Livestock News

Since losing his wife to ovarian cancer, Emyr Wigley has raised over £121,000 for Ovarian Cancer Action and the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Trust. Now, following a recent injury, he will sell his herd of 33 cattle on 4th March.

An uproar among both farmers and farming organisations followed Aldi’s decision to abandon its longstanding pledge to only stock meat reared on British farms, with the consensus being the move couldn’t have come at a worse time for lamb producers.

Kate Heller, a vet, dairy farmer and Elanco technical consultant in Truro, shares some of the most common pitfalls and risk factors in transition cow management and how to avoid them.

The Simmental Bull Sale at United Auctions, Stirling, saw a new breed record average of £7,260, which is up by £425 on the year, and for 97 bulls sold, up by eight on the year.

The value of UK red meat exports has reached record levels in 2022, amounting to a staggering £1.7 billion, partly due to the rising prices of meat throughout last year.

Jeremy Clarkson’s foray into keeping beef cattle saw him discover TB-infected badgers at his Oxfordshire farm, which is in a higher risk area for bovine TB. Recent episodes of Clarkson’s Farm, which highlighted the devastation TB can cause on British farms, have prompted debate on badger control methods.

An expert panel at ORFC 2023 discussed how integrating good animal welfare into farming systems can lead to more efficient and profitable food production with reduced environmental impact and an improved reputation of farming in the public eye.

Breeders of pedigree terminal sires are being encouraged to nominate their rams to join RamCompare for the 2023 breeding season, with successful applicants benefitting from integrated data from a wider range of sources.

Farming has always been a challenging career path, but Lancashire livestock farmer Damian Barson started his farming journey at the age of 50, in May 2021. Like the rest of the farming community, he was set to face a barrage of difficulties due to the financial crisis and Ukraine war – as well as the death of his father. We spoke to Damian during Mind Your Head Week to find out more about his story…

AHDB has produced its latest Agri-market Outlook, which explores the factors likely to affect farm businesses.

As forecast, cases of disease due to liver fluke have remained relatively low so far this winter however, there are reports of both acute and chronic disease in some areas of the UK.

Arron Nerbas, a Canadian Aberdeen-Angus breeder, encouraged UK beef farmers to ‘think outside the box’ at the recent British Cattle Breeders Conference.