milk yield

Lameness is one of the costliest diseases within the dairy cow herd, with the average cost of each lameness case being £180 but can vary from £75 up to £500. This financial loss includes the treatment of the case, milk yield losses, reduced fertility and early culling leading to shortened...

Written by William Kellett from Agriland The Farmers’ Union of Wales (FUW) is looking forward to celebrating the dairy industry at this year’s Welsh Dairy Show, held on Tuesday, October 25, 2022, at the Carmarthen Showground. Speaking ahead of the event, FUW milk and dairy produce committee...

Fibre – made up of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin – is a core component of forages and offers a key source of energy in ruminant diets, potentially providing energy levels similar to starch and sugar. But accessing this energy requires fibre digestion by rumen microbes, and as such, the...

Farm facts Location: Welshpool, Wales Milking 1,450 Holstein cows 2,500 acres which is dedicated to producing grass, maize and wholecrop silage Fully housed, all-year-round calving system All cows are put to Holstein AI, with the heifers kept as replacements and the bulls finished on one...

Need to order either buckets and teats, or bottles and teats to put in/on my claim hutches and I can't make my mind up which will be quicker/easier? Bottles are ideal for colostrum but harder to keep clean and do take that bit longer to fill but, they're nice as the milk stays clean and there's...

Abstract This paper assesses the influence of heat and drought stress on the economic performance of the European dairy sector. Climatic data from the Gridded Agro-Meteorological data in Europe were combined with dairy enterprise data from the Farm Accountancy Data Network, resulting in a data...

This is a thread for those who feel guilty about cluttering up dear old GUTH’s beloved price tracker with the chit chat that stop us all being that miserable our families would throw us all out to sit with the dog in the porch. All are welcome, you can even post prices if you want. The only rule...

Dr Cate Williams: IBERS, Aberystwyth University. In response to DEFRA’s consultation on the regulation of genetic technologies in English agriculture, gene editing (GE) has become a popular topic of conversation. GE encompasses a variety of tools, perhaps the most popular is CRISPR which...

Johne’s disease, caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium avium sub-species paratuberculosis, or MAP for short, is characterised by a long incubation period before irreversible diarrhoea and terminal weight loss. Infection can occur at any age but is most common via the faeco-oral route within the...

Rob and Emyr Bowen’s Lan herd, an award-winning two times master breeder herd, is one of the longest standing pedigree Holstein herds in Carmarthenshire, Wales and is renowned for producing high quantities of milk from grass. Milking 140 pedigree Holsteins on an all-year-round (AYR) calving...

How does everyone else cope in hot weather? The following isn't going to be very popular but I've done what I think is best for the cows I've shut the field gate and opened the cubicle and feed passage doors today so they don't have to walk very far, have better access to water and shade Is...

Scanned today. Seriously sh!t results meaning we have a pile of empty cows. What would other do? Some doing ok in milk not sure if enough to run around

I see there has been a new sheep handling clamp launched a few weeks ago. Made in Ireland out of stainless steel and looks to have a drop floor so sheep are suspended like in a conveyor. They claim that you can handle ewes and lambs together, which is one of the downsides of the CombiClamp IMO...

Pasture to profit consultant, Piers Badnall and Lallemand technical sales support, Lientjie Colahanoutline some of the key areas which could help offset rising external costs. 1. Ways to graze grass efficiently Even with the rising cost of fertilisers, grass remains the cheapest feed source...

Written by Richard Halleron from Agriland Co. Down agronomist, Richard Owens, has confirmed a significant increase in the cereal acreage grown in Northern Ireland this year. He told Agriland: “In the case of the farmers that I am working with, the figure the region of 10%. Most of the...

Written by Brian McDonnell from Agriland A study conducted in the UK has determined that heat stress in dairy cows may be causing significant milk yield loss. As a result, the study determined this may be leading to significant financial loss on dairy farms in both housed and grazing systems...

Today’s Feedcast special covers everything you need to know about NovaPro. A high rumen bypass rape expeller that provides a sustainable and cost effective solution to meeting the protein requirements of high performing cows. NovaPro is made from 100% British grown rapeseed which undergoes hot...

Evening Anyone familiar with this system? I've just come across some second hand LIC CellSense units (and the 24v power supply) at a very, very sharp price. No idea if they work or not, but I'm prepared to take a punt. What kind of reagent do they run on? Is the cheap CMT (or what we call...

Carmarthenshire dairy producer explains how he has used pre-cut grass testing to help improve silage quality and milk production. Making the decision to take a first cut of silage in April has paid dividends for Kevin Jones, Carmarthenshire dairy producer at Talfan Farm, St Clears. Also...

Ok, I know I have asked many times before about milk issues and general issues. But this year is affecting me badly. Maybe a brief startinf post but I shall add to it all as time comes. Issues this year so far are, ewes milking really badly, which resulted in low colostrum. Thst in turn...