Technical Articles
The DairyCo Technical Articles Archive
- 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. - Careful feeding rearing heifers can boost results28 May 10
With careful feeding heifers can calve at 22-24 months instead of the typical 33 months, resulting in fewer calving difficulties, lower mortality over five years and significantly higher milk yields over the same time, says Chris Coxon, South West extension officer at DairyCo. - Recommended grass and clover list 201026 April 10
The Recommended Grass & Clover List for 2010 gives grassland farmers, amongst other things, performance characteristics of grass and clover. - Interest-free loans for heat recovery 26 April 10
There is a great pressure on dairy farmers to reduce costs and their carbon footprint, says DairyCo product manager Kate Cross. Heat recovery is a simple and effective way to achieve this and a Carbon Trust interest-free loan is an excellent way to fund an installation.
