Know How / Housing and handling

Advice and information on livestock housing and shed design to ensure your animals’ welfare and productivity. Compare different types of housing and bedding and read case studies on other farmers. Get tips on stock handling equipment, including cattle crushes and races, dairy parlour design and robotic milking.

Case studies

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LAMBING

How colostrum and new shed helped cut lamb mortality

Meticulous colostrum feeding and a new lambing shed have helped cut mortality and eradicate cases of watery mouth in an organic March lambing flock. Mortality has fallen from 26% to…

WHATS IN YOUR LIVESTOCK SHED

What’s in Your Livestock Shed? visits a high-tech pig unit

A state-of-the-art indoor pig farrowing and dry sow unit, projected to produce more than 10,000 piglets a year, is showcasing some of the highest levels of indoor pig welfare and…

LAMBING

Purpose-built hut reduces lambing intervention on mixed farm

A purpose-built hut set on a raised platform in the centre of the lambing shed is proving the ideal solution for a father and son to keep a careful eye…

LIVESTOCK

How a slurry digester is helping cut energy costs by 85%

A Gloucestershire dairy farm has slashed monthly energy bills by using a farm-scale anaerobic digester, alongside solar panels, to produce electricity. The technology employed at Court Farm, Kempley, also produces…

DAIRY

Video: How a new parlour improved herd efficiency and health

Investment in a rotary parlour has helped a Devon dairy maximise efficiencies during milking of its 350-head Holstein Friesian herd, with milking time slashed by more than 50%, labour burdens…

DAIRY

Benefits of training heifers to use the parlour

A snap poll by Farmers Weekly revealed that 52% of dairy farmers who responded, train their heifers through the parlour and 26% run a separate heifer group. Both results are…

Practical advice

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LIVESTOCK

Ways to cut emissions in housed livestock systems

All livestock farms, regardless of system, must comply with UK environmental legislation, but as the sector comes under greater pressure to go further with greener farming methods, it is businesses…

DAIRY

6 common farmer milking myths put to the test

Having domesticated cows 9,000 years ago, it is tempting to think we know all we need about milking. The dairy industry has a wealth of experience, with generations of knowledge…

DAIRY

Dairy tips: Benefits of benchmarking your parlour

A new parlour may not be the only way to improve milking efficiency, reduce time in the parlour or get cows in more quickly. Benchmarking your parlour and milking routine…

DAIRY

Advice on milking machine maintenance for spring block-calvers

Spring-calving herds with a tight block and a full parlour shutdown can plan to do their milking machine maintenance, servicing and any upgrades during the dry period. But parlour servicing…

POULTRY

7 tips for making a profit from farm-scale Christmas turkeys

About 18% of the Christmas turkeys sold to UK consumers are produced on a small scale by farmers independent of the big players. It can generate a good income, often…

HEALTH AND WELFARE

Advice on reducing pneumonia risk amid autumn weather swings

Pneumonia prevention should be top of the agenda this autumn as high humidity and swings in ambient temperatures are creating the perfect storm for the disease. Dr Gwen Davies of…

Insights

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POULTRY

8 new products to enhance layer and broiler performance

Margins are under pressure like never before in the poultry sector, which faces high input costs and static prices, and some businesses are operating at a loss. Could it be…

LIVESTOCK

How rising costs threaten future of Icelandic sheep farming

Tough and resilient – the farmers in Iceland are much like the sheep they have bred to cope with the rugged terrain and sub-Arctic winter conditions. But many, like 44-year-old…

POULTRY

The poultry industry's response to total cage ban proposals

A strong industry response to a vocal home-grown animal welfare lobby has already propelled the UK to the forefront of the global move away from cage systems. Despite that, pressure…

POULTRY

Why the industry is fighting Defra's poultry transport plans

Parts of the broiler industry could be severely threatened unless the government adopts a more commonsense approach to Defra’s Improvements to Animal Welfare in Transport consultation, according to the NFU.…

LIVESTOCK

Best dairy bedding for minimising mastitis-causing bacterium

A study carried out at the University of Nottingham has shown sawdust to be the best bedding for minimising the survival of the mastitis-causing pathogen streptococcus uberis (S. uberis.) S.…

POULTRY

A guide to improving poultry shed insulation

Good insulation will keep poultry housing at an even temperature throughout the seasons, reducing heating and ventilation costs. However, older types of insulation may be less efficient due to outdated…

HOUSING AND HANDLING

Video: Inside a state-of-the-art transition cow shed

One USA dairy has converted a shed, originally built for calves, into a state-of-the-art facility for transition cows. The shed at George DeRuyter & Sons dairy in Sunnyside, Washington State,…

LAYERS

A poultrykeeper's guide to ground-source heat pumps

With farm carbon emissions under the spotlight and an increasing emphasis on sustainable agriculture, many producers are moving away from fossil fuels. Ground-source heat pumps offer a good solution for…

HOUSING AND HANDLING

Better way of measuring reveals ideal dairy cow living space

A new on-farm measurement for dairy cow buildings, known as living space, has been developed to provide a better understanding of space allowances for adult dairy cows. Researchers believe living…

HEALTH AND WELFARE

6 things I learned from visiting US 'mega-dairies'

Dairy farming in the US has become synonymous with the words “mega-dairy”. While the scale of US dairy farms bears little resemblance to UK operations, there are some striking similarities…

FEED AND NUTRITION

Research shows benefits of pair housing calves pre-weaning

Pair housing calves before weaning can help them adapt better to different situations as they mature, leading to improved concentrate intakes and higher growth compared with those housed alone. Professor…

POULTRY

Is now the right time to go into poultry farming?

Consumer demand for eggs and poultrymeat have risen steadily over the past 10 years. Buoyant markets have already prompted hundreds of farmers to diversify into broiler and free-range egg production…

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