Blog
Hay Instead of Silage?
Farmers have generally moved away from hay in favour of silage over the years to be less dependent on a good spell of weather. If silage is made well, it…
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Managing Disease Risks in Spring Barley 2022
Spring barley crops have brairded well and nice even emergence and good plant counts are the norm. For the most part Scottish crops have had just enough moisture in contrast…
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Ensiling Potatoes with Silage to Add Feed Value to the Pit
High input prices have prompted us to closely look at the cost of feed supply for next winter and one way to bulk up silage and add energy is to…
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Nematodirus Hatching…….
The warm weather has been a welcome return for grass growth and conditions for outdoor lambing’s. However, this warmer weather has made conditions for Nematodirus battus hatching. Who favour a period of cold weather followed by a cumulative period of 7-10 days of temperatures over 11ºC. Nematodirus eggs on the pasture shed by lambs last year will have survived through winter and will hatch in the right conditions now.
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Maximising Performance of Growing and Finishing Cattle
With exceptionally high feed costs this year it is vital that the target weight gain from a specific ration is being achieved. Any drop in daily liveweight gain will mean…
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Improving Silage To Reduce Costs
Improving silage quality provides an alternative resource of nutrients to livestock that may have otherwise been supplied in concentrate feed. Ruminants have evolved to eat grass, therefore the more we…
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Lead Poisoning Alert
Ahead of turn out livestock farmers should be aware of the risk of lead poisoning with the greatest risk of poisoning occurring in the period immediately following turn out. SAC…
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Using Potatoes as an Alternative to Barley for Finishing Cattle
Stockfeed potatoes can be used as an alternative to expensive barley and are worth considering for feeding to finishing cattle to spin out home grown barley stocks if they are…
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Keeping a lid on winter wheat disease risks
Winter wheat crops are commonly more advanced than usual this season, as a consequence of early drilling and benign winter conditions. The flag leaf is emerging earlier than expected for…
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Can I cut back on Nitrogen?
The last 12 months has seen unprecedented increases in costs of inputs to farmers and the immediate outlook could see markets and supply chains in chaos around the world. For…
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