Dairy Farmer

THE dispersal of the Willenhall herd of pedigree Holsteins on behalf of Roger and Lin Edwards, Bettisfield, near Whitchurch, which was due to be held at Shrewsbury market was rearranged as an online auction.

In early March, after watching the news, we casually suggested that if we ever had to go into isolation it could take us a while to notice any difference, such is the reality of many farmers’ lives at this time of year.

Getting maize off to a good start will be particularly important this spring, given the wet autumn and winter bringing the likelihood of colder soils and later drilling alongside the loss of key seed treatments this year.

The new ranking for young Holstein sires, published by AHDB Dairy, features some show-stopping figures.

The results from Pioneer’s on-farm maize hybrid trials harvested last autumn have highlighted three varieties of interest to UK dairy farmers drilling crops this spring. Sara Gregson reports.

Farmers have urged Government to halt plans to continue the statutory requirement of bovine TB testing for cattle, in light of the on-going COVID-19 pandemic.

Block calving 430 cows means a lot of calves have to be attended to all at once, and to ensure full attention a strict colostrum protocol has been adopted on one Welsh farm. Debbie James has the story.

Production in December was 1228 million litres, which was down 13.00m litres and 1% on last year. It was also within 1% of 2017.

March 2020 Dairy Farming edition

Any farm-built invention or installation that improves the lives of the stock and owners has to be commended. For one farm improving foot health, that meant building its own foot washer.