News
Optimising Fertility in Dairy Heifers
The target age at first calving for dairy heifers of 24 months is proven to be the economic optimum, with these younger calving heifers being more productive and profitable than…
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Keeping Calves Productive and Healthy in Cold Conditions
With winter approaching now is the time to consider the thermal needs of your calves. A calf less than three weeks old has a lower critical temperature between 10 to…
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Feed Sorting in a Dairy Ration
Despite the time and effort put into presenting cows with a well-mixed ration, it is in their nature to select the highly palatable concentrate portion of the TMR over the…
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On Track for Progress
Incorporating cow tracks into a dairy grazing system can increase herd productivity and profitability whilst helping Scotland work towards net-zero emissions. Maximising grassland utilisation Increasing grass utilisation can be a…
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Are your Calves Getting too Much of a Good Thing?
The importance of providing calves with a good quality milk replacer in early life is well documented. However, not only is the nutritional value of the milk replacer important, the…
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Skinny Milk
The Scottish Agricultural Organisation Society’s (SAOS) Skinny Milk project was set up to provide farmers with a new lean management based approach to explore the potential for ongoing improvement and…
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Tackling High Bactoscans
The Bactoscan is an important indicator of the hygiene quality of milk, measuring the total number of bacteria present. Not only is it important to meet your milk buyer’s Bactoscan…
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Soya Bean Meal Under The Spotlight
As was mentioned in last month’s Straights Update in Milk Manager News, the demand for soya has significantly decreased due to the outbreak of swine flu in China, coupled with…
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Alternative Treatments For Mastitis
With antibiotic use on dairy farms under closer scrutiny, consideration for alternative mastitis therapies is on the rise. Diagnostic testing and knowing what the predominant mastitis bugs are on the…
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Benefits of Colostrum Pasteurisation
Many disease causing organisms can be transmitted to calves via colostrum feeding, such as Mycoplasma, Listeria, E.coli, Salmonella and perhaps most importantly, the bacteria that causes Johne’s disease (Mycobacterium avium paratuberculosis or MAP).
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