Bulletin
Sponsored Editorial
02 Oct 2020

Have you selected your bulls for this autumn and next spring yet? Make sure you don't make decisions until you have taken a look at the great new offering from LIC, with great Holstein Friesians, Jerseys and KiwiCross™ bulls available. Go to www.licnz.com/sire_catalogueuk.cfm to take a look and contact your nearest FSM here to chat through the options

More profit…less cows? Does that sound appealing? Then listen to this story from Sean Nicolson at Castiles Farm near Ripon, Yorkshire, who features in the video found here Sean's aim was to achieve a goal of building a more sustainable, resilient and profitable business. Prior to working with LIC, Castiles Farm ran a high input, housed farming system with the cows living inside 12 months of the year, feeding high amounts of concentrate.

 

Would you like to win an iPad Air worth over £400? Send your contact details to admin@liceurope.com and tell us your favourite bull from our latest catalogue here. It's as simple as that. We would like to stay in touch with you in the months ahead to keep you abreast of our latest news.

Sadly we have had to postpone our open day for educational purposes at our monitor farm, Walford College, in Shropshire on 27 October. With the recent changes in Covid 19 regulations we have decided not to go ahead. We are hoping we will be able to hold an event in the spring/early summer of 2021. However we will be filming at Walford on the day, and covering off the six stations you would have visited. Our Pasture to Profit consultant Sean Chubb will give a performance review of 2019/20 and talk through the targets for 2020/21.

Farm manager Tom Moore will talk about how Holsteins graze grass, LIC's FSM Emyr Brown will discuss the breeding results and plans for this autumn's breeding.

 

They will be followed by Walford's vet, Nathan Loewenstein of Shropshire Farm Vets covering what can be done to keep cows within the autumn block, and what can be done to improve its tightness. Next will be a look at the cow manager tags which have been used to make improvements on the farm, and finally an agronomist will talk about the performance of the paddocks, what can be done to improve the bottom performing fields and what grasses should be used for spring re-seeds.

 

All the content will be offered in one, or more, webinars, with open question and answer sessions close to that date.

 

Please make sure you register on-line NOW by emailing schubb@liceurope.com with your name and contact details. This way we can keep in touch with you and let you know when to join the webinar, and let you know when we are all able to visit the farm.

 

For more details about what is happening at Walford, go to www.licnz.com/walfordcollege.cfm to listen to the four webinars we recorded a little earlier in the year.

British Dairying editor Mike Green says the key to milk producers securing a profitable and sustainable future will be careful planning and cost-effective investment in their businesses. "For most farmers this will mean doing more of the same but doing it better," he says. Listing benchmarking, body condition scoring, monitoring cows and automated feeding as key assets moving forwards, he says embracing the benefits of genetics, the use of genomic proofs and sexed semen, along with producing more milk from homegrown crops, particularly grass, must continue to be a priority. Do you agree or do you have your own view of what to expect in the future? Go to @LICintheUK on Facebook to tell us what you think. The winning answer will win an LIC beanie in time for winter!

 

Longevity is a key to maintaining profitability in your herd. Get some useful tips and information from Joyce Voogt, LIC's technical manager in the September issue of British Dairying on page 68. Outlining breeding strategies that should include the use of high genetic merit sires, boosting hybrid vigour with crossbreeding and managing any inbreeding risk, as well as using genomic evaluation are all essential tools to breeding cows that will last longer. "Cows longevity should increase as genetics delivers healthier, ever-more resilient cows with a reduction in clinical infections, associated treatment costs and involuntary losses to the herd," she says.

 

 

 

Have you ever questioned the value of a plate meter?

 

Watch this video from Pasture to Profit consultant Piers Badnell here to see why one is such an invaluable tool for every grassland farmer.

 

Contact your FSM here to buy yours now, and be sure you go into the autumn/winter with the right residuals to get the best pasture next spring.

 

There's still time to enter our calf competition where you can win a totally FREE half-day consultancy from one of our Pasture to Profit consultants. All you need to do is post a picture of one of your calves on our Facebook page and tell us in what area of the country you farm… it couldn't be easier, so get the camera out and start snapping now.

 

Catch up with some news on the top bulls in our new catalogue out now. Listen to senior farm solutions manager Ian Foster pick some Holstein Friesian, KiwiCross and Jersey bulls and talk about the new LIC Hoofprint™ index. Selecting bulls on their environmental footprint is an exciting new option, and one farmers across the world are exploring as they try to reduce carbon emissions. Go to licuk.podbean.com/e/lic-ian-foster-bull-1600616287/ to hear our latest podcast.

 

 

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