Dairy
Business and Policy November 2025 – Milk
Milk production data Globally, milk output from the key exporting regions is increasing and outstripping demand, which is negatively impacting on markets and resulting in some dramatic milk price cuts. Domestic milk production is not helping, with rain over the last couple of months benefiting grazing herds and UK production having increased by around 6.2%…
Business and Policy November 2025: Sector Focus – Dairy Technology – Where can it benefit your business?
With reliable, experienced labour on dairy farms costly and difficult to find; what is the alternative? While there are many tasks in dairy farming that require a high level of stockmanship and cannot be replaced by technology; there are technologies available that can offer huge savings in labour, as well as improved efficiency, animal health,…
How to Assess and Improve Cow Cleanliness
Keeping cows clean when housed can often be a challenge but is an important part of ensuring good udder health and prevention of environmental mastitis. If the udder and legs are clean, there is less risk of environmental mastitis pathogens spreading to the teat canal, as when cows are lying down, their teats are often…
Business and Policy October 2025 – Milk
Milk production data Milk production is now starting to rise heading into the autumn months, on the back of some welcomed rain in September and the increasing trend towards Autumn block calving herds. Daily production is currently 33.81 mlitres for the week ending 13th September, which is 1% more than the previous week and 6.1%…
A Guide to Artificial Calf Colostrum
There are many artificial colostrum products available for dairy and beef calves. They are labelled as either colostrum supplements, colostrum replacers or can be classed as both and it is important to know when to use which product. A replacer is there to completely replace the first feed of maternal colostrum. A supplement should be…
Business and Policy September 2025 – Milk
Milk production data While milk production is just about at its lowest point in the milk year, production is still well above this time last year. Despite many parts of the country suffering from drought conditions and limited grass growth, buffer feeding with this year’s winter forage supplies are helping maintain production. However, this will…
The Benefits of Whole Milk for Calves
Feeding dairy replacement heifer calves on saleable whole milk is less common than using calf milk replacer (CMR) but seems to be growing in popularity. While there are a number of good reasons for using CMR, the main one being reduced disease risk to the calf, there are many benefits of feeding whole milk (as…
A Guide to Pre-Weaning Nutrition of Dairy Beef Calves
Dairy beef calves are typically purchased anywhere from 10 days to three weeks of age and so will need to be reared on calf milk replacer (CMR) until weaning at a minimum of eight weeks of age. Good nutrition during the first few weeks of life is critical to support high growth rates and build…
Forage Budgeting Guide for the Dairy Herd
Introduction Forage budgeting is a useful management tool to plan feed stocks ahead for the coming year. It should be carried out six to eight weeks after all forages have been made for the season, allowing time for them to ferment and stabilise prior to sampling for analysis. As well as identifying any shortfalls, it…
Business and Policy August 2025 – Milk
Milk production data While milk production is declining from the spring peak, as it usually does at this time of year; production is still well ahead of the same time last year, despite the very warm dry weather limiting grass availability in some areas. The latest data from AHDB estimates the GB milk volume for…