An event hosted by the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) next week aims to highlight how better use of grazing can help improve profit margins in a high-yielding herd for dairy farmers.
The event will be hosted on Maenhir Farm in Whitland, Pembrokeshire, on Friday, August 11, 2023. It will run from 10.00am until 2.00pm.
AHDB said many milk contracts expect cows to be at grass especially during the summer, and that while this “isn’t always easy”, the event will showcase a number of ways dairy farmers can maximise the use of grazed grass when conditions allow it.
At the event, consultant from the Livestock Improvement Corporation (LIC), Piers Badnell, and the Twose family will explore grazing principles – in particular, those relating to higher yields.
The meeting will include a pasture walk and a discussion on planning grazing rotations.
Topics discussed at the event will include:
- Targeting which stock to graze and when;
- Training cows to graze;
- Managing expectations in the bulk tank and measuring cost benefit;
- Managing residuals and average farm covers;
- Balancing a TMR ration alongside grazing;
- Grazing infrastructure.
Lunch will be included for attendees and anybody interested in attending can book their place via the AHDB website.
Breeding potential workshops
Towards the end of the month, AHDB will begin to host workshops centered around discovering the “untapped potential” of herds when it comes to breeding.
The ‘Unlock your herd’s hidden breeding potential’ events will kick off in Northallerton on August 29 at Northallerton Rugby Club in Brompton.
Further events will then take place in:
- Carlisle;
- Derbyshire;
- Cumbria;
- Stranraer;
- Dumfries;
- Larkhall;
- Shropshire;
- Leicestershire;
- Dorset;
- Wiltshire;
- Staffordshire;
- Carmarthenshire;
- Monmouthshire’;
- North Wales;
- Cheshire;
- Gloucester;
- Macclesfield;
- Kent/Sussex;
- East Anglia;
- Lancashire;
- Cornwall;
- Exeter;
- Holsworthy.
The events will run through September and October and will finish up in Holsworthy on November 9.
The workshops aim to reveal “hidden gems” in herd data that will enable farmers to walk away with a tailored report that will take their “breeding decisions to the next level”, AHDB said.
The board said the workshops are designed for anyone with a milk recorded herd who wants to be more actively involved in their breeding strategy.
Places for workshops can be booked via the AHDB website and only dairy farmers and herd managers are invited to attend.
At each workshop, AHDB said one of its genetic experts will:
- Create clear breeding goals tailored to each farm’s requirements;
- Access and analyse the genetic potential of herds with a personalised report;
- Identify a herd’s baseline and identify areas for improvement;
- Evaluate data and choose the right bulls for each herd.
