Clostridial bacteria are always in the environment but once triggered by a stress factor to release toxins, they can lead to disease which often proves fatal. Clostridial...

Coccidiosis infection in young cattle reduces daily liveweight gain, increases the cost of cattle rearing and in severe cases can be fatal. If coccidiosis is present on a...

Heifer calves are the future of your dairy herd, you don’t get a second chance at getting it right. Therefore, time taken for attention to detail pays dividends not onl...

Computerised calf feeders are becoming increasingly popular to help labour efficiencies. Managed well, they can improve milk feeding consistency, drive weight gains and o...

Contract heifer rearing involves setting up an agreement with another farmer to rear your heifers rather than doing it yourself. This frees up time and capital, allows yo...

Ectoparasites (external parasites) affect cows throughout the year. During the summer, flies can be a big issue, whilst in the winter housed cows are susceptible to lice ...

Replacement heifers are one of the most valuable assets but also biggest costs to a farm. Physical development is more important than age at first calving for a success...

In a traditional dairy calf rearing system, calves are fed 10% of their birthweight in milk over two feeds daily i.e. 2 feeds of 2 litres. In comparison, a calf left on t...

As the industry looks to adopt precision farming, improve efficiencies and maximise the value of every calf, genomics is going to play an increasing role on dairy farms. ...

Genomic evaluation is a relatively new tool for breeding improvement in the dairy industry, but in recent years uptake of the technology has increased exponentially, and ...