A livestock out-wintering day to be held in Dorset next week will include Brassica trial plot tours and the latest results from several ongoing farm studies.
The educational day organised by forage experts Germinal will feature a farm walk around James Cossins’ Down Barn Farm dairy heifer out-wintering system near Tarrant Rawston, Blandford Forum.
Down Barn Farm has been making good use of brassica forage crops for several years and currently has crops of hybrid brassicas as grazing for replacement dairy heifers.
The event taking place on January 16, 2019, will offer advice on how to make the best use of a range of brassica fodder crops.
Germinal GB product development manager Felicity Lenyk said: “We’ll give an overview of the various out-wintering options that brassicas offer, including expected dry matter yields, key points around establishment, and how best to utilise the crops.
“This will include detail on forage budgeting, to enable farmers to calculate what is available to feed, what stocking rates should be and how much bought-in feed is being saved.
“We’ll also reveal results from a number of farm studies we are currently involved in, where we’ve measured the relative nutritional value of stem and leaf material in different crop types and varieties. This is providing new information that is allowing better control of stocking rates and improved utilisation.”
Host farmer James Cossins will be on hand to offer the benefits of his own experience.
Refreshments will be provided at the event, which will begin at 11:00am at the Langton Arms, Tarrant Monkton, before moving onto the farm.
To register interest in attending please contact Christine Thomas via email at: [email protected].
