, and subsequently requires excellent reproductive performance in a short-breeding season. Therefore, it is extremely important to navigate through the transition period of a spring calving herd, with nutrition being a top priority.

In the weeks post-calving, cows will produce more milk than their feed intake can provide, resulting in Body Condition Score (BCS) loss due to Negative Energy Balance (NEB). A cow typically reaches peak milk output 6-8 weeks post-calving but will only reach peak dry matter intake 10-12 weeks post-calving. The success of the breeding season is mainly dictated by the severity and duration of this period of NEB during the weeks post-calving.

When prolonged, NEB will firstly appear in the form of low milk protein % in the short term and in the more long-term have detrimental consequences on fertility during the breeding season. The overall objective is to have calved down the cow at a BCS of 3.25 and maintain an average herd BCS of 3.0 (with a range of 2.75-3.25) at the start of breeding to achieve optimal fertility. Keeping body condition loss to less than 0.5 BCS between calving and breeding has proven to significantly increase the likelihood of conception to first service, with cows that lost <0.5 body condition score between calving and breeding typically shown to ovulate 15 days sooner, than cows that lost ≥1 BCS.

In very practical terms, navigating the transition period means bridging the energy gap between the cow’s output relative to her intake. Forage quality and the proportion of high-quality grass in the diet will be the main dictating factors here. After this, most of the energy deficit will have to be filled with concentrates in the parlour, with milk output and silage analysis dictating feeding rates this spring.

Need help and advice?

For more information on the management of the transition cow, contact your local Agritech Sales Advisor.

Key Areas to Monitor:

1. Body Condition Scores (BCS): Are your cows holding their pre-calving BCS? If your cows are losing condition in the weeks post calving, it must be addressed promptly by seeking professional advice.
2. Dung Consistency: Dung that appears firm indicates that the cow’s diet may be too low in protein and too high in fibre. A loose and thin consistency suggests excess protein/carbohydrates or low fibre, which may possibly lead to acidosis.
3. Milk Fat to Protein Ratio: The ratio of fat:protein is an excellent indicator of cow health and feed efficiency. The ideal butterfat:protein ratio is circa 1.27:1. Where the ratio goes above 1.5:1, strict attention should be paid to cow health as there is a strong possibility of Ketosis in the affected animals. Where the ratio drops below 1.2:1, a possible link to Rumen Acidosis exists.

Key Tips:

1. Maximise dry matter intake (DMI) through a well-balanced diet formulation and continuous assessment of rations fed to cows.
2. Ensure that there is a minimum of 600-800 mm feed space per cow, along with ample drinking points.
3. Introduce concentrates slowly over a five to ten day period post calving. Adding concentrates too quickly in an attempt to provide energy is a recipe for Sub Acute Rumen Acidosis. Introducing a high quality rumen buffer such as Rumicare from Agritech will help counteract rumen and intestinal acidity and has the added benefit of providing much needed calcium, magnesium and sodium for the early lactating dairy cow.
4. Continue to analyse you cow’s BCS on a regular basis. It is vitally important to maintain adequate BCS to ensure that the cow quickly returns to cyclicity in advance of the breeding season.
5. Supplementation of post calving minerals is a much neglected area as many dairy farmers assume there are enough minerals in the purchased concentrate. However, unless there are very high levels being fed, this is rarely the case. The post calving diet needs to be carefully monitored to ensure that the cow receives adequate levels of macro and trace minerals at this important time.Take a look at our new 2019 Welmin Mineral Range brochure here, which features a number of products suitable to help you get the most from your freshly calved cow.
6. Introduce grazed grass in to the diet. It is important to align the indoor ration to match up with the grazed grass level being fed in order to optimise cow performance and health.

For further advice, contact your local Agritech distributor.