Dairy & Beef

With its unique water intake monitor, designed to optimise milk production, health system manufacturer smaXtec was selected as the winner of this year’s Royal Dairy Innovation Award, presented by Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal on Monday 11th September.

NFU president Minette won the Dairy UK Award this month, for raising the profile of a wide range of agricultural issues with government and the media.

Beef and dairy farmers preparing for the autumn calving season will likely need to support their cows with additional supplementation to make up for a decline in forage quality, according to Dr Alison Bond, nutritionist for Rumenco.

The new version of cow monitoring software SenseHub Dairy from MSD Animal Health now exclusively offers lifetime herd monitoring in addition to next-level insights into behavioural patterns, milking trends and milk quality.

Defra and the Welsh Government have introduced a general licence to cover the movement of TB restricted cattle to an AFU or slaughterhouse.

TB-restricted or orange markets have been increasing in numbers and popularity, providing farmers with TB-affected herds a vital avenue to get a fair price for their dairy-bred calves, thereby supporting the aims and priorities of the GB Dairy Calf Strategy.

With mixed silage quality experienced this year, dairy farmers are being encouraged to start planning for winter feeding early to ensure consistency across rations and achieve optimum milk yields.

Early pregnancy diagnosis (PD) in cattle has huge potential to improve business efficiency, reduce emissions and maximise profitability, says Robert Ramsay, agriculture specialist at SAC Consulting.

With cows being at increased risk of disease in the first month post-calving, farmers are being urged to act now to prevent milk losses due to ketosis and transition-related disease.

The EPIHERD project led by Antler Bio was awarded a Smart Grant from Innovate UK to develop a platform for dairy farmers to access epigenomic data on their herds to better understand and improve cow performance.

Practical ways to lower carbon emissions will take centre stage at this year’s Dairy Show, where farmers can expect the latest advice, research and tools to help them on the path to net zero.

Returning for its second year, the National TB conference is a platform for farmers and industry stakeholders to come together and discuss the challenges of bovine tuberculosis (bTB) and the barriers that remain towards a disease-free future.