Feeding for breeding: A checklist to evaluate your herd

The feeding of dairy cows at grass has a huge bearing on subsequent herd fertility, writes ruminant nutritionist Brian Reidy.

Dairy farmers must be buying grazing supplements based on its energy content, not protein percentage.

The last week has brought mighty weather for the month of March, and it thankfully allowed animals to get out grazing full time and a lot of spring crops to be planted. Most farms are as much as a month ahead of last spring with regard to work and grazing progress. 

The farm gate prices for cattle and milk have injected some much-needed optimism into the livestock producers. As the clocks change this weekend, we can hopefully look forward to a more normal late spring and summer ahead.