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Know How / Beef / Housing and handling

Good housing and handling systems are essential for the welfare of both beef cattle and farmers on farms. Keep up to date with new housing design and technology as well as best practice advice on good cattle flow, comfort and ventilation including tips on safe handling techniques.

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LIVESTOCK

Custom-made cattle handling system improves speed and safety

Custom-designed handling facilities enable a dairy-calf-rearing and beef-finishing enterprise to handle up to 100 cattle an hour with just one operator. Aled and Iwan Evans run 640 cattle at different…

WHATS IN YOUR LIVESTOCK SHED

WIYLS visits a low-effort, high-welfare beef shed

Buildings on the Morris family’s farm at Lower Drostre, near Brecon, were outdated and poorly positioned. In their place the family has put up a 150-bed shed that allows bedding,…

HOUSING AND HANDLING

Cattle corrals: Common challenges and how to address them

Philip Friend established the first corral at Wadland Barton Farm 15 years ago. Since then, he has resolved some of the common challenges associated with this alternative to conventional housing.…

WHATS IN YOUR LIVESTOCK SHED

WIYLS: New beef build helps lift finisher growth to 2kg/day

A beef fattening building designed to aid natural ventilation is accelerating the finishing period at a Carmarthenshire livestock farm. Beef production at Rest Farm near Llanboidy is focused on maximising…

WHATS IN YOUR LIVESTOCK SHED

WIYLS visits a £500,000 beef finishing shed

Daily liveweight gains (DLWG) in beef cattle bred from a Pembrokeshire farm’s own dairy herd have improved since the business invested in a new fattening building. The Jenkins family spent…

WHATS IN YOUR LIVESTOCK SHED

What’s In Your Livestock Shed? visits a £150k beef shed

The Foster family, Little Houndales Farm, Driffield, East Yorkshire, has invested £150,000 in a multi-purpose beef finishing shed and handling system that is enabling the business to expand. When son…

Practical advice

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BEEF

Why it’s important to plan winter bedding now

For farmers reliant on purchased straw to bed loose-housed cattle, now is the time to consider other options and have a “Plan B” in place to reduce winter bedding costs.…

ASSESSING PERFORMANCE

Ultra-high or low frequency EID tags: Which is best?

A debate is raging about what tag technology should be used in the UK’s national cattle traceability scheme when it eventually arrives. The stand-off is between the low frequency (LF)…

LIVESTOCK DISEASES

What can be done to prevent bluetongue virus?

Insecticides and repellents will not prevent cattle and sheep from being infected with bluetongue virus, scientists are warning. Bluetongue virus (BTV) is an infectious, non-contagious virus spread by Culicoides biting…

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…

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…

HEALTH AND WELFARE

Why pre-housing is the time to ward off pneumonia in calves

With your suckler herd hopefully still out grazing, I’m sure that housing cattle seems a long way off, but it’s time for a bit of planning now, to maximise your…

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