Although minerals only account for about 5% of total ruminant nutrition they have a disproportionate role in supporting energy and protein yielding nutrients required to maintain animal health, fertility and production.
Grassland management is often overlooked for new leys, but by prioritising weed control early during establishment, you will achieve cost-effective, long-lasting control, resulting in higher yields of grass.
Early scanning data shows rates are 20 to 30% lower than normal following grass shortages due to the drought, meaning it is important to pay particular attention to ewe nutrition to ensure as many healthy lambs as possible are born in the spring.
Rearing surplus lambs can be a difficult task during the lambing season, and the decision to foster onto a ewe or artificially rear the lambs will depend on their physical condition.
All animal medications, in particular those used to control blowflies, must be administered properly. It will save you time and ensure that you get the most out of your items if you take a little time to plan and consider the entire task at hand before you do anything. Specialists at Elanco recommend following the below steps to keep your flock free from blowfly infestations.
Due to reports of fly seasons starting earlier and lasting longer, sheep farmers are being urged to apply blowfly strike protection early in the season to prevent strike and stop the first wave of blowflies from breeding.
Preparation is key, make sure you know when to shear and have all the equipment you need to complete a successful shearing.
Sustainability is a key part of our business, with our mission being to help farmers feed the UK in a more sustainable way. As a business, we are working towards becoming carbon net zero and aim to support our customers with products and services that help drive sustainability and efficiencies. Through our feed division we have made the following commitments:
You may be familiar with the fundamentals of sheep shearing, but do you want to take it a step further? We can help you improve your shearing technique or learn some useful methods.
Although the high fertiliser and fuel prices are scary to think about, all is not lost when it comes to managing grassland this spring.
Home-grown forage remains the cheapest form of feed available, and we need to keep this front of mind when making decisions to see the full value of the investment. Here are my top tips to maximising your investment.
