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Dairy
16 April 2020
How to reduce costs and actively control a reduction in your herd’s production during the current milk situation,
10 January 2024
The options to reduce milk production and manage operating costs
21 December 2021
To benefit from higher grass yields in the long term, spring reseeds need a light grazing and careful management in their first 6 months. Start by doing a ‘pull test’ to establish whether seedlings have rooted properly and then use young calves to nip off leaves from 6 weeks after establishment. “The last thing you want to do is to graze and lift out seedlings,” says LIC consultant Sean Chubb. “You only want to take off the top 4 cm to encourage regrowth and tillering, so use calves because they won’t graze as low or as hard as older stock. There is no point in doing all that hard work if you then have to oversow next spring. “In their first year, new leys need preferential treatment: leave a residual growth of 5 cm, potentially graze less and then perhaps correct for this in autumn. Accepting less tonnage this year means you will be rewarded with better growth in future.” Using heavier livestock not only risks overgrazing and slowing regrowth, but also compaction where reseeding has involved a full seedbed preparation leaving a light, fluffy soil. When direct drilling into an established sward, however, cows can be used to do a light first grazing. After its first grazing, a new ley should be left to grow to 2.5–3 leaves and not be overgrazed. Leaving slightly higher covers avoids taking energy out of the plant: roots need to grow down and out, says Sean. “This is particularly important going into summer. New leys are more susceptible to drought and dying from overgrazing,” he points out, adding that a typical 10% of the platform reseeded each year is not a large enough area to affect measuring and software calculations.
9 April 2020
Oversowing can provide a cost-effective way of improving pasture without the need for seedbed preparation. It is useful in situations in which you do not want to – or can’t – plough, if there are gaps in the sward (for example, after poaching), or if you need more rye-grass or clover.
5 May 2020
Latest research on the effect of chop length when lucerne is fed alongside maize silage in dairy cow diets
20 October 2023
Latest research on the effect of including lucerne silage alongside either grass or maize silage in dairy cow diets
15 April 2020
Silage slippage decreases the nutritional and hygienic value of silage and causes significant wastage but each and every year the issue is seen on farms. Join us for a webinar with Dave Davies looking at clamp silage
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16 April 2020
Join AHDB Beef and Lamb and Dr Liz Genever, Independent beef and sheep consultant, for a webinar on getting the most out of your permanent pasture.
27 March 2020
The cost of a lost grazing day to businesses is an important calculation, even for experienced grazing managers.
24 July 2020
Coronavirus: read our advice on how to comply with movement restrictions to bedding and feeding options.
13 November 2023
Consider possible changes to contracts, staff shortages, issues with transport, or availability of supplies and resources
