Summary Milk recording is much more than yield, fat, protein and cell counts. Using innovative applications of mid-infrared (MIR) data, fatty acids, energy balance and ketones can now be predicted via existing milk recording services. The scale that this data collection method offers creates significant opportunities not only for dairy herd management but also for breeding purposes too. The use o...

As profit focused farmers it would be right to ask ourselves the above question. We have been testing all heifers born on the farm since autumn 2011 and clearly with a cost of around £30 a test this is not a cheap exercise. If we look at industry use in the UK then we can see that while on the increase, the uptake of whole herd genomic testing, or indeed any significant amount of testing, has be...

Introduction Lame cows produce between 300 and 600 fewer litres of milk per lactation (Coulon et al., 1996; Amory et al., 2008), take 20 to 40 days longer to get back in calf (Argaez-Rodriquez et al., 1997; Hernandez et al., 2001), and are more likely to be culled (Machado et al., 2010).  This makes lameness one of the most costly challenges faced by British dairy farmers today as well as a major...

It’s an honour to be asked and a privilege to prepare and present this paper on the subject of automation in dairy farming. I’m the elder of two sons both brought up on the family dairy farm in East Ayrshire, we’d be third generation dairy farmers and from a very early age helped with every aspect of running a dairy farm. There wasn’t much we hadn’t done by the time we started secondary school ag...

Introduction The information technology revolution is impacting on most aspects of modern life, and agricultural production is no exception. Precision farming is about measuring and managing the variability that is inherent in the crops and animals we farm. For example, in arable farming, crop growth and yields can be mapped and then fertiliser and other treatments applied only where they are nee...

The British dairy industry is always evolving and changing. This is such a statement of the obvious that all take it for granted. Change can creep up on us and we become a part of it. It is only by looking back that we can really understand the path we have taken. It’s a bit like the shock that comes with getting out some old family photographs: ‘Was that really us?’ Then, occasionally big thing...

Key points The inauguration of Donald Trump as President of the United States has ushered in a period of heightened economic and political uncertainty as his Administration embarks on a more nationalistic ‘America first’ approach to trade policy and international relations. The global economy ended 2016 on a brighter note, and we have made upward revisions to many of our growth forecasts. But ma...

The agricultural sector stands to be among the major beneficiaries of United Kingdom’s decision to leave the European Union. Leaving the European Union and its Customs Union is a precondition for the UK to become a leader in global free trade, boosting our exports and lowering prices for all consumers. It is estimated that prices will be reduced overall by around 8%, with the price of food droppi...

Brexit and UK Agriculture The 23rd of June 2016 will go down in history as one of the most pivotal moments in British history. At a stroke, the Brexit vote took the UK out the EU exit door leaving us rudderless, with our Government scrambling to work out how to unpick over forty years of integration with our European neighbours. Brexit means Brexit we are told, but what on earth does it mean for...

The decision to leave the EU presents a major change and opportunity for UK farming. Many questions may be posed but it is clear that beef production in the UK will need to focus on economic and environmental competiveness and an absolute focus on delivering to market differentiation, added value and consumer focused markets. The demand for UK beef to the national market is high and significant op...

The term ‘Smart farming’ is most readily associated with the advent of tools and technologies to support the agricultural sector, and these come in a wide variety of forms. They usually encompass a sense or measurement component, aligned with data capture and assimilation to an informative output. A relatively simple example might be Electronic Identification, where a transponder is embedded in a ...

Store cattle are purchased at 16-plus months, to finish at the 250-acre Gop Farm at Trelawynd in Flintshire. More than 1,300 store cattle are bought in each year for the unit and these are carefully sourced from specific local farms. The presentation focus is how I use EID to closely monitor all aspects of cattle performance. One figure referred to is £37,000, which represents the equivalent of a...

Abstract A number of breeding methods have been employed in genetic improvement programs to achieve genetic gains including artificial insemination, embryo transfer, crossbreeding, and more recently genomic selection. These technologies are limited by the fact that identifying desirable new genetic variation is a matter of chance; selection may inadvertently leave behind favorable variants that e...

Introduction Meat quality encompasses a multitude of factors including safety, nutritive value, lipid content and composition, however, the focus of this study is on the palatability factors such as juiciness, tenderness and flavour. Meat quality is becoming more important as consumers worldwide are increasingly demanding consistently higher quality meat. Consumer tracking data (Pelegrin Research...

Introduction For over a half century, Jerry Wulf has been involved in building an integrated beef production system in the United States. We have operations in Midwestern United States that spans 3 states, Minnesota, South Dakota, and Nebraska. We started out 60 years ago as a beef cattle feeding company 20 years later adding improved genetics with registered Limousins. The Limousin bulls are use...