Articles
Winter Wheat Growth Stage & Disease Update – Late June 2020
The table below shows the growth and disease observations in SRUC’s monitored crops. This data is generated in commercial crops in your area so is indicative of the disease pressure…
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Winter Barley Growth Stage Update – Late June 2020
The monitored commercial crop data from SRUC’s crops this week is shown in the table below. This data is generated in commercial crops in your area so is indicative of…
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Pests & Weed Update for All Cereals – Late June
Pests The return to cooler and damp weather has curtailed aphid flights into crops to a great extent. However, aphids will still be building up numbers on crops. Look for…
Read More >Opportunities To Control Rushes
Rushes are a major challenge to beef and sheep producers across the country. Rushes are an indicator of poor fertility, poor drainage and low soil pH. However, when you look at the…
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Pest Management in Potatoes – Early June 2020
Effective slug management in potatoes relies on applying molluscicide pellets at the best timing. Trials over several years have demonstrated that the key timing for pellet application is just before…
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Sheep External Parasites On The Rise?
The winter of 2019/20 was exceptional, breaking records for both high temperatures and high rainfall, with the highest UK December temperature on record and the wettest UK February on record. Coinciding with this there have been reports of more external parasites being found in sheep flocks e.g. lice, ticks and maggots. These parasites will have enjoyed this mild winter and had good survival rates.
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Using A Wholecrop Cereal To Top Up Forage Supplies
If you think you may be short of forage for the coming winter cutting and preserving a standing cereal crop to produce wholecrop may be worth considering. It is a good bulk feed and can replace silage if necessary (may need additional protein depending on the stock to be fed) and it is ideal if you have undersown cereals and will give an earlier bite in the field or free up the field for early sowing of a catch crop.
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Unusual Behaviour And Deaths In Cattle
Over the last couple of days there have been several reports of dairy cows eating soil and of deaths in young suckled calves from twisted guts etc. While we only know of a few cases, their cause is difficult to explain. One possibility is that with the drought grass is likely to have high levels of sugar and of course very rapid growth once it rains.
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Feed Space and Milk Output
The natural behaviour of cows is to synchronise certain habits so that the majority of animals in the herd feed, rest and ruminate at the same time. This natural behaviour can be restricted in housed systems, especially if there is competition for feed and lying space. Some animals may adapt their feeding times if space is limited, so as to avoid aggressive interactions at the feed fence.
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Nutritional Causes: Focus On Laminitis
Nutritional management has been identified as a key component in the development of laminitis, particularly in rations with a high level of starch resulting in an acidotic state.
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