Current trends in British dairy management regimens

Abstract

This paper presents a summary of results from a 2012 survey that investigated feeding and housing management regimens currently adopted by dairy farmers in Britain. Responses from 863 farms provide a snapshot of dairy industry structure and a description of the range of management systems currently in operation. Outcomes highlight a diversity of management practices, showing that 31% of farms maintained a traditional grazing system with no forage feeding indoors during the summer, whereas 38% of farmers indicated that all their milking cows received some feeding indoors during the summer. A system of housing dairy cows for 24 h/d while they are lactating was implemented by 8% of farms, whereas 1% of farms did not house their cows at any time of the year. Statistical analyses were carried out on 3 distinct groups identified from survey responses: (1) farmers who did not undertake any indoor feeding during the summer; (2) farmers who fed all their milking cows indoors during the summer; and (3) farmers who continuously housed their cows for 24h/d while lactating. Results showed a significant relationship between management type and herd size, and between management type and breed type; on average, herd sizes were larger within systems that feed indoors. No significant relationship was found between management type and farm location when classified by estimated grassland productivity. The results indicate that traditional all-summer grazing is no longer the predominant system adopted by dairy farmers and that other systems such as all-year-round indoor feeding and continuous housing are becoming more prevalent in Britain.

True Cowmen and Commercial Farmers: Exploring Vets’ and Dairy Farmers’ Contrasting Views of ‘Good Farming’ in Relation to Biosecurity

“…The rules of the game in the dairy sector in the UK are increasing the size and productivity of dairy farms, as well as the cows spending more time indoors (March et al . ), mirroring intensification in other countries with a developed agricultural sector (Hansen ). More research could be undertaken on how other influential industry and government actors conceptualise good farming for biosecurity going forward.…”

Particle size distribution of forages and mixed rations, and their relationship with ration variability and performance of UK dairy herds

“…is an effective way to provide a homogeneous and balanced diet throughout the day (Coppock et al, 1981). The composition of MR can vary considerably but ryegrass (GS) and maize silages (MS) are the main forages used in the MR fed to dairy herds in Northern Europe (Johansen et al, 2018;March et al, 2014). In order to maintain animal performance and promote a healthy rumen function the inclusion of forages with an adequate particle size and dietary concentration of non-forage carbohydrate (fibre) in the MR are required (Zebeli et al, 2012).…”

Intestinal development of bovine foetuses during gestation is affected by foetal sex and maternal nutrition

“…None of the previous studies in cattle (Meyer et al, 2010;Duarte et al, 2013) used dairy cows. Such animals are often subject to different nutritional plans during gestation according to previous lactation and dry periods (Holtenius et al, 2003;Odensten et al, 2005;March et al, 2014) and even then producing significant amounts of colostrum in the post-natal period (Kessler et al, 2013;Garcia et al, 2014).…”