Every year since he started farming in his own right, Jonathan Guilding has forward-bought concentrates to feed his beef cattle.

Sheep and beef producers, Martyn and Gruff Jones turned to feeding crimped cereals to their sheep after three years of using the moist preserved feed for their beef.

The word ‘efficiency’ has been used in livestock production for many decades, but it’s increasingly regarded as the elixir to solve all ills. But what does ‘efficiency’ mean and can it really be the solution to reducing costs of production, protecting the environment and reducing our dreaded carbon use and emissions?

Like so many livestock producers, Henry, Esther and Monty Rudge were hit by last summer’s drought followed by a cold and wet spring.
So, with low forage stocks and difficult conditions for turnout, they opted to buy bales of Stephen Ware’s total mixed ration to finish their forward stores inside, instead of at grass.

With the popular press and mainstream media pointing fingers at agriculture for greenhouse gas emissions, and at milk and meat production and consumption in particular, it is easy for farmers to feel ‘got at’ when it comes to the climate change debate.

Using crimped maize and cereals to rear and finish dairy-bred beef has transformed the fortunes of a Yorkshire farm.

Forage experts have warned that weather conditions over recent weeks could bring multiple challenges to silage-making which may need to be addressed this spring. Left unchecked, these could not only seriously reduce silage quality but may also generate gases in silage which endanger human and animal health.

Many of the things we take for granted in our modern lives have evolved over time.

The wheel, for instance, has been around for millennia. But transforming it from a roughly hewn disc of stone or wood into a high-performance lightweight alloy rim has been an evolutionary process – the product of initiative, innovation and a desire to make something that performs better than its predecessor.

The same has been true when it comes to crimped grain preservation.

The driest July since 1935, with little rainfall since, has put pressure on grazing and forage stocks, with many farmers already feeding silage intended for winter and later silage crops being lighter than expected. Maize in many areas is also particularly badly affected.

Somerset farmer, Keith Barrow, has changed the way he feeds his cattle and has reduced costs, improved nutrition and opened opportunities elsewhere on the farm.

Beef and sheep producer, Keith Barrow, believes a revolution is coming in the way we feed grain to our livestock and fails to understand why the system he is using on his West Somerset farm has not taken hold across the farming industry.