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Automated milk feeding enables Barber’s Farmhouse cheesemakers to successfully rear 600 quality heifers per year from seven of their dairy herds.

Selecting the best females based on genomic testing has resulted in rapid gains at Grosvenor Farms, Cheshire, where top notch management is helping heifers fulfil their genetic potential.

Maximising the genetic potential of your herd is reliant on piecing together every part of the calf rearing jigsaw; from breeding to colostrum, feeding, environment and health planning.

Vaccinating dams and ensuring calves rapidly receive plenty of high quality colostrum is part of an ‘immunity-led prevention’ strategy which will help boost health and performance.

As we approach the middle of July, our preparations for harvest in the north east of Scotland get into gear, with sheds to muck and wash, combines to be serviced and guttering to clean and repair.

To supplement three JCB telehandlers, one Devonshire hay and straw merchant opted for a brace of JCB Fastrac 4220’s carrying colour-coded Quicke 6M loaders. Geoff Ashcroft finds out if the investment has proved worthwhile.

Eight years after its launch, Fendt’s 724 remains a favourite for many buyers. But can it go the distance? One Essex contractor believes so, and his 8,000-hour model remains the firm’s go-to tractor. Geoff Ashcroft reports.

The progress made through the shearing season across the UK has shown us there are a huge number of very capable and talented shearers here on home soil, which is something we ought to be proud of.

James Macleod, 24, is from Dilwyn, Herefordshire, and has recently been involved in the NFU’s Student and Young Ambassador programme, which provides 10 enthusiastic young farmers with an insight into the industry.

Four-cylinder ‘pocket rockets’ are now prevalent on many farms, however, the first to break the 200hp mark was the 6718S from Massey Ferguson. Alex Heath speaks to a Staffordshire