Articles
Business and Policy September 2025 – Sector Focus: The Cost of Infertile Gimmers
It is fairly common for gimmers (ewes lambing for the first time at two years old) to have a lower pregnancy rate than mature ewes in their first-year lambing. After…
Read More >
Business and Policy September 2025 – Sheep
August Trade Roundup Prime, cull and store trade is at a premium to last year. For the week ending 23rd August 2025, the SQQ stood at 734.9p/kg DW, some 0.69p/kg…
Read More >
The Benefits of Whole Milk for Calves
Feeding dairy replacement heifer calves on saleable whole milk is less common than using calf milk replacer (CMR) but seems to be growing in popularity. While there are a number…
Read More >
A Guide to Pre-Weaning Nutrition of Dairy Beef Calves
Dairy beef calves are typically purchased anywhere from 10 days to three weeks of age and so will need to be reared on calf milk replacer (CMR) until weaning at…
Read More >
Reducing Surface Runoff and Erosion with ‘Magic Margins’
Surface runoff and erosion are important considerations for all farmers in Scotland. Studies have shown than within Scotland 900,000 tonnes of soil is lost annually, equating to over £50 million.…
Read More >
Forage Budgeting Guide for the Dairy Herd
Introduction Forage budgeting is a useful management tool to plan feed stocks ahead for the coming year. It should be carried out six to eight weeks after all forages have…
Read More >
Journey to Net Zero Emissions on Mixed Farms
Benchmarking carbon emissions against kilograms of agricultural output sold provides a standardised and practical way to measure and compare environmental impact. This approach normalises emissions data, accounting for differences in…
Read More >
How To Select Plant Species For Diverse Forage
Sowing a range of plant species within one field is not a new practice within agriculture. But it can be highly successful when plant species are selected which complement each…
Read More >
How to Get Oilseed Rape off to a Good Start
Over the past decade many growers have increased their proportion of spring malting barley grown due to it having good levels of profitability and being relatively cheap to grow. However,…
Read More >
Safe Holding Times in Store for Crops Before Drying
With harvest in progress and potentially a backlog to drying grains, here is guidance on the maximum safe storage durations for combinable crops between harvest and drying. Holding crops at…
Read More >Sign up to the FAS newsletter
Receive updates on news, events and publications from Scotland’s Farm Advisory Service