Livestock News

Pneumonia is one of the leading causes of death in dairy and beef calves and costs the industry around £50 million a year. In its most recent GB Calf Week, AHDB hosted a range of expert panels to offer top tips on how to tackle the disease. Sarah Kidby reports on improvements made on two farms.

SRUC Edinburgh is offering CT scanning of rams in Scottish flocks, with QMS covering 50% of the cost per ram.

Successful dairy farming is built on proactive health management. By staying ahead of health issues, farmers not only ensure their cows’ well-being and productivity but also future-proof their farm.

Data from the Farming Connect Welsh Pasture Project has shown that grass production in Wales in 2023 exceeded previous years, but managing it was challenging.

Farming groups have welcomed the government’s decision to halt negotiations with Canada for a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) – owing to disagreements on hormone treated beef and import taxes on British cheese.

When lambing losses were identified as a priority area for beef and sheep farmer Richard McCornick, recording losses effectively helped to highlight issues and boost survival. Richard shared his experiences at a recent farmer meeting.

Dairy farmers are being encouraged to vaccinate youngstock and naïve cattle against lungworm (husk) ahead of the 2024 grazing season after a significant rise in cases in recent years.

Morrisons has just announced it will lower its poultry stocking density to 30kg/m2 by the end of the year.

Poultry farmers have won a landmark legal challenge against the government in a battle over the proper compensation payable to poultry farmers affected by avian flu.

For the first time since 2021, broiler intestinal integrity scores have remained consistently stable, highlighting a reduction in coccidiosis levels throughout the year, according to the Elanco Health Tracking System (HTSi) 2023 latest report.

A quarantine dose for all incoming sheep, regular faecal egg count (FEC) testing and monitoring animal growth weights and the weather, are key to managing worms for Perthshire sheep farmer and agricultural consultant, Emily Grant.

The National Sheep Association (NSA) is reminding the farming community of the importance of looking out for farming friends and family this January, as the start of the year has presented several challenges to the industry.