Technical Articles
The DairyCo Technical Articles Archive
- Is dairy cow fertility a lost cause?31 August 10
Improving dairy cow fertility is an aspiration on almost every farm. But is poor fertility an inevitable consequence of high milk production and is there a realistic hope of breeding better fertility back into our cows? - Plain Janes offer lifespan gains2 August 10
When is breeding for longevity not breeding for longevity? When it’s breeding for type. It seems there’s some confusion among producers who are looking to breed cows that last longer, but are selecting for show type, rather than ‘functional’ traits. - Reducing greenhouse gas emissions28 June 10
Ideas from DairyCo about how to reduce the environmental impact of your farm - and save money too.
- Case study - reducing greenhouse gas emissions28 June 10
There are some key areas of the farming system at Town Barton Farm that are helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through good practice. - Can you afford not to reseed?28 June 10
Reseeding is not a cheap exercise,” says DairyCo extension officer, Chris Duller. “Add up the costs of spraying off the old sward, ploughing, secondary cultivations, seed and drilling and it is easy to reach a figure of around £400/ha (£160/acre). However, there are many reasons why reseeding is a very sound business investment.
- Man management28 June 10
Recruiting, managing and retaining good staff has become increasingly important as herd numbers increase and technology advances. Andy Dodd, DairyCo extension officer in the Midlands has worked with Cedar Associates to put together a course to help dairy farmers get the best from their staff. - Monitor farms - get involved28 June 10
DairyCo works with a number of monitor farms across the country. Kate Cross, Product Manager at DairyCo, explains what they are and their value to local producers. - Profit from grass update - 22 June 201022 June 10
Grass growth has put on a spurt in parts of the country in the past two weeks, as the highest rate from our ‘Profit from grass’ trial has reached 120kg DM/ha/day.
- Profit from grass - 8 June 20108 June 10
Dry weather and relatively high temperatures are having an effect on growth rates on some of our ‘Profit from grass’ farms, with the East Sussex location appearing to have dried out the most.
- The UK and the genomics race1 June 10
Genomic technologies are said to have the capacity to increase the rate of genetic improvement by around 50 percent. But so far, the UK has shown little sign of participating in the genomics race and appears to be lagging behind much of the world. Ann Hardy talked to Marco Winters of DairyCo breeding+ to find out where we stand today, what genomics can do for UK cattle and if, as an industry, we can ever catch up.
