Dear Member,
Enclosed with this mailing are two new publications we hope you will find useful over the coming weeks. As grazing and silaging gather pace, the May Checklist is designed as a practical prompt to help keep key jobs and deadlines on track during what can be a very busy month.
You will also find our latest Dairy Insight: Plants Posing a Poisoning Risk to Cattle. With stock spending more time at grass, now is a good reminder to keep an eye on pastures, field margins and tracks. Many toxic plants can go unnoticed until they cause problems, so prevention and early identification are key.
Plants Posing a Poisoning Risk to Cattle
Plants capable of causing poisoning in cattle are present on many farms and often go unnoticed until stock are affected. Identifying plant poisoning can be challenging, as clinical signs are frequently non‑specific or not immediately obvious, and the plants responsible may no longer be visible by the time symptoms appear. Evidence of grazing on toxic plants is often hard to spot and easily overlooked, particularly along tracks, field margins, or in hedgerows. One notable exception is photosensitisation, a condition caused by ingestion of certain phototoxic plants; over 250 such species are recognised worldwide, with several found in the UK.
In this Dairy Insight, we explore the plants toxic to cattle, focusing on how to identify them and reduce risk by removing them from grazing areas and farm tracks before incidents occur, because prevention is always better than cure.
May Checklist 2026
This months Checklist covers:
- After First Cut: 3 Key Actions
- Keeping Control of Weeds in Maize
- Sodium Recommendations
- Farm Focus
- Managing Grass Growth and Surplus in Fast‑Growing Swards
- Water Supply at Grass: Don’t Let It Limit Performance
- Milk, Feed & Fuel Prices
These Checklists are only available to members.
Both publications are intended to be practical, and easy to dip into when time allows. We hope they provide useful support for you and your farm team. If you would like to add family or team members to access the knowledgebase, please get in touch.
As ever, please get in call the office on 01458 851555 or email us via contact.us@kingshay.co.uk if you would like further information or support in these or other areas.
Warm regards,
Enclosed in your physical mailing envelope is a flier for Kingshay Grass Seed – Boost the productivity of your pasture!
Renovated swards deliver up to 33% more yield in the first year, and around 10% more each year thereafter, compared with leys over five years old. Good practice recommends reseeding 10 to 15% of the farm annually. For an average 200‑cow herd, this typically means reseeding 25 to 30 acres a year.
Members save over £100 on this acreage (£4/acre), there is an additional 5% discount on orders over 25 acres.
Give your cows the grass they love. Contact Kingshay on 01458 851555 to find the right grass mix for your system.
10% DISCOUNT ON TICKETS FOR THE NATIONAL YOUNGSTOCK CONFERENCE
www.cowmanagement.co.uk/national-youngstock-conference click on the BUY TICKETS HERE button, then click on the GET TICKETS button and finally enter the promotional code Kingshay@NYC26 before paying.
PS - FETF Equipment and technology funding: deadline extended to Tuesday 12th May.
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Contact us with any technical queries on contact.us@kingshay.co.uk or call 01458 851555