Dairy & Beef News

Representatives of four UK farming unions agreed that there are real potential benefits of introducing bovine Electronic Identification (bEID), from efficiency and animal health and welfare gains to improving the health and safety of livestock handlers. 

In a recent AHDB Food & Farming podcast, experts gathered to discuss the likelihood of a vaccine for the latest strain of bluetongue virus, which began to appear on farms in Kent and Norfolk last year. Sarah Kidby reports.

Mona Dairy, in Anglesey, has advised its milk suppliers that an alternative company will be processing milk for an interim period, after it failed to secure stakeholder funding.

Farmers out on their tractors and dog walkers will be among the target audience for a new Cumbrian podcast on animal care and welfare.

The government has set out its plan for tackling an outbreak of BTV-3 this summer, as it works to deploy a vaccine.

The functioning rumen can be regarded as the boiler house of the bovine animal. Even a slight malfunction in its operation will have profound and widespread metabolic and financial consequences. Dr T.B Barragry, independent veterinary consultant for Provita Eurotech Ltd, offers some advice.

Two vaccines are now available for BTV-3, which first emerged late last year, and have been granted emergency authorisation in two countries.

North Wales Police have launched an appeal after a two-day-old Highland calf was stolen from Denbighshire farmland. 

Lidl has become the first retailer to sign a deal to sell ‘fully’ Welsh milk, produced and bottled in Wales. 

Precautionary movement restrictions have been put in place after a case of classical Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) was confirmed on a farm in Ayrshire, Scotland. 

The Big Beef Roadshow 2024 will take place across Scotland throughout May and June to support beef farmers in improving practices and driving beef systems forward.  

Farmers looking to reap the cost saving benefits of extending their grazing season, or even outwintering cattle this year, are being encouraged to start grazing planning now.