Livestock

A Somerset milk producer believed his closed herd was protected from BVD, until an abortion storm prompted him to call in his vet to investigate. Wendy Short reports.

Recent investment in a new housing facility and milking regime is helping to drive herd performance and efficiency for the Laird family at Blythbridge Holsteins

VIRTUALLY the entire milking portion together with heifer calves from the Stardale herd of pedigree Holsteins went under the hammer on-farm at Barton, Preston, on behalf of J. Burrow and Son.

Claire Eastham farms with her husband Martyn in Dorset, where they milk 120-spring calving cows. After gaining knowledge and experience working for other businesses, the couple started their own dairy farming journey in 2015 by taking on a share farming agreement before progressing to their current county council farm.

Having taken over the farm tenancy taken on by his father in 1966, Bruce Mackie farms some 30 miles north of Aberdeen, where he milks 250 cows through four Lely robots on an organic system and produces yoghurt on the farm under the Rora Dairy brand.

A growing number of farmers in Northern Ireland are moving towards autumn- and winter-calving as a way pf maximising milk from grazed grass, particularly at the end of the cow’s lactation. Richard Halleron speaks to a farmer who is doing just that.

Emily Hughes is proof that having no agricultural background or farming experience is not a barrier to a career in the poultry industry. Katie Fallon reports.

As the nation celebrates Great British Beef week, Emily Ashworth looks at how beef can benefit your health and the environment.

How you seal your silage clamp can have a huge effect on the speed and efficiency of the clamp-filling process, the quality of forage ultimately produced and the labour hours needed to maintain it once it is opened for feed-out.

High costs continue to drive the global market, keeping supplies tight. Cedric Porter reports.