Dairy

As we head into September with shorter days and grass quality declining, it can be difficult to maintain milk production and body condition at this stage of the grazing season. By the time a loss in condition is seen, it is too late, and the damage has already been done to future production and fertility….

As we head into autumn, winter feeding of dairy cows is just around the corner and following a poor summer and reports of some delayed silage cuts, maximising feed intake and feed efficiency is going to be key for performance. Part of ensuring good feed efficiency is the feed space that is available for the…

Metabolic profiling is a useful management tool to assess the nutritional status of the dairy herd. Blood samples are collected at key times during the production cycle and analysed for various parameters to determine whether the ration is adequate in terms of energy, protein and mineral supply. As the transition period is the time of…

  At the tail end of the growth season making the most of your grass and maintaining pasture quality becomes far more challenging. The aim is to keep grass in the cow’s diet as long as possible whilst maintaining target body condition score. Supplementation with silage and concentrates needs to be balanced with grass availability…

UK Cereals Market Update and Global Impacts Harvest is ongoing with very mixed results; early reports are highlighting slightly lower yields than average for winter wheat (-5% to -8%) and quality also very mixed with bushel weight and protein level concerns. Whilst milling wheat markets locally are limited, information on protein content will likely reflect…

Milk Market Update Dairy Commodity Markets Fonterra’s latest on-line GDT auction (3rd September) resulted in a slight drop (-0.4%) in the weighted average price across all products, reaching US $3,833/t. This follows a 5.5% rise at the previous auction in mid-August and is the first negative result since the start of July. The biggest rises…