Velvetleaf is a pest that affects crops, seen in fodder beet and maize crops nationwide. This weed can live on farms for up to 50 years and withstands digestion and silage methods.

Summer dairy farming involves efficiently using spring pasture before summer heat and dryness diminish its quality. You should formulate a summer management plan early to ensure profitable production.

Erosion control is the practice of preventing sediment and nutrients from entering waterways and preserving topsoil on paddocks.

A pasture feed wedge is a tool that visually displays your farm's current pasture situation. By ranking your paddocks based on average pasture cover, it can help you make proactive decisions about pasture management.

A well-designed and maintained track for your dairy herd can save time and money, and improve cow welfare.

A successful dry period for cows entails hitting body condition score (BCS) targets before calving. This page emphasises the importance of meeting the cow's energy needs for maintenance, activity, BCS gain, and pregnancy during this time.

Grass staggers is a metabolic disease in cows caused by a magnesium deficiency. By giving cows extra magnesium in their diet, you can prevent health issues like grass staggers and milk fever, which can help increase milk production.

Understanding the maximum milking time (MaxT) is key to making your milking system as efficient as possible. MaxT is a strategy to milk cows for a predetermined time based on milk volume.

Successful weaning in calves relies on proper nutrition, adequate weight, and gradual transitions. It's important to ensure calves are consuming the right amount of feed and meeting their weight-for-age targets.

Feeding and nutrition play a critical role in a young heifer's development. A well-fed heifer grows more, produces more milk, and competes better with mature cows. Your heifer's diet needs sufficient energy and protein for optimal growth.

Early lactation once-a-day (OAD) milking is a short-term strategy used during the calving period. Understanding the benefits and trade-offs helps you make informed decisions for your herd and business.

Body Condition Score (BCS) is a critical element in managing the health and reproduction of your dairy herd. It's essential to maintain BCS targets, as too thin or too fat cows can negatively affect reproductive performance.

Maize silage is a high-quality forage supplement made by ensiling maize crops in stacks or bunkers, used to supplement pasture. This silage has notably low levels of sodium, calcium, and phosphorus, making it a useful carrier to supplement magnesium.

The teat cup liner is the part of the milking machine that touches the cow's teat, significantly affecting milking performance, udder and teat health.

Maximising pasture growth is key to increasing your dairy farm's profitability. To do this, you need to identify the lowest producing paddocks and understand their potential by comparing them with the best ones.

Dry matter is a crucial dietary requirement for dry cows. This page outlines the energy a cow needs, considering its weight gain or loss. The feed requirement considers the cow's maintenance, pregnancy, and weight gain.

During the transition from dry to milking cows, it's crucial to manage their health effectively to ensure their reproductive performance, production, and longevity aren't compromised.

Clover root weevil (CRW) is a pest that affects clover, a vital plant in many pastures. This weevil, first detected in Waikato and Auckland in 1996, can be found year-round but is most plentiful in summer.

Comparative Stocking Rate (CSR) is a tool to measure the balance between feed demand and supply on a farm. It is determined by calculating the amount of livestock weight per hectare versus the annual feed available.

Managing high-quality pasture during feed surplus periods is a crucial skill in pasture management. This page explains that pasture surplus often develops in spring, which if unmanaged, can lead to low-quality pasture affecting milk production.