Nutrition

With escalating fertiliser costs and the prospect of tight feed ingredient markets next winter, the importance of maximising feed output from your own resources will remain a priority for dairy farmers. Farmers Guardian reports.

Research has shown even pasture fed cows are short of beta carotene at some point during the breeding cycle.

Good silage will be key to making the most of good milk prices in the face of high fertiliser and feed costs.

Lallemand’s animal nutrition guide ‘Forward with Fibre’ is designed to help farmers improve their fibre utilisation in diets. Ellie Layton highlights some key points.

Serious livestock accidents and illness can, and do, happen. So what should producers do in emergency situations to secure the best possible outcome for the animal? Olivia Cooper finds out.

With input costs skyrocketing, looking at alternative home-grown protein sources could help bolster ruminant rations while reducing the reliance on purchased feeds. Farmers Guardian reports.

While many farmers perceive lungworm in cattle to be an autumn disease – simply because the tell-tale cough from husk tends to peak late in the grazing season – the reality is early spring is the time to be thinking about better disease control, says vet Emily Linton.

Fodder beet could be an attractive alternative to costly bought-in feeds, says Mark Snell who grows the crop to use for his own livestock business and also to sell to other farmers.

In what is thought to be the largest recorded data-set for sheep colostrum collected under commercial farming conditions, a new study has emphasised the importance of a good diet in late pregnancy and its link with colostrum quality.

According to the Control of Worms Sustainably (COWS) group, vaccinating calves before turnout can protect them against lungworm and reduce economic losses from ill-health.