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Written by Eva Osborne-Sherlock from Agriland 78% of rural crime teams reported an increase in dog attacks on sheep over recent years, according to a survey from the National Sheep Association (NSA). The National Sheep Association (NSA) has today (Monday, March 25) launched its annual ‘sheep worrying by dogs awareness campaign’ to highlight the severity of the issue through its survey results. The survey of rural police teams also revealed that 76% of the forces responded to sheep...
Written by Eva Osborne-Sherlock from Agriland New measures announced today (Monday, March 25) will limit the amount of land farmers can take out of productive actions under the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI). The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) also announced that new applicants to the scheme will only be able to put 25% of their land into six SFI actions that take land out of direct production. The six capped actions will continue to play an important...
Written by Stella Meehan from Agriland New Zealand’s glaciers appear “smashed and shattered” due to enduring ice loss, according to the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) in NZ. Since the 1970s, NIWA has been flying over Aotearoa, New Zealand’s mountain ranges to conduct an end of summer snowline survey, observing the state of NZ glaciers and elevation of the snowline. Programme lead and NIWA’s principal scientist for climate and environmental applications, Dr...
Written by Louise Hickey from Agriland The United States Department of Agriculture – Wildlife Services (USDA-WS) is evaluating the ability to deliver an oral bovine tuberculosis (TB) vaccine to wild deer by deploying vaccine delivery units through Michigan. The vaccine trial began in late February and will continue into next month at 12 to 15 selected sites in part of Alpena. The units, consisting of alfalfa and molasses cubes containing an edible sphere with the liquid vaccine, are...
Written by Aisling O'Brien from Agriland European targets for improving water quality in Northern Ireland’s rivers and lakes by 2027 will not be met, a new report has warned. The study, published today (Monday, March 25) by the Northern Ireland Audit Office (NIAO), stated that in 2021 less than one third of Northern Ireland’s rivers had good ecological status, representing no improvement since 2015. The report found that only 14% of lakes in Northern Ireland were classified as having good...
Written by Brian McDonnell from Agriland Johne’s disease, also known as paratuberculosis, is a bacterial disease of cattle and other ruminants for which there is no cure. It is caused by the bacterium mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP). Cattle usually become infected as calves early in life by drinking or eating milk or food contaminated with the bacteria, which are shed in the dung or milk of infected adult cattle. MAP bacteria come from animals that are already...
Written by Brian McDonnell from Agriland Calf sheds on many farms now full and the bacterial load inside them is quite high, which means that calves are now at higher risk of scour. A number a factors could now be causing issues with scour in sheds, and the current focus should be on preventing cases and controlling the spread. The presence of scour causing bacteria, wet bedding and the number of calves in sheds will all be contributors of sickness. Scour Calves that present with a...
Written by Justin Roberts from Agriland The dramatic increase in the cost of machinery ownership over the last few years has left farmers with little enthusiasm to continue buying, despite the slight but encouraging rise in commodity prices. Machinery manufactures are obviously well aware of this, but their hands are tied by increased production costs and the inflation in wages and salaries being a major pressure that has negated any fall in steel and chip prices. These factors have...
California zombie lake turned farmland to water. A year later, is it gone for good? Written by Dani Anguiano in Kings county, California from the Guardian Tulare Lake was resurrected to more than 100,000 acres, bringing fear and wonder. I went to see it – and couldn’t find it ‘Stay out of the water’: what lurks below California’s zombie lake? For a time last year, it was difficult to drive through a large swath of central California without running into the new shoreline of a long...
Written by Eva Osborne-Sherlock from Agriland Scottish agricultural charity, the Royal Highland & Agricultural Society of Scotland (RHASS), will hide 1,920 toy sheep across Scotland as part of a year-long programme of events to celebrate its 240th anniversary. The charity, which organises the Royal Highland Show, will kick off the event on Monday (March 25), with hundreds of toy sheep hiding across the country in shopping and tourist destinations, farm shops and agricultural centres...
