New farming products and services
Now AI companies are taking it another step forward, with sexed beef bull semen to be tested on 5,000 dairy cows in the UK.
Aberdeen Angus and Belgian Blue sires are being used in the research to test the benefits of the better eating consistency and carcass performance and efficiency of beef cross males.
The cows will be inseminated through Cogent Breeding services across a number of dairy units. On each farm, half the cows will be inseminated with sexed semen and the other half with conventional semen.
The aim is to take 1,000 calves through to finish on an intensive bull, extensive steer or intensive steer finishing system, with weights, grades and fat classes recorded.
Those already familiar with sexed semen for producing heifers reckon conception rates are not a problem, providing cows are regularly monitored for heat detection.
Producers taking part in the trial will be offered a Stg£10 a head premium on sexed semen-sired calves.
The Irish Medicines Board has licensed the Coopers Ectoforce sheep dip for the control of ticks.
"Ticks have become a major sheep hazard in many parts of the country," says Fergal Morris, veterinary adviser with Schering Plough Animal Health. "Controlling ticks in sheep also reduces the risk of ticks infecting humans. Lyme disease, which is caused by ticks, is a growing phenomenon in humans particularly in some western counties. Symptoms include fever, headache, fatigue and a characteristic skin rash. If left untreated, infection can spread to the joints and the nervous system," he said.
Coopers Ectoforce also controls blowfly, scab, lice and keds.
The Alltech feed company says their Yea-Sacc live yeast culture has become the only product of its type officially authorised for all classes of cattle as well as for equine use.
It works by stimulating the activity of beneficial rumen bacteria and stabilising the rumen environment. This produces improvements in dry matter intake and fibre digestion, resulting in production benefits in terms of milk yield and growth rates.
Alltech Vice President Aidan Connolly said the company will continue the significant research investment in the product which preceded its full EU accreditation.
The Pottinger farm machinery company claims that their new alpha-motion headstock heralds a new age in front-mounted disc and drum mowers.
Previously, only the leading linkage responded to bumps in the ground. But with the new headstock, the entire carrier frame adapts to ground contours. The mower unit floats over each bump and follows down into each dip, according to Pottinger.
Unique ground hugging to protect the sward, and much less stress on the tractor hitch are among the claimed advantages.
The mower can be mounted on any tractor between 70 and 300 hp, regardless of tractor dimensions and design of hitch, which have no effect on ground hugging properties.
Farmers are innovative inventors who spend their time solving problems rather than moaning about them, say the publishers of the Practical Farm Ideas magazine.
Editor Mike Donovan, based in Carmarthenshire in Wales, says he has featured more than 3,000 tools, modifications, adaptations and farm built implements since 1992. The summer 2005 issue features, among others, a Co Carlow farmer's home built workshop tools; mini round feeders. You can find out more about the magazine at the www.farmideas.co.uk website.
A level of durability and strength unprecedented in the industry is claimed by Westfalia Surge for its Classic 300 milking cluster, with which the company now offers a five year warranty.
