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Know How / Housing and handling

Advice and information on livestock housing and shed design to ensure your animals’ welfare and productivity. Compare different types of housing and bedding and read case studies on other farmers. Get tips on stock handling equipment, including cattle crushes and races, dairy parlour design and robotic milking.

Case studies

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DAIRY

How a 12,000-litre herd balances efficiency and cow welfare

A focus on optimising milking efficiency through 12 robots has created a setup that also maximises cow comfort and welfare for a large Wiltshire herd. The result is a herd…

WHATS IN YOUR LIVESTOCK SHED

What’s in Your Livestock Shed? visits a converted calf shed

Historically, a high incidence of pneumonia had impacted calf health at The Brook, Tybroughton, near Whitchurch, Shropshire, and there were consequences for performance when animals joined the milking herd. In…

POULTRY

Regen poultry: What scope is there to grow production?

Poultry is often cast as the supervillain in debates around sustainable farming – not least when it comes to whether poultry manure is a benefit or a threat to water…

LIVESTOCK

New rotary parlour improves milking efficiency

Investing in a new rotary parlour has almost halved milking times and improved milk quality at a Staffordshire dairy. Third-generation farmer Dave Eardley, who milks 520 cows at Upper House…

DAIRY

How 4 once-a-day milking options affect profitability

Reducing milking frequency to once a day can cut the workload for dairy farmers. However, a new report commissioned in Wales by Farming Connect has shown that for some businesses,…

LAMBING

How colostrum and new shed helped cut lamb mortality

Meticulous colostrum feeding and a new lambing shed have helped cut mortality and eradicate cases of watery mouth in an organic March-lambing flock. Mortality has fallen from 26% to 17%…

Practical advice

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POULTRY

7 ways to manage poultry litter for optimum performance

Poultry are in continuous contact with litter, so it is no surprise that when conditions are poor, birds will not perform to their genetic potential. Sara Perez, veterinary director at…

DAIRY

7 tips for expanding your dairy herd safely

Over the past two decades, the average UK herd size has more than doubled, and consultants say more dairy farmers are looking to expand to "stay in the game" amid…

BEEF

How to use a Bud Box system to make cattle handling easier

More British farmers are adopting the “Bud Box” principle to get cattle to turn 90deg up a single-file race or into a truck. Named after the late US rancher and…

HOUSING AND HANDLING

6 tips to get best value from a portable sheep yard

Efficient use of a mobile sheep-handling yard can help reduce stress and fatigue, and lower fixed costs, benefiting sheep, dogs and staff. Grant funding has helped more UK farms benefit…

PIGS

How to make the most of pig ventilation systems

Effective, well-managed ventilation is vital for pig production – particularly in preventing heat stress. However, while newbuilds include the latest technologies to optimise the pig’s environment, there is scope to…

BEEF

Why it’s important to plan winter bedding now

For farmers reliant on purchased straw to bed loose-housed cattle, now is the time to consider other options and have a “Plan B” in place to reduce winter bedding costs.…

Insights

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LIVESTOCK

Benefits of giving dairy calves toys on farm

Giving dairy calves plastic “toys” to play with helps them express their natural behaviour which, in turn, benefits their mental wellbeing. As a result, they are less likely to display…

PIGS

Pig tech promises 5-day advantage detecting coughs

A listening device that monitors coughing in pigs can alert the producer to the onset of respiratory disease up to five days earlier than farm personnel. SoundTalks, launched across the…

POULTRY

8 new products to enhance layer and broiler performance

Margins are under pressure like never before in the poultry sector, which faces high input costs and static prices, and some businesses are operating at a loss. Could it be…

LIVESTOCK

How rising costs threaten future of Icelandic sheep farming

Tough and resilient – the farmers in Iceland are much like the sheep they have bred to cope with the rugged terrain and sub-Arctic winter conditions. But many, like 44-year-old…

POULTRY

The poultry industry's response to total cage ban proposals

A strong industry response to a vocal home-grown animal welfare lobby has already propelled the UK to the forefront of the global move away from cage systems. Despite that, pressure…

POULTRY

Why the industry is fighting Defra's poultry transport plans

Parts of the broiler industry could be severely threatened unless the government adopts a more commonsense approach to Defra’s Improvements to Animal Welfare in Transport consultation, according to the NFU.…

LIVESTOCK

Best dairy bedding for minimising mastitis-causing bacterium

A study carried out at the University of Nottingham has shown sawdust to be the best bedding for minimising the survival of the mastitis-causing pathogen streptococcus uberis (S. uberis.) S.…

POULTRY

A guide to improving poultry shed insulation

Good insulation will keep poultry housing at an even temperature throughout the seasons, reducing heating and ventilation costs. However, older types of insulation may be less efficient due to outdated…

HOUSING AND HANDLING

Video: Inside a state-of-the-art transition cow shed

One USA dairy has converted a shed, originally built for calves, into a state-of-the-art facility for transition cows. The shed at George DeRuyter & Sons dairy in Sunnyside, Washington State,…

LAYERS

A poultrykeeper's guide to ground-source heat pumps

With farm carbon emissions under the spotlight and an increasing emphasis on sustainable agriculture, many producers are moving away from fossil fuels. Ground-source heat pumps offer a good solution for…

HOUSING AND HANDLING

Better way of measuring reveals ideal dairy cow living space

A new on-farm measurement for dairy cow buildings, known as living space, has been developed to provide a better understanding of space allowances for adult dairy cows. Researchers believe living…

HEALTH AND WELFARE

6 things I learned from visiting US 'mega-dairies'

Dairy farming in the US has become synonymous with the words “mega-dairy”. While the scale of US dairy farms bears little resemblance to UK operations, there are some striking similarities…

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