Written by Stella Meehan from Agriland The most recent maps produced for the Northern Ireland (NI) and Republic of Ireland (ROI) bovine viral diarrhoea (BVD) programmes show significant progress in reducing the incidence of the infection. The maps were compiled by the Centre for Veterinary Epidemiology and Risk Analysis (CVERA), University College Dublin (UCD). They show that progress has been made in 2023 thanks to the efforts of farmers and industry partners. BVD maps The anonymised...
Written by Richard Halleron from Agriland The latest sales figures are confirming a continuing and strong demand for quality, sexed dairy semen in Northern Ireland. According to AI Services’ Ivan Minford, this reflects the needs of milk producers with year-round calving herds to maintain a constant supply of replacement heifers. “Not every calf survives up to point of calving as a replacement heifer. The use of sexed semen is allowing milk producers to more efficiently plan their...
Written by Brian McDonnell from Agriland Panning for the breeding season is underway on many dairy farms as we move through the month of March and head towards April. The days of just using dairy genetics across all cows are very much over, with a significant focus now required on dairy-beef. Sales in marts across the country show that Friesian bull calves, and even lower quality beef calves, are very much a tough sale. It is also important to maximise the genetic gain of your...
Written by Maeve Hennessy from Agriland National Farmers’ Union (NFU) Cymru president, Aled Jones has requested an “urgent” meeting with the new First Minister Vaughan Gething MS, to discuss pressing challenges affecting Welsh farming. Vaughan Gething MS was formally announced as the new first minister of Wales on Wednesday (March 20). Jones congratulated Gething on his recent appointment, but proceeded to discuss the importance of Welsh farmers which is the areas largest employer...
Written by Eva Osborne-Sherlock from Agriland The UK government’s new £7 million Community Green Spaces Fund aims to boost access to nature and support rural communities across England to become more “green-fingered”. The fund, which was announced today (Saturday, March 23), will facilitate the construction of community orchards, kitchen gardens and natural play areas across rural England from Northumberland to Cornwall. Grants of up to £75,000 will be provided to help communities to...
Written by Justin Roberts from Agriland Kubota is a large corporation with the resources to back the development of its product ranges, both from an engineering point of view and the sales and marketing angle. Yet, it is also Japanese, and tends to be cautious about jumping on bandwagons or following the latest trends simply for the sake of doing so. It is the steadier approach that has been taken with its entrance into the telehandler market, an area of operation that is relatively new...
Written by Eva Osborne-Sherlock from Agriland The National Pig Association (NPA) has said the most eye-catching aspect of the latest pig market data is the “plummet” in slaughter numbers. Although subject to revision, the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board’s (AHDB) weekly GB slaughterings are at 141,000 for the week ended March 16. This would mean slaughterings are at their lowest level, outside of Christmas and New Year, since April 2010. Estimated GB slaughterings for...
Written by Stella Meehan from Agriland New analysis by European financial group ING, indicated that an increasing number of large dairy companies have plans to become ‘net zero’ in the future. In its publication ‘From grass to glass: The future for dairy companies on the path to net zero’, ING said that measures on farms play a crucial role in reaching targets but often raise costs for farmers. Paying out a sustainability premium of a couple of cent per litre of milk to farmers would...
Written by Eva Osborne-Sherlock from Agriland A spokesperson for the Food Standards Agency (FSA) has said it is taking hygiene concerns regarding a Welsh Kepak factory “very seriously”. FSA head of operational delivery in Wales, Chris Jones, said the FSA is aware of an article by Wales Online sharing concerns around hygiene controls at Kepak in Merthyr Tydfil. “Food businesses are the first line of defence in ensuring food is safe and what it says it is,” Jones said. “We are aware of...
An Australian farmer has held the first carbon-neutral cattle sale – here’s how it works Written by Aston Brown from the Guardian Seven hundred breeding cows and heifers reared in a ‘carbon neutral farming system’ sold in NSW on Thursday. But can a live cow be carbon neutral? Sign up for the Rural Network email newsletter Join the Rural Network group on Facebook to be part of the community Australia’s first carbon-neutral cattle sale took place this week. Seven hundred Angus breeding...

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Tractor Chat #01

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Tractor Chat #01 - with Direct Driller Magazine Farmer Focus writer Phil Rowbottom


Discussing direct drilling wheat, Oil seed rape growing in the UK, Fendt 724 tractor and his Sky Easy Drill.
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