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Breeding
21 August 2019
Sheep farmers are encouraged to check their rams 10 weeks prior to tupping to ensure that they are fit for the breeding season. AHDB Beef & Lamb has designed a leaflet that ensures a quality MOT check for your rams based on the five ‘Ts’ (toes, teeth, testicles, tone and treat)
16 April 2024
Commercial producers are increasingly taking a more informed approach to breeding and seeing the benefits of looking deeper into an animal’s background before purchase, using data to make informed purchasing decisions rather than buying on looks alone. This manual provides an insight on how to use Estimated Breeding Values (EBVs) when looking to purchase a ram.
13 August 2018
It is important to keep the cost of producing piglets to a minimum to enable you to maximise profitability at sale. Knowing how your breeding herd performs helps you to identify where and how to concentrate your time, effort and investment to improve performance and reduce the cost of production.
13 August 2018
Improving the number of pigs born alive and piglet survival rate through to weaning has a significant impact on profitability – an increase of 1.7 pigs weaned per litter (the difference between average and top 10% performance) improves net margin by £120 per sow per annum.
13 August 2018
Piglets need warmth after birth as energy reserves to produce body heat are limited. They are also born with no immunity so need colostrum soon after birth a min 100ml per kg of birthweight within 16 hours is crucial to provide the energy, nutrients and antibodies to survive
6 August 2018
Sheep breeders looking to produce lambs that meet target specification now have access to two new manuals from AHDB
6 August 2018
Sheep breeders looking to produce lambs that meet target specification now have access to two new manuals from AHDB
9 June 2020
The AHDB and HCC-funded Beef Carcase Traits project uses data derived from the British Cattle Movement Service (BCMS), abattoirs and breed societies to produce EBVs for traits of economic importance to commercial beef producers.
23 June 2021
Explore how you compare against our optimal dairy system key performance indicators to help establish what we can learn from each other
20 June 2018
Learn how Farm Excellence is benefiting David Goodier's 230-sow pig farm
23 May 2018
Ewe fertility is one of the main drivers underlying the output of a sheep flock. Optimising fertility increases the number of lambs scanned and born, which in turn drives flock profitability. Following the advice in this manual can help sheep producers set and achieve flock targets
16 February 2021
Replacement heifers contribute to the new genetic make-up, cost structure and productivity of the suckler herd. This manual provides advice on sourcing, selecting and managing replacement heifers so they can become productive members of the breeding herd