One USA dairy has converted a shed, originally built for calves, into a state-of-the-art facility for transition cows. The shed at George DeRuyter & Sons dairy in Sunnyside, Washington State, houses 240 close-up cows at any one time. We took a tour of the unit. To find out more, watch the video below. Farm facts […]
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A large-scale organic dairy farming business is growing up to 14t/ha dry matter of grass on its silage ground with minimum inputs since increasing soil organic matter fourfold. Wil Armitage runs 1,200 Holstein Friesian cows across four farms in Leicestershire, in collaboration with others and as an owner-occupier. At one of those sites, Keythorpe Farms, […]
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Dairy farmers can highlight their labour recruitment issues in a Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers (RABDF) survey. The move follows the government’s Migration Advisory Committee decision that dairy farmworkers should not be classified as highly skilled, so they are not regarded as a priority for immigration. This means new British immigration rules, imposed on […]
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As well as easing labour pressures and increasing milk yields, robotic milking systems have the potential to generate a huge amount of data that can be used to inform key management decisions. Below, Nigel Hardie – consultant at The Dairy Group – shares three management areas that can be improved by making more of technical […]
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Lighting in and around the parlour will influence how well a cow milks. However, the impact of lighting on the smooth operation of the milking process is often not given enough consideration on dairy farms. Dark entrance and exit points, shadowing in stalls and poorly lit udders will not only unsettle cows and risk lower […]
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A dynamic parlour test is an ideal opportunity to take a milking parlour for a “test drive” and identify ways in which it can be improved and made more efficient. It is a way of assessing the parlour during the milking process, compared to static testing which puts the unit through its paces without cows […]
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A dynamic parlour test is an ideal opportunity to take a milking parlour for a “test drive” and identify ways in which it can be improved and made more efficient. It is a way of assessing the parlour during the milking process, compared to static testing which puts the unit through its paces without cows […]
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Upgrading parlours has recently grown in popularity, with many farmers opting to improve those built in the 1980s and 1990s rather than replacing them completely. It’s not surprising given the cost savings that can be made, however, any work needs to fit around milking times. Steven Finney, dairy engineer at Jace Supplies, talks through what […]
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Harvesting, clamping and feeding maize correctly can improve winter nutrition and reduce potential health hazards Animal feed expert, Prof Mike Wilkinson of University of Nottingham, offers advice on how to optimise feeding out to boost milk yields while safeguarding animal health. He shared five key points on how to optimise feeding out: 1. Feed out […]
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Copper is one of the most important trace elements for dairy cows, but is there such thing as too much – or too little – of a good thing? In a recent AHDB webinar, James McCaughern, lecturer at Harper Adams University, explained more about the importance of including the correct levels of copper in ruminant […]
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