Livestock Farmer Focus FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: Rotational grazing - go on, you might enjoy itThe cattle were turned out on 24 April and, hopefully, they will stay out for longer than they have been in. Weanlings are grazing where cattle have not grazed for… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: AI request results in bespoke breeding indexIt's good news. A clear TB test has allowed us to ship many of the beef calves off the farm. We can finally breathe a sigh of relief. The good… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: Grazing system switch presents bull quandaryThere is a saying locally: “Dinnae cast yer cloot until May is oot”. There is some debate as to whether this refers to the month of May or the May… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: Flexible grazing decisions key in dry springWith the weather this spring being remarkably similar to last year, we are extremely pleased we made the decision to shut one field up at lambing time. If it hadn’t… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: Refocus on detail delivers best broiler cropMay tends to be a quieter time on the farm here. With lambing out of the way and silaging normally starting at the end of the month, it gives us… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: What farmers need from new Welsh governmentFinally, a change has happened in Wales. For all of my adult life, the Welsh government has been run by Labour and, as is well documented, many farmers think Labour… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: Weather extremes squeeze drilling and silagingI often start with the weather and how it’s affecting things on the farm. But when it changes so much from one month to the next, as it has this… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: Capable staff allows me guilt-free time offI’ve been looking forward to May for a while now. The beginning of this month saw Amy, Freddie and me going away on our holidays for a week near Carcassonne… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: Adapting grazing mindset helps biodiversityWe desperately need some rain here. Luckily, we had a shower the other day, but it wasn’t enough and we could definitely do with some more. The grass isn’t really… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: Pumping slurry out to fields costs £2k moreWith calving finished, everyone has had a week’s holiday somewhere. My partner Louise and I managed a week in Fuerteventura, where the weather was mostly dry, but being nicknamed the… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: Dock spraying delayed by late first cutIn the past couple of weeks we’ve finally started to see the sunshine and enjoy some heat. We’ve certainly had to be patient this year, but thankfully all spring crops… FARMER FOCUSFarmer Focus: Finding cost-effective maize ground isn't easyIt’s been a busy few weeks at Newlands. We had our annual TB test, which I’m pleased to say was clear. It’s always a huge relief when the last animal… More articles
