Blog
Harvested Crops -Sept 2019
With a wetter than usual harvest this season, the risk of pests problems flaring up in stored grain in higher than usual, particularly if stores and associated machinery have not…
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Body Condition Scoring Tips Amid Reports Of More Caesareans
The importance of managing body conditioning scores has been highlighted following reports of an increased number of caesarean sections in calving cows. Strong grass growth has led to more overly fit cows and, as a result, more difficult calvings.
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Supplementing Beef Cattle At Grass
As summer progresses the quantity and nutritional quality of grass declines. To maintain growth rates it is necessary to supplement the grazing at some stage as the season progresses, the timing will very much vary from farm to farm. It is important to consider this as concentrates simply substitute grass intakes and make weight gain more expensive.
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Harvesting Sprouted Grain
It looks as if it is going to be an increasingly difficult harvest with reports already of grain beginning to sprout in the ear.
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Winter Oilseed Rape – Weed management
In ideal conditions where the soil is warm and moist, seed well covered by soil and a low risk of crop failure, then pre-emergence weed control is the most cost-effective…
Read More > Winter Oilseed Rape – Pest Management
The key pests to consider in winter oilseed rape this autumn are flea beetle, cabbage stem flea beetle, peach-potato aphid (and turnip yellows virus – TuYV) and later in the…
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Winter Oilseed Rape – Clubroot
Clubroot is a major issue in rape in our arable rotations with over 50% of fields used for rape carrying the disease – and in areas like Aberdeenshire, the incidence…
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Barley Yellow Dwarf Virus – Forward Planning
Barley yellow dwarf virus (BYDV) has been seen in many winter and spring cereals this season. Aphids had built up numbers in crops and volunteers, however, the heavy downpours of…
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Slugs
Slug trapping can be used now to assess the risk from slugs in a particular field. To get the best from slug trapping the bait placed under the trap needs to grab the slugs’ interest and to keep them there.
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Spring Peas and Beans – Pre-harvest dessication options
Combine peas Due to the indeterminate nature of combining peas, most combining pea crops in Scotland benefit from desiccation, unless it is an exceptionally dry harvest. Diquat (e.g. Reglone): The…
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