Dairy & Beef News

The Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute (AFBI) said the risk of liver fluke infection in sheep and cattle will be moderate to high in the Central, South and East regions of Northern Ireland (NI) and a high prevalence of the disease is expected in the West this winter.

Testing and prevention of Mycoplasma bovis is of increasing importance in both beef and dairy sectors as new surveillance data reveals the disease is more common than previously thought.

The four councils, Beef & Lamb, Cereals & Oilseeds, Dairy and Pork, have published sector plans as part of a commitment to outline how the levy will be invested over the next five years.

The Scrapenser from Ian Cleasby Agriculture enables dairy farmers to spread sawdust into cubicles and scrape out at the same time, combining two chores into one job.

Beef and dairy farmers should consider using diagnostic tests and past worm history in the run-up to housing cattle to assess the parasite risk on their farm and plan a treatment strategy.

New mystery shopper research carried out by the Aberdeen-Angus Cattle Society has revealed that British Aberdeen-Angus is the “beef of choice” across premium meat ranges in UK supermarkets.

A recent survey by Herdwatch revealed more than 1,600 farmers said the app saves them an average of three hours a week, allows them to monitor and manage their herd performance more efficiently, and ultimately increases profitability. One dairy farmer from Cornwall even calls the app her “supernanny”.

Dairy farmers feeding maize this winter should be on high alert for signs of mycotoxin contamination in silage, to avoid toxicity and decreased milk production, agronomist warns.

Veterinary pharmacologist and Provita Ltd adviser Dr Tom Barragry offers advice on preventing lameness and trace element deficiencies in cattle.

Farmers are being reminded of the importance of achieving heifer growth targets in order to maintain herd productivity – following reports of lower-than-average growth rates due to heat stress and lack of adequate grazing this summer.

Following three years of research, the AHBD added three new maternal estimated breeding values (EBVs) to the National Beef Evaluations (NBE) database to help breeders select for traits.

This month, Tonia Simms from Hampden Vets, part of the VetPartners Group, offers advice on bovine respiratory disease, or pneumonia, in housed cattle.