Articles

The earlier start to this winter means that stock were clipped along their back earlier than normal.  With hair growth controlled by day length, cattle are likely to have thicker coats now compared with normal.

This article looks at replacing barley with wheat in intensive cattle diets.

Continuing advances in AI, automatic heat detection, synchronisation programmes along with larger herds and tighter calving periods means sweeper bulls are more common.  This is particularly true in block, spring calving dairy herds where sweepers are turned out after an initial 4 – 6 weeks of AI.

It appears that the poor end to the summer has resulted in higher numbers of barren cows compared to normal.

In this article the practical aspects of pain relief in cattle and sheep will be examined.

As Scotland has been Officially Tuberculosis Free since 2009, a more flexible approach to testing was introduced in 2012 (and revised in 2017) for what are to be considered ‘lower risk’ herds.  Scottish herds that meet certain criteria can be exempt from routine herd testing for TB, meaning that they do not have to carry out the whole herd test every four years.

At a recent farm open day on ventilation one of the talks was held in a recently built mono-pitch shed completely open on one side where the cattle were fed, with a spaced roof and face boarding above the back wall.

For years every article on ventilation has carried the warning “but avoiding draughts at stock level”.  Is this true and if so is there any experimental work to prove it?

In a recent press article describing a successful finishing unit feeding a totally mixed ration (TMR) the article mentioned that at one point it was felt the TMR was too dry so 2 kg of water per head was added to the mix. 

It is vital that sheep have the trough space to ensure a high intake of their ration, reduced levels of competition and reduce the incidence of knocks or damage to the unborn lamb.