Dairy Farmer articles from April 2008

Dairy Farmer archives from April 2008

Morrisons put under pressure on sourcing.(Brief article)
April 3, 2008... Among all the major retailers the spotlight has suddenly switched to Morrisons which is being accused of "free-riding" on the industry. The pressure is building on the retailer to announce its milk sourcing policy soon, with growing...

COMMENT: Tesco as bellwether.
April 3, 2008... Sea change or no sea change? The next week will be highly critical for milk producers as we get the first inkling of where milk prices are going as bellwether Tesco declares its hand. Interestingly it has already pledged not to pay below...

EU council agrees to 2% quota increase all round.
April 3, 2008... The EU council has ratified a 2% increase in milk quotas for all 27 member states. This takes the UK milk quota from April 1 to 14.686bn litres. Germany and Austria voted against the increase and the French effectively abstained. The...

Will Tesco increase its prices?
April 3, 2008... It is a year since Tesco announced its direct supply contract, and it is widely expected that by the time Dairy Farmer is published it will have increased the price to its 900 farmer suppliers. Certainly the issuing of the First Milk-Promar...

Co-ops invest to restructure businesses.(Brief article)
April 3, 2008... Dairy Farmers of Britain has completed its multi million pound investment programme at its Bridgend creamery, including the integration of the business that was switched from its former site at Cardiff. Currently the plant is doing around...

Genus in solid share showing.(Brief article)
April 3, 2008... Shares may be crashing but bucking the trend more than most is Genus, which unveiled a 22% rise in pre tax profits to #6.1m in the six months to the end of December. This is up from #5m last time. Turnover almost doubled to #116m, boosted by...

RABDF rebrands Dairy Event.
April 3, 2008... The Dairy Event is dead... long live The Dairy Event and Livestock Show.The RABDF has re-branded the show for 2008, after it was cancelled last year on FMD grounds. The two-day show will now be relevant for the entire ruminant sector, including...

Milk Link's chief executive stands down.
April 3, 2008... He did what he said he would do and now he's bowing out after steering Milk Link to the increasingly successful vertically integrated company he promised. Barry Nicholls is standing down as Milk Link's chief executive at the end of March...

Defra needs to move quickly to secure extra BTV vaccine.
April 3, 2008... Defra is in danger of missing out on much needed bluetongue vaccine unless it acts quickly to secure stocks before they are snapped up elsewhere in Europe. That was the stark warning from leading pharmaceutical company Fort Dodge Animal...

Cowmen comment: We need to get together to drive badger policy through.
April 3, 2008... Apart from being laid up with cold and cough, John Trunch is busy with his shed building and trying to find a solution to the omnipresent TB problem. I shall be glad when spring arrives as I have had a nasty persistent cough on and off...

Is gamma interferon test up to the job being asked of it?
April 3, 2008... Bluetongue is our next big worry and to make trade easier Cornwall has entered voluntary restriction as part of the surveillance zone. As I write this things are changing fast but both the Republic and Northern Ireland have imposed a unilateral...

How is it your assurance inspector always wants little bit more?
April 3, 2008... Although the first application of fertiliser has already gone on and is hopefully doing its stuff in the south-west corner of Scotland, Donald McColm is not surprisingly being a little less generous with it this year. In January we had our...

Why it's easy to tell when we`ve got DFB person on the phone.
April 3, 2008... While we await the new season's declaration on milk prices as an indication of which way things are going, Ian Potter delves under the headlines to expose the deeper rumblings in the industry. In recent months DFB's Rob Knight has received...

Holland embraces genomic selection to give boost to young bulls.
April 3, 2008... Screening bulls through use of DNA will enable initial shortlisting to be done and allow selection pressure to be increased at an early stage. Ann Hardy reports on the Dutch approach to this new technology. Holland's dairy breeding industry...

Breeding: Producers showing confidence as dairy inseminations rocket.
April 3, 2008... A surge in the use of dairy sires has been reported by milk recording organisation CIS, reflecting a widespread optimism for sustained improvements in milk as well as dairy cattle prices. In February 2008 the dairy sire usage was up to 78%,...

Breeding: Sexed semen available.
April 3, 2008... DAIRY Daughters are enjoying the changes in Holstein UK's Type Merit with one bull in particular whose good functional qualities, yet breed average body traits, give him widespread appeal, particularly for cubicle housing amongst farmers keen...

Breeding: Top type bull on offer to UK breeders.(Brief article)
April 3, 2008... A US BULL which has taken the number three position for type in Canada has now become available in the UK. Plain-O Durham Ross (dtr below) will be sold by World Wide Sires UK. This follows a period of poor availability for the bull due to...

Breeding: Genus ABS graduate.
April 3, 2008... THE latest sire from the Genus ABS Cornerstone Programme in America is now available in the UK. Palmcrest Breakout (dtr above) is a type and udder specialist with UK figures of Type Merit 2.3, mammary 2.25, legs and feet 1.58 and Profitable...

Why 8-18 day period is most critical in securing pregnancy.
April 3, 2008... Many cows conceive but fail to hold on to that embryo. Vet John Cook, Genus ABS UK technical services director, considers steps farmers can take to try to eliminate repeated inseminations. UK conception rates have been in decline for the...

Animal health: Get better immune response by boosting selenium status.
April 3, 2008... The use of selenium is often advocated by nutritionists without much explanation, but now recent US trials are trying to quantify its benefits. Optimising immune function around calving through improved selenium status can help reduce the...

Cost of sub-optimal levels of fertility impacting on returns.
April 3, 2008... The cost of infertility is rising - latest figures from Kingshay suggest the true cost of infertility could be almost as much as 4ppl in some dairy units, which means a 100-cow herd averaging 8900 litres a year could be haemorrhaging over...

Animal health: Finding right way to set about treating lameness.
April 3, 2008... Foot ailments in cattle have always had a significant impact on performance and profitability and this is particularly true in the current economic climate, according to Owen Atkinson from Cheshire vets Lambert, Leonard and May. We expect...

Will Defra fight shy of ever sanctioning a badger cull?(Interview)
April 3, 2008... The all-party EFRA committee on badgers and TB has issued its final report, and it comes down in favour of allowing badger culling. But does this mean Defra will listen to its recommendation and give the go- ahead? Chris Walkland talks to Jan...

Bluetongue - make sure you are ready when vaccine finally arrives.
April 3, 2008... With bluetongue having gained a foothold on our shores, producers are anxiously awaiting vaccine availability to get cracking with protecting their stock from the devastating consequences of this terrible disease. We talk to Ian Anderson,...

Repeat breeders: is there anything that can help lift conception rate?(Medical condition overview)
April 3, 2008... With replacement dairy stock currently costing a small fortune, there is ever greater pressure to reduce the number culled on the grounds of poor fertility. Shirley Macmillan reports. Poor heat detection, lame cows or a bad AI technique can...

To begin with get to know pathogen you are taking on.
April 3, 2008... The scourge of mastitis, and strep uberis in particular, can be dealt with more effectively if we know exactly which pathogens are causing the problem in the first place. Using a broad-spectrum tube to treat mastitis is a simple, blanket-...

Action paramount as production costs all but eaten away benefit.
April 3, 2008... Despite the highest ever milk prices producers will soon be struggling to make the same margins as they did before unless action is taken to increase milk prices further. Chris Walkland reports. Confidence levels are fragile and the...

How can we make more from the milk that goes into cheese?
April 3, 2008... Feeding cows to specifically lift the casein level in milk would lead to a greater yield of cheese, but first of all cheesemakers would need to revise their payment schemes to handle this. Ann Hardy reports. New trial results have revealed...

Why Meadow Foods will hopefully set trend for others to row in behind.
April 3, 2008... Meadow Foods has done it again, just as it did last summer, by being one of the first to take the lead on prices by confirming it is to hold its milk prices for April 1. However this time it's had no help from booming commodity markets but...

fit duals to give that extra stability on Welsh hill sides.
April 3, 2008... Adrian Davies is a busy fertiliser contractor at this time of year because he's the only one around who can fit dual wheels without a fuss. After years of going backwards and forwards fetching and carrying wheels, he hit on the idea of...

Expanding the silage clamp.
April 3, 2008... Dairy consultants will tell you that increasing cow numbers can make all the difference to financial performance of a herd. Adding 10 per cent to the herd lifts output, yet the only additional costs are feed and pro-rata costs. In theory! In...

It's a bit of a moral dilemma but I'm in no big hurry to solve it!(with)
April 3, 2008... This month Roger Evans is convinced the world is waking up to the fact it may just need food to live and he reckons to have heard the rallying call echoing around the valleys. Oh, plus the little matter of the laptop he has not yet paid for!...