Profitable feeding for dairy herds

Three farm walks to examine the most profitable concentrate feeding regimes for dairy herds have been organised by AFBI, CAFRE and AgriSearch for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, 21, 22 and 23 October.

The three host dairy farms participated in a recent research project involving almost 400 cows, which examined the effect of two different concentrate feeding strategies in early lactation on the performance, fertility and health of dairy cows. The final results will be presented at these walks.

In addition, information will also be provided on dry cow management, and various options will be discussed to maximise feed efficiency this winter.

The first farm walk, on Tuesday 21 October, will be hosted by the Steele family, 32, Rowreagh Rd, Kircubbin, Co Down, BT23 1AS.

On Wednesday 22 October, the hosts will be Drew and Valerie McConnell, 1 Carrigans Park, Omagh, Co Tyrone BT79 7TS and, on Thursday 23 October, it is the turn of Cathal and Conor Casey, 15 Gruig Lane, Cloughmills, Co Antrim, BT44 9JD.

All farm walks start at 10.30am sharp.

In the interests of bio-security, those attending are asked to wear clean clothing not previously worn while in direct contact with their own animals.

For more details, telephone (028) 8778 9770 or see www.agrisearch.org.

Antrim milk producers switch

Approximately nine milk producers in the Ballymena area are believed to have switched away from supplying Fane Valley Co-op last week to instead supply Connacht Gold/Aurivo Co-op. Around 10 million litres of annual milk supply is understood to be involved.

The producers concerned with the switch are mostly former suppliers of Town of Monaghan Co-op.

Meanwhile, in the southern counties of Ireland, Strathroy has begun collecting milk from a further 24 producers. Six of these were formerly members of Wexford Co-op and the others were longer-term Glanbia suppliers.