Articles

When it comes to maximising farm productivity, sometimes there’s more opportunity than meets the eye. Many a UK and Irish dairy farm is peppered with under-utilised space that, with a little thinking outside the farming box, can quickly turn over a pretty penny for your business.

There’s no disputing the rising consumer demand for alternatives to dairy products over recent years, and indeed there’s a multitude of motivational factors behind this move. For some, there’s a genuine need for dairy-free alternatives, but for others, it’s a matter of choice.

Here at Feed For Growth, we think it’s vital to consider the whole picture...

The humble farm shop is enjoying something of a renaissance for producers and consumers alike. Far from humble in fact - the contemporary farm shop is often home to an abundance of locally sourced, native produce from the wider farming community and thus supports more than just the farm it is sited on and its local population.

With the Internet so accessible for most, there’s a world of information at our fingertips and, since the rise of social media, it’s easier than ever to be able to share the knowledge gained.

What does technology mean for you? When it comes to farming, technology’s purpose must surely be to make life easier. To make operations more efficient. To facilitate enhanced productivity with a little less effort. And if it allows you to spend an extra five minutes enjoying your tea and toast in the morning, so much the better.

Dairy and beef farming: no matter how stringent your hygiene and cleaning protocols, there are always places for bacteria to blossom. That can cause problems for the health and productivity of your herd. But now there’s a brand-new, breakthrough milk replacer that is scientifically proven to help calves develop strong, healthy immune systems and reach peak productivity.

Too much stress among youngstock will translate directly – and negatively – to the wellbeing of your calves and your business profits. Here are some practical calf stress management tips for calm, comfortable and profitable youngstock.

In case you missed it, catch up with our webinar recording here on how high-quality whey and skim milk replacers are comparable when it comes to calf performance.

Decision-making is a major aspect to any dairy farmer’s life. One of these decisions includes whether you choose the Irish-favoured block calving system, where all calving takes place in a specific time period, or the approach most commonly adopted in Britain, of all-year-round calving where of course calving takes place consistently all year round.

How we make your Calf Milk Replacer, The full story.

In dairy farming, profitability relies on productivity. Gathering key data on the development of your calves can reveal new ways to boost the productivity of your entire herd. But what metrics should you be monitoring, and how should you measure them? Here’s some insight.

Quality housing during the first eight weeks of a calf’s life is crucial. Here are some tips to make sure your calf housing is up to scratch.

Improving your farming business…the answer could be right under your nose, but you’re too busy to see it! Our new #CleanForGrowth campaign reveals what measures must be taken to make your calf rearing business cleaner, more sustainable, and more profitable.

Attending one or two key events each year gives you a vital chance to future-proof your business. You will be exposed to new products, new technologies and new ways of thinking. Here are eight key events taking place across 2019/2020.

Sometimes a successful dairy or beef business is as much about managing people as it is your herd. That applies to your full-time staff of course. But it also applies to the specialists you bring onto your farm that you can use. Here are some tips on getting more value when you call in the experts.

Investing in a computerised feeder can improve calf performance, bringing greater control and consistency to the milk feeding period. Proven automatic machines can also significantly reduce the labour devoted to calf rearing but should not be seen as an alternative to spending time with your youngstock.

A ground-breaking farming campaign designed to raise money for a mental health charity culminated in an auction-based livestock event in Ireland.

Vitamins and minerals are required for normal metabolic processes and growth

This Technical Bulletin covers the topic Energy in Calf Milk Replacers as well as showing that increasing the fat content of milk replacer has a negligible effect on the overall metabolizable energy supplies

This technical bulletin covers all you need to know about the Brix refractometer and how to use one on farm.

To find out all you need to know on how to reduce the risk of bloat in young calves, make sure to read this technical bulletin.

This technical bulletin details the advantages of using computerised feeders as well as the benefits of housing calves in groups, also covering how calves can develop diseases and how to reduce the risks involved.

Beef and dairy producers interested in a move to computerised calf feeding, or indeed replacing ageing machines, will soon be able to apply for a further round of grant funding under the popular Countryside Productivity Small Grants scheme (CPSGS).

Hannah and Johns’ story is one piece of a remarkable dairy farm sustainability jigsaw from which the British milk production industry should draw confidence.