Practical Guides
On this page, we've gathered our practical guides across a wide range of areas helpful in running your farm.
Conservation & Biodiversity
Surveying Farmland Wading Birds – A Practical Guide
Monitoring breeding waders on your farm enables you to track changes from year to year. This Practical Guide gives some guidance as to why and how to begin surveying farmland wading birds.
Energy & Renewables
Farming for a Better Climate Practical Guides
This is legacy content from Farming For A Better Climate
Practical Guide: Improving Dairy Feed and Water Intakes
This practical guide looks at helping to maximise performance of housed dairy cattle by improving feed and water intakes.
Practical Guide: Improving Shed Ventilation for the Dairy Herd
This practical guide looks at helping to maximise performance of housed cattle by improving ventilation in buildings.
Practical Guide: Farm Woodlands and Carbon
This Practical Guide looks at opportunities for locking up carbon in farm woodlands and benefits for the farm business.
Practical Guide: Farm Woodlands for Shelter
This Practical Guide looks at opportunities for improving shelter on the farm by the presence of woodlands.
Practical Guide: Nutrient budgeting I – The Benefits to your Business
This practical guide looks at the benefits of creating and using a nutrient budget for your farm business.
Practical Guide: Nutrient Budgeting II – Getting Started
This practical guide looks at what factors you need to consider when making a nutrient budget for your farm, fertiliser recommendations and how to get the most out of your nutrient budget.
Practical Guide: Soil sampling I – How to take a soil sample
This practical guide details what is required to take a soil sample for analysis that is representative of the area sampled.
Practical Guide: Soil sampling II – Benefits to your business
This practical guide details how soil sampling can benefit businesses by increasing productivity and create efficiencies on fertiliser inputs through better nutrient planning.
Practical Guide: Silage Testing: Interpreting the Results
This practical guide looks at helping to maximise performance of
housed cattle by improving the use of silages.
Practical Guide: Greenhouse Gas Emissions
This Practical Guide looks at the main agricultural greenhouse gases and how farm emissions might be reduced.
Practical Guide: Tyre Selection & Management
This practical guide explains how to reduce soil damage, improve fuel usage and reduce overall green house gas emissions by selecting the correct tyre size, type and pressure.
Practical Guide: Managing Soil Phosphorus
This Practical Guide will help you manage the phosphorus in your soils. It will help you understand the risk of phosphorus pollution and how you can reduce bagged fertiliser costs in grassland by incorporating nitrogen fixing clover into your sward.
Practical Guide: Alternative Forages for Ewes
This practical guide looks at reducing ewe feed costs while aiding rotational benefits and animal performance.
Practical Guide – Maximising The Performance of Grass Leys
This Practical Guide gives some tips to maintain long term production on grass leys.
Practical Guide: Resource Use Efficiency on Arable Farms
This Practical Guide concentrates on some of the opportunities that could come from carrying out a carbon footprint on an arable farm.
Practical Guide: Optimising Tractor Fuel Use
This Practical Guide looks at how to reduce tractor fuel consumption
Practical Guide – Optimising Organic Nitrogen (Updated Sept 2025)
This Practical Guide concentrates on how you can manage organic nitrogen to benefit the business and help reduce GHG emissions.
Practical Guide: Making the Most of On-Site Energy Generation
This Farming For a Better Climate Practical Guide looks at how demand management can reduce the need to import electricity from the grid.
Practical Guide: Use of Cover Crops
This Practical Guide concentrates on the benefits of cover crops and how they can help your farm adapt in a changing climate.
Practical Guide: Regenerative Agriculture – Integrating Livestock
This Practical Guide looks at the fifth principle of regenerative farming: Integrating livestock.
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