Author Posts: Farmers Guide

Results from an ongoing study indicate heat stress is becoming a costly problem on UK dairy farms and can affect milk yields in both housed and grazed cows, with some businesses facing losses of up to £90,000.

A new study funded by the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institute (RABI) has linked financial worries, long working hours and loneliness with “concerning” levels of anxiety among farming women, with younger generations being the most severely affected.

Perthshire-based Taylors Snacks and Abertay University are joining forces in a new project looking at mitigating levels of acrylamide, a suspected carcinogen, in potato crisp production in a bid to enhance food safety.

Sheep shearers from overseas have been granted a special concession to be able to enter the UK between 1st April and 30th June this year, offering a vital source of professional and experienced staff to help UK contractors complete the shearing season, the National Association of Agricultural Contractors (NAAC) has announced.

Growers are being warned about high slug risk in potatoes where crops have been planted into cloddy seed beds and are urged to counter the threat with a good quality pellet as soon as tubers reach golf ball size.

A host of professional shearing talent will be racing against time at the Royal Bath & West Show this year, including world record holder shearer Jon Roberts from Robertsacre Farm in Dartmoor.

The Arable Event, one of the largest farming events in the Midlands, is returning to Woodlands Farm in Staffordshire this summer with extensive trial plots, expert speakers, and machinery demonstrations to entertain visitors.

Cereals has a wealth of seminars this year, with opportunities to question political leaders, players in the environmental services arena and farmers going down the regenerative agriculture route.

Farmers looking to apply for Mid-Tier Countryside Stewardship Scheme (CSS) funding are being reminded to seek approval from a Catchment Sensitive Farming Officer (CSFO) in the next few weeks to ensure their application will be considered.

Farmer-owned dairy cooperative Dale Farm is the first enterprise in Northern Ireland to switch to clear bottle caps on all of its own-label milk in a bid to make Dale Farm milk packaging more sustainable.

Wynnstay’s new Forage4Profit campaign is aimed at helping dairy farmers maximise milk from forage and cut feed costs by improving the quality of homegrown forage, which can also help reduce farms’ environmental footprint.

Intestinal health has been given critical importance when it comes to sustainable broiler production in a new white paper authored by the Monogastric Science Research Centre at Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC).