Herd Management [DA.HM]

Heat Lamps for Neonate Calves

Rearing strong calves is key to business efficiency and profitability. Neonatal, low birth weight, or sick calves have a reduced capacity for thermoregulation. Heat lamps can be used to mitigate…

Business and Policy November 2025: Sector Focus – Dairy Technology – Where can it benefit your business?

With reliable, experienced labour on dairy farms costly and difficult to find; what is the alternative? While there are many tasks in dairy farming that require a high level of…

Calf Milk Replacer Guide – What to Use and Why

There are many benefits of feeding a calf milk replacer (CMR) over whole milk, including: Reduced risk of disease transfer (particularly Johne’s) High bacterial load Antibiotic residues Consistency However, there…

BVD Eradication – Important Changes & Phase 6

Scotland’s BVD eradication scheme has been in place since 2010. Phase 6 of the eradication scheme is starting on 1 July. Changes from July 2025 From 1 July 2025 Persistently…

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…

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…

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…

MMN January 2025 – Outwintering Dairy Heifers

Outwintering dairy heifers can make significant savings on bedding and labour and with good planning and nutrition, growth performance should not be compromised. There are a number of things to…

MMN January 2025 – Should You be Using Genomic Testing?

Genomics uses a young animal’s DNA to estimate their genetic potential and aims to provide dairy farmers with the information and the confidence to make informed breeding decisions with their…

Green Bedding for the Dairy Herd

With the rising costs of sawdust and straw, it is worth considering alternative sources of bedding, one of which is recycled manure solids (RMS), also known as green bedding. Green…

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