Articles

Walk across a healthy field after rain, and you’ll notice something different. The soil is firm but not compact, absorbing water instead of it pooling or running off into the ditch.

Farming in the UK has always been a blend of hard graft and tradition but always an early embracer of tech. These days, though, it seems like technology is joining the tractor as a staple on the farm.

Weaning calves is a critical stage that sets the foundation for their long-term health and productivity. After investing in feeding over 1kg of milk powder per day to support strong early growth, your focus should shift to maintaining momentum during the post-weaning phase. Proper management of diet, environment, and feeding practices is essential to maximise growth rates.

Balancing nutrients like nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) is a growing priority for UK dairy farms. With tightening regulations and environmental pressures, the need to efficiently manage these essential nutrients is more critical than ever.

Supplemental feeding is crucial in late pregnancy to support the ewe’s rising nutritional needs, the rapid growth of lambs, udder development and the production of colostrum.

A customer is taking part in a trial feeding larvae to one house of birds and comparing the outcomes to the sister flock on the same farm, acting as a control group.

Well, what a strange weather year this is turning out to be?!
Some of you are saying that you have had one of your best grass years and others of you are saying that the rain never seems to have stopped falling from the sky?! One of the main reasons that we all love agriculture is that no two days, seasons or farms are the same. At a time where we are seeing fluctuating markets, challenging harvesting windows, high costs, what can we hope to achieve by 'controlling the controllables'?

Egg shell quality is mostly influenced before the egg is laid. The thickness of the shell is directly related to the time the egg spends in the shell gland—generally, the longer it remains in the gland, the thicker the shell will be. This means that eggs laid earlier in the day tend to have thicker shells compared to those laid later.

Flushing ewes, which involves increasing their feed before and during tupping to improve ovulation, has been a common practice for many years. However, with advancements in sheep management, grazing strategies, and modern techniques like sponging, using teaser rams, and selecting fertile tups, flushing may be becoming less necessary.

Focus: Improving Soil Management

For livestock farmers, soil management is often overlooked in favour of more immediate concerns like animal health and feed supply. There seems to be a misconception that the soil will grow crops regardless how its farmed.