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Low risk grazing can be described as field where there are few or no infectious worm larvae on the grass. It is sometimes called clean grazing. The opposite would be high risk, or dirty, grazing which is a field with large numbers of infectious worm larvae on the grass.

Since September 2015 there have been 288 outbreaks of bluetongue disease in France. As things stand the north of France remains clear of infection.

The best time to tackle footrot is during a dry spell when as few sheep as possible are on the farm. 

Veterinarian and researcher Fiona Lovatt delivered a wake up call to the sheep industry at BSAS 2016. From a survey of over 800 UK farms who were finishing lambs and selling on average 670 lambs a year, 94% of farmers claimed to have never seen the five “iceberg” diseases, she concluded they were in denial.

For some of you it may still seem like a long time until the rams go out to the ewes but now would be a good time to look through your available rams to bring them up to working condition in time for the mating season.

With high rainfall and good grass growing conditions selecting suitable pastures for pre-calving autumn suckler cows may be challenging.

With changes in procurement processes and tightening up on requirements for entire male animals you what are the options for castrating bull calves which have been left entire?

A few docks in a paddock grazing system may not seem a problem. However they can rapidly become a major problem due to the system itself.

Tackling lamb production costs using genetics to reduce labour starts with a move away from income directed traits that affect appearance.