Dairy
Agribusiness News January 2025 – Milk
2024 review: a year of two halves Rising prices for butter, cream, SMP and cheddar came on the back of low milk volumes both here and in the EU in the first half of 2024. Milk volumes rose in the second half of 2024 stimulated by milk price rises and lower feed costs. Milk price…
Agribusiness News December 2024 – Milk
Milk production data Milk production is full steam ahead, with volumes significantly ahead of this time last year. GB October deliveries were 2.6% more than October last year (1,029 mlitres versus 1,003 mlitres). This increase has been attributed to better grass growth and weather conditions, more autumn block calving herds and a favourable milk price…
Milk Manager News November 2024
Welcome to the November edition of Milk Manager News. If you prefer to download this document click the download button. Along with the regular articles on milk and cereal market updates, this month we also have articles on feeding silage to weaned calves, winter lameness management, the benefits of good ventilation, slurry storage contingency planning…
MMN November 2024 – Waterbeds – the Ultimate in Cow Comfort?
Ensuring good cow comfort is critical to welfare and productivity and a new type of lying surface is gaining momentum – waterbeds! First developed in Europe over 15 years ago, the first design had problems with poor drainage and insufficient cushioning for the cows’ knees. Fast forward a few years and there are now various…
MMN November 2024 – The Benefits of Good Ventilation
Many businesses have housed dairy cattle earlier this winter due to extended periods of wet weather, poached fields, limited grazing and variable (but often mild) temperatures. Protecting the herd from the elements shouldn’t be the only consideration when it comes to housing. The airspace within a shed will have a significant impact on animal…
MMN November 2024 – A Recap on Winter Lameness Management: Prevention is Better than Cure
The estimated average cost of a case of lameness in dairy cows is £180. Whilst we are all aware of the risks and costs of cattle lameness, it can sometimes be easy to fall into the position of firefighting rather than fireproofing when winter work starts to get busy. Housing cattle can often be more…
MMN November 2024 – Should You Feed Silage to Weaned Calves?
There is a lot of debate around whether weaned dairy calves can be fed on a grass silage-based ration. Standard industry guidance for years has been to feed weaned calves on straw and concentrates until around six months of age before transitioning them to a silage-based ration. The reason for this is that the rumen…
MMN November 2024 – Milk Market Update
Dairy Commodity Markets Fonterra’s latest on-line GDT auction (5th November) resulted in a 4.8% increase in the weighted average price across all products, reaching US $3,997/t. This follows a 0.3% drop at the previous auction in mid-October. All products on offer sold at higher average prices than the previous auction, except for lactose, which was…
MMN November 2024 – Cereals Update
UK Cereals Market Update and Global Impacts AHDB have published the 2024/25 Early Balance Sheets for wheat and barley for the UK. Wheat production at 11.05Mt is down 21% on last year and despite the heaviest opening stocks for over 20 years, home produced availability for 2024/25 will be down 9% requiring an estimated import…
Maximising Milk from Forage
Ensuring that your dairy rations maximise the feed value available in your silage and other conserved forages can make significant savings in purchased feed costs. On grazing farms, the quality of grass and grazing infrastructure has the most significant impact on dry matter intakes by increasing the time the cows have to eat and the…