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Practical Guides Publications

A herd of beef cattle in an open sided shed, standing with their heads through the feed rail at a diet of silage. The cattle are all looking towards the camera.
A herd of beef cattle in an open sided shed, standing with their heads through the feed rail at a diet of silage. The cattle are all looking towards the camera.

A Guide to Feed Budgeting

Forward planning forage supplies helps understand whether you will have enough conserved forage to meet the livestock demand – this is becoming more critical as weather is fluctuating more from…

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Best Practice Procedures For Making Baled Silage

There are a number of important steps during the silage making process which can influence nutritional of the end product, impacting on livestock performance and cost of production. This factsheet gives advice on when to cut grass for silage, how long to wilt for, use of additives and handling and storage of bales. Environmental considerations of baled silage are also discussed including forage budgeting and type and amount of plastic used.

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Feeding For Fertility In The Suckler Herd

This Scottish Government funded project report details work involving 12 suckler herds where cow nutritional status was investigated by metabolic profiling over the 2020 calving period. Cows were blood sampled one month pre- and post-calving to identify whether energy, protein and mineral intakes were adequate. Information was also gathered on body condition score change and rations to help assess nutritional status and whether this could be linked to subsequent reproductive performance.

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