Dairy & Beef

Many regions are welcoming some rain and seeing dry, burned-up pastures starting to green up. But Cargill’s ruminant specialist in the north of England and Scotland Donald Macleod warns this new grass could impact milk fat.

It can be challenging for mixed enterprise farmers to stick to herd and flock health plans throughout the year. However, vet Emily Brown, of Marches Farm Vets, offers a number of practical suggestions to help balance the two, working closely with your vet.

Progesterone is the mainstay of fertility management protocols in the UK and the use of progesterone releasing devices before the use of FTAI protocols can enhance conception rates to first AI, explains Ceva Animal Health veterinary advisor Katherine Timms.

UK livestock producers who take the Rumevite survey by Rumenco will be entered into a competition to win a 3.0m Porta-Yards mobile sheep handling system from Wise Agriculture.

Young people aged 18-24 who are pursuing a career in beef production can apply for the Aberdeen-Angus Cattle Society’s Godfrey Neal Bursary, which was launched to support the development of the beef sector’s future stockmen and women.

In the first in our series of focuses on cattle and sheep breeds, Farmers Guide spoke to three beef breed societies about the special qualities that are contributing to their rising popularity.

As well as offering welfare and efficiency benefits, recent research has shown improving disease control could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 10%. Norbrook veterinary advisor Douglas Palmer offers advice on liver fluke testing and treatment, and the wider benefits of a good control programme.

The cattle and the crowds were back to normal at Ingliston, Edinburgh as the 2022 Royal Highland roared into life on Thursday 23rd June – featuring a strong Simmental section of some 75 entries.

Thornby Farms in Northamptonshire has been awarded the inaugural VetPartners Sustainable Beef Farm of the Year award, in recognition of the farm’s dedication to aligning food production with sustainability.

With escalating fuel and feed costs, getting the most out of maize and wholecrop has never been more important. As well as reducing waste and optimising silage quality, Horning’s FiberTech Chevron rollers can improve milk yields and butterfats, says Harvesting Solutions UK general manager Alan Haycocks.

Austrian agri-tech company smaXtec is expanding its system for continuous health monitoring of dairy cows to include the categorisation of diseases by severity.

Retrofit device Lactalign has been developed after herd management software at Metcalfe Farms revealed twice as many mastitis cases in front quarters compared to rear quarters.