News

July 12, 2023

Balancing energy sources can help reduce environmental footprints If precision is key to cost-effective milk production, understanding the true energy values of fats will underpin building a successful diet for healthy, fertile dairy cows. While forage analysis is a key building block when formulating a diet, understanding the role of fatty acids and the true ...

June 30, 2023

Trouw Nutrition LifeStart accredited calf milk replacers (CMR) ensure the nutritional and physical parameters satisfy calf requirements, providing you with the confidence that they are safe to feed at an elevated level. This enables you to capture long term performance benefits by optimising the development of the calf. The ingredients used, and the processing technology ...

June 19, 2023

The most critical management decision for maize growers is selecting the appropriate hybrid. To realise maximum yield potential, the hybrid’s characteristics must match the field attributes, such as altitude, latitude, and soil type. To achieve the highest yields, the following hybrid traits should be considered: A wide range of hybrid maturities from extra early to ...

June 1, 2023

Estimations suggest that 1% of cattle in the UK will experience clinical grass staggers, with up to 30% of all clinical cases resulting in death and significant direct losses. Grass staggers, otherwise known as grass tetany or hypomagnesaemia, is a very real threat for suckler and dairy cows at turnout. It is easily managed by ...

May 19, 2023

Mastitis is a well-discussed topic in the dairy industry; however, it is still one of the biggest drivers behind antibiotic use in dairy herds, noting that there are large usage variations between farms. Udder health is key and some antibiotic use could be avoided or be better targeted if producers worked more closely with their ...

May 11, 2023

Temperature and humidity both play a role in thermal stress. Using the Temperature Humidity Index (THI) enables farmers to determine the level of summer stress on dairy cows. The Thermo Neutral Zone for dairy cows is 5-20°C, stress symptoms begin at a THI of 68; temperature of 24° and a relative humidity of 20%. With ...

May 2, 2023

The Morgan family have farmed at Trederwen Hall for three generations. Neil alongside his family, run an all-year-round calving herd of Holsteins, with a few Jersey cows, just outside of Welshpool, Powys. With a keen fourth generation chomping at the bit, Trederwen Hall have made some shift changes over the past 18 months to become ...

January 9, 2023

It is well known that well-managed grassland produces the cheapest feed throughout the year, whether it is cut to make silage or grazed by livestock. However no two years are ever the same and with weather patterns constantly changing seasons are becoming more extreme, with drier summers and milder sometimes wetter winters. Last year has ...

December 15, 2022

With cows spending half of their time ruminating, getting the calf’s rumen developed in conjunction with growth rates and optimal health is key to ensuring the calf’s ability to utilise nutrients as cows, later in life. Looking at a suckler cow and calf, those calves would stay with the mother for 6-9 months and be ...

November 22, 2022

Maximising calf performance within those first 8 weeks of life is key to promoting the lifetime performance of the animal. Therefore, in cold weather (less than 15 degrees C), where there is an increased challenge to keep warm and where it is sensible to have a strategy in place to mitigate the impact the environment ...