Dairy
Checking Heifers Pre-Breeding
Difficult calvings are a major drain on resources at calving time, both in terms of labour and finances. While completely eliminating dystocia in cattle is impossible, investing in a Pre-breeding…
Read More >Reviewing your Concentrate use per Litre
Concentrate use per litre is a key measure of feeding efficiency in the dairy cow. The less concentrate required for a given level of milk production with the more milk…
Read More >Joint Ventures – What Are The Opportunities For Livestock Enterprises?
Whether you are looking to set up a new venture as a new/young entrant or looking to expand an existing business or are looking to slow down/scale down, Joint Ventures (JV) could be the perfect business arrangement, but the question is – which type of joint venture suits your needs best and what do you need to be mindful of?
Read More >Forage Crops Mineral Fact Sheet
Nutritionally forage crops are an excellent source of energy and good source of protein (although root crops tend to be at the lower end). This fact sheet will focus on…
Read More >Managing The Transition Onto Forage Crops
It takes around three weeks for rumen bugs to adapt to a change in diet. If we change diet abruptly, the rumen struggles to cope and digestive upsets occur such as bloat, acidosis and/or loss of performance. If done badly, you can put the livestock off eating the crop altogether and, in severe cases, farmers have lost livestock due to poor transitioning.
Read More >Business Planning Fact Sheet
Whether you are starting up a new business, looking to invest in or expand your existing business, want to consider your options as you approach retirement or are simply looking to improve your businesses performance, preparing a business plan can help.
Read More >Disbudding Calves
Disbudding calves is a common management procedure on many beef and dairy farms. Horns pose as a potential welfare issue to cattle as well as being a potential safety risk to farmers.
Read More >Rumen Drinking in Calves – What is it and how to avoid it?
Rumen drinking is one of the main causes of mortality that SRUC vets see in dairy calves. It can be the sole cause of death or a predisposer to other…
Read More >Developing Safe Farming Practices – How to Complete a Risk Assessment
Managing health and safety on farms is essential to ensure that you, your workers, family members and others are safe at work. Completing a risk assessment is an important part…
Read More >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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