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PIGS

Pig farms making small changes see savings of £250k/year

Small changes can have a big impact over time, a two-year AHDB Pork project adapting lean management principles on six pig farms has shown. Taking a step back from the…

BROILERS

High Court rejects legal challenge over fast-growing broilers

A High Court judge has rejected a legal challenge brought by animal welfare campaigners over the use of fast-growing broiler chickens for meat consumption. The Humane League UK, which brought…

FARMER FOCUS

Farmer Focus: Wondering if myostatin spells trouble

Spring started well here in February and March, but April’s northerly winds slowed grass growth and delayed drilling. May has been warm and wet and crops have jumped. As they…

BREEDING AND FERTILITY

7 tips to manage heifers calving at two years

Calving beef heifers at 24 months increases the lifetime productivity of the cow and reduces rearing costs, as well as lowering the carbon footprint of the herd. However, careful management,…

DAIRY

4 ways to optimise milking robots' efficiency

Optimising the efficiency of each robot box is vital to deliver a good return on investment. This is achieved by maximising outputs while minimising input costs. In practice, inputs for…

FARMER FOCUS

Farmer Focus: Football fortunes inspire my farming business

I have recently experienced three different events, each for the first time. First, we had the Coronation over the bank holiday weekend, which left me feeling incredibly proud to be…

FEED AND NUTRITION

Why cutting concentrates is key to more milk from forage

Challenging milk from forage production saved £20,000 a year when Daniels Farm introduced a multicut silage system. But it took a milk price crash to fully unlock the potential of…

Livestock news

MACHINERY

Shade Haven mobile parasol offers sun relief for livestock

Hot, sunny days and pastures with little or no man-made or natural shade are a poor combination for livestock. The Shade Haven mobile parasol provides some relief by casting a…

HEALTH AND WELFARE

Two farmers punished for neglecting animal welfare

Two farmers have received suspended prison sentences, and one of them banned from owning animals for life, after being convicted of animal welfare offences. The Animal and Plant Health Agency…

GRASSLAND MANAGEMENT

Silage season gets under way in South West and Wales

Good grass growth in the South West and Wales has allowed many farmers to begin first cut silage earlier than expected. Dairy farms in Cornwall, Somerset, Pembrokeshire and Anglesey have…

LIVESTOCK

Eustice proposes rare breeds support with coronation fund

Former Defra secretary George Eustice has urged ministers to launch a £10m fund to strengthen the survival of rare native farm breeds. Mr Eustice, the Conservative MP for Camborne and Redruth,…

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PIGS

Pig farms making small changes see savings of £250k/year

Small changes can have a big impact over time, a two-year AHDB Pork project adapting lean management principles on six pig farms has shown. Taking a step back from the…

BREEDING AND FERTILITY

7 tips to manage heifers calving at two years

Calving beef heifers at 24 months increases the lifetime productivity of the cow and reduces rearing costs, as well as lowering the carbon footprint of the herd. However, careful management,…

DAIRY

4 ways to optimise milking robots' efficiency

Optimising the efficiency of each robot box is vital to deliver a good return on investment. This is achieved by maximising outputs while minimising input costs. In practice, inputs for…

FEED AND NUTRITION

Why cutting concentrates is key to more milk from forage

Challenging milk from forage production saved £20,000 a year when Daniels Farm introduced a multicut silage system. But it took a milk price crash to fully unlock the potential of…

ASSESSING PERFORMANCE

Why milk from forage may not be the best KPI for dairy herds

Milk from forage is a rudimentary figure that should only be used to measure individual progress when herd size is static. This is according to independent nutritionist Mark Price of…

OTHER POULTRY

Move into duck eggs aids growth at St Ewe

Many criteria are taken into consideration when deciding who should win each Farmers Weekly Awards category, though for St Ewe Free Range Eggs – last year’s Poultry Farmer of the…

DAIRY

Benefits of robotic milking in a pasture-based system

Combining grazing with robotic milking has lifted grass and milk yields at Overton Farm, Somerset, where David Paull and Rosie Sage have three robots to milk their 180-cow organic herd.…

LIVESTOCK

Why farmers should prepare for growing polled bull choice

Breeding for polled calves is now a practical option, with 12 Holstein sires in the profitable lifetime index (PLI) combining top genetic merit with the polled gene. Using polled dairy…

LIVESTOCK

7 tips for adopting a forage-based system from award winner

Simon Cutter is confident his forage-based, easy-care system of producing beef and lamb will put him on a competitive footing with low-cost producers in New Zealand, Australia, and other nations…

SHEEP

Four reasons Scottish wool shedders are good fit for NZ

A trailblazing hill farm’s maternal selection policy and commercial focus on its wool-shedding ewes has attracted the attention of a world-leading sheep stud. The Welsh family of Mossfennan, near Biggar,…

LIVESTOCK DISEASES

Redwater fever in cattle: What it is and how to manage it

Redwater fever is the colloquial name for bovine babesiosis, a disease of cattle. In the UK, redwater is caused by two species of protozoan parasite: Babesia divergens and Babesia major.…

PIGS

How a young farmer is producing pasture-fed, soya-free pork

Feeding soya-free rations to her small herd of outdoor pigs has helped secure Amy Chapple a contract with a London-based meat retailer. Miss Chapple, who runs her herd at Redwoods…

SLURRY AND MANURE MANAGEMENT

New slurry tech for storage and handling benefits pig farm

A seaweed-based prebiotic treatment is dramatically reducing the volume of slurry to be stored and handled on a South West pig farm. The treatment results in water that – subject…

LIVESTOCK MARKETING

Mixed farmer reaps premium price via direct meat marketing

Selling livestock direct to local butchers and marketing produce via a meat box scheme is helping Shetland farmer Jamie Leslie cut out the middlemen to reap a premium price for…

SHEEP

How Somerset sheep farm benefits from added-value wool sales

Sales of wool products from Fernhill Farm, Compton Martin, Somerset, continue to generate extra valuable revenue for Farmers Weekly’s 2022 Sheep Farmer of the Year winners, Andrew Wear and Jennifer…

SLURRY AND MANURE MANAGEMENT

How to store, analyse and spread manure for best value

Organic manures from livestock have always been a valuable source of fertiliser, but the high nitrogen prices of recent times have pushed this into sharper focus. Just how valuable muck…

Grassland and silage management

Meat markets and prices

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MEAT MARKETS AND PRICES

Japanese importers visit UK to see red meat opportunities

Five Japanese importers visited the UK this week to see first-hand the export trade opportunities for British red meat. The five guests joined the AHDB on a five-day mission where…

MEAT MARKETS AND PRICES

Beef prices stay at record highs as trade deal looms

Finished beef prices at abattoirs and auction marts remain exceptionally high, with tight supply and good retail demand. Further support for sales of steaks and burgers at retail for barbecues…

BUSINESS

Australian beef giant grows 13% to 433,000 cows

With the UK-Australia free-trade deal due to come into force on 31 May, more than doubling the permitted volume of Australian beef allowed into the UK, one of the country's…

MEAT MARKETS AND PRICES

Pig producers reach breakeven in 2023 as costs fall

Falling feed costs and a steady increase in finished pig prices has helped more producers to break even on farms in 2023 after more than two years of making a…

MEAT MARKETS AND PRICES

Will cultured meat kill off the livestock industry?

Billions of pounds have been ploughed into the development of cultured meat over recent years, with governments, venture capitalists and even climate-conscious celebrities scrambling to cash in. This rush has…

MEAT MARKETS AND PRICES

Large loads of cattle make 520p/kg as carcass weights drop

Falling carcass weights have limited spring beef supply into abattoirs, maintaining pressure on procurement teams and meaning no let-up in the cattle bidding wars.   A 6.4kg drop in carcass weights…

Livestock community

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FARMER FOCUS

Farmer Focus: Wondering if myostatin spells trouble

Spring started well here in February and March, but April’s northerly winds slowed grass growth and delayed drilling. May has been warm and wet and crops have jumped. As they…

FARMER FOCUS

Farmer Focus: Football fortunes inspire my farming business

I have recently experienced three different events, each for the first time. First, we had the Coronation over the bank holiday weekend, which left me feeling incredibly proud to be…

FARMER FOCUS

Farmer Focus: Yields suffer as more cows head outside

Things have moved on quickly since my last article. The maize was drilled in the first three weeks of April in what became a very stop-start campaign, thanks to the…

FARMER FOCUS

Farmer Focus: Ditch Countryfile set and focus on real farms

We are getting good at doing things twice here. Some more oilseed rape has been knocked out and spring oats put in its place. Early-drilled spring barley has been replaced…

Dairy

DAIRY

4 ways to optimise milking robots' efficiency

Optimising the efficiency of each robot box is vital to deliver a good return on investment. This is achieved by maximising outputs while minimising input costs. In practice, inputs for…

ASSESSING PERFORMANCE

Why milk from forage may not be the best KPI for dairy herds

Milk from forage is a rudimentary figure that should only be used to measure individual progress when herd size is static. This is according to independent nutritionist Mark Price of…

DAIRY

Benefits of robotic milking in a pasture-based system

Combining grazing with robotic milking has lifted grass and milk yields at Overton Farm, Somerset, where David Paull and Rosie Sage have three robots to milk their 180-cow organic herd.…

DAIRY MARKETS AND PRICES

GB dairy farmer numbers in sharp decline

The number of dairy producers in Great Britain has fallen to 7,500, as the impact of high costs and falling milk prices has forced some to quit the industry, according…

LIVESTOCK DISEASES

Redwater fever in cattle: What it is and how to manage it

Redwater fever is the colloquial name for bovine babesiosis, a disease of cattle. In the UK, redwater is caused by two species of protozoan parasite: Babesia divergens and Babesia major.…

DAIRY

How to ensure heifers calve down a second time

Data published earlier this year show nearly a fifth of first-time calvers do not reach a second lactation, which is costly from economic, genetic and environmental perspectives. They also suggest…

SLURRY AND MANURE MANAGEMENT

How a 540-cow dairy benefited from recycled bedding

A leading dairy herd has been bedded on recycled manure solids since opening its new cubicle house in 2019. The Laird family at Blythbridge Holsteins, West Linton, Peeblesshire, stress that…

FEED AND NUTRITION

How accurate feeding has added 1,700 litres to yield

A large Yorkshire dairy has streamlined its feeding routine while adding five litres to daily cow yield over the past five years. Metcalfe Farms, in Leyburn, North Yorkshire, is one…

HEALTH AND WELFARE

How to maintain milk hygiene in robotic dairies

Achieving low levels of bacteria can be challenging for any dairy, but automatic milking systems (AMS) have some unique additional risk areas. Knowing these risks allows operators to mitigate the…

STAFF MANAGEMENT

How a thriving dairy values staff as decision makers

Staff walk the fields together to measure grass at Sam Carey’s three dairy farming businesses. A one-person job on most dairy farms, Mr Carey encourages a collaborative approach to measuring…

DAIRY

How best to achieve a work-life balance on dairy farms

Work-life balance will mean something different to everybody. There are some who will scoff at the term while, for others, it is a key part of business management. With the…

LIVESTOCK

Advice on hosting vet students on your dairy farm

Sophie and Tom Gregory hosted 15 vet students at Home Farm, Chard, last year and they are already fully booked with student placements for 2023. The Gregorys calve 360 cows…

Livestock machinery

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TELEHANDLERS

On test: Fendt broadens Cargo range with T740 telehandler

The world is littered with gizmos that no one ever asked for, yet somehow became integral to our lives. Lightbulbs, vaccines, airplanes and personal computers were all dismissed before they…

MACHINERY

Shade Haven mobile parasol offers sun relief for livestock

Hot, sunny days and pastures with little or no man-made or natural shade are a poor combination for livestock. The Shade Haven mobile parasol provides some relief by casting a…

MUCKSPREADERS

Bunning ups Lowlander output with disc-spreading HBD models

Farmers and contractors wanting a relatively compact manure spreader with the discharge performance of a larger machine have an option in Bunning’s Lowlander HBD disc-spreading series. The Norfolk-based manufacturer builds…

TELEHANDLERS

TL25.60 Agri compact telehandler joins Bobcat range

Having unveiled a "stripped back" 2.5t compact telehandler for construction and plant hire operators at the Lamma show earlier this year, Bobcat has now launched an Agri version equipped for…

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