Moisture meters take the guesswork out of grain and hay preservation.

Pressure to reduce the use of plastic on bales comes from many directions, with wrap costs climbing, disposal often difficult and expensive, and plastic in fields and hedgerows unsightly and potentially damaging to livestock and wildlife. Its use may even incur a tax in future.

With a ship-shape farm in Cumbria, the Mann family have always kept high standards and achieved good performance across their dairy herd. Now that they’ve committed to Wagyu crossing, their new calf housing is similarly slick.

Producers may keep a close watch on energy, protein and fibre in their forage analysis. But what about minerals? Dr Donald Lawson from Kelvin Cave partners, Premier Nutrition, explains why it’s particularly important to check the mineral status of any new forage.

As milk prices continue downwards, farmers are scrutinising costs of production, with many focussed on the cost of feed. Jonathan Hill, principal consultant with Promar International, explains the value of making more milk from high-quality forage.

Good farming practice and the right choice of additive have turned potentially difficult silage cuts into good quality forage for a high yielding herd.

Last autumn, Kelvin Cave brought MultiMax to the market, at a time when silages were being made in challenging conditions. This additive – based on sodium nitrite and sodium formate – prevents clostridial fermentations in low dry matter, potentially soil-contaminated, grass silage.

As the drive to reduce single-use plastic continues apace, farmers are increasingly seeking alternatives to wrapping their baled forage.
Growing numbers are turning to high moisture hay, which can be now treated with the modern preservative, BaleSafe, at the time of baling.

ClampShield 500 and BaleShield 160: ultimate protection for your valuable forage crops from Kelvin Cave’s product range

With pressure on input costs and the supply chain  gearing up to remove imported soya in diets, the content and quality of protein in home-grown forages is gaining importance. Dr George Fisher looks at grass-based production itself and what we can do to improve the protein situation there.