Dairy
Milk Manager News March 2025
Welcome to the March 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 turning out heifers, milk replacer, fodder beet in milking rations, husbandry of dairy calves and the multiple…
MMN March 2025 – How Much is Enough When it Comes to Milk Replacer?
Your calf rearing policy should, from birth, ensure that you are giving heifer replacements the best opportunity to express their genetic potential as a productive animal when they enter the milking herd and that they remain productive over several lactations. Assuming all key colostrum protocols are being adhered to, the next key element of the…
MMN March 2025 – Milk Market Update
Dairy Commodity Markets Fonterra’s latest on-line GDT auction (4th March) resulted in a 0.5% decrease in the weighted average price across all products, reaching US $4,209/t. This follows a 0.6% drop at the previous auction on 18th The biggest decline was seen in whole milk powder, down 2.2% to $4,061/t. The biggest increases at the…
MMN March 2025 – Turning Out Heifers, Fed not Forgotten
Highly nutritious spring grass can be an effective tool for promoting growth in youngstock and can support growth rates of up to 1kg/day. Turning heifers out to grass can reduce rearing costs and ease the pressure on forage and straw stocks. Ensuring heifers reach the desired growth rate at grass is dependent on effective grassland…
MMN March 2025 – Fodder Beet in Milking Rations
Fodder beet has surged in popularity for outwintering livestock, providing one of the highest yielding energy crops (65-90T of bulb and leaf yield/ha). While the crop may only be around 18-20% dry matter, fodder beet has an energy content of around 12 to 13.5MJ/kg DM depending on variety, making it comparable with cereals and other…
MMN March 2025 – Husbandry of Dairy Calves
When rearing calves there is a lot to think about from to the day of birth right through to getting that calf to enter the milking herd. Husbandry is important throughout the calf’s life. Pre-weaning is a crucial time to socialise the calves. Calves who are grouped together learn their daily routine quickly and this…
MMN March 2025 – The Multiple Roles of Methionine
Methionine is an essential amino acid for dairy cows and is the first limiting amino acid for milk production, followed by lysine. Typically miking rations are deficient in methionine, with feed ingredients containing low levels. There are several benefits of methionine supplementation for both milking cows and dry cows over the calving period. As dairy…
Agribusiness News March 2025 – Milk
Milk production data Milk production continues to stay ahead of last year, with GB volumes for January up 2.2% to an estimated 1,047m litres. The latest data from AHDB puts daily production at 33.89 million litres for the week ending 15th January, 1.6% above the same week last year. UK production for January was estimated…
Uterine Prolapse in Dairy Cattle
Uterine prolapses are more serious than vaginal or rectal prolapses, and almost always occur within 24 hours of calving. They are easily distinguished from vaginal prolapses, which tend to occur pre-calving, with the prolapsed tissue being pink and smooth. With a prolapsed uterus, the large red uterine mass may hang down to the hocks and…
Agribusiness News February 2025 – Milk
Milk production data AHDB’s latest forecast has put GB milk production for the 2024/25 milk year at 12.43 billion litres, which is 0.9% higher than the previous year. GB milk production figures for December were 1,054 million litres, 3.3% more than in December 2023 and an average daily production of 34 million litres/day. The Defra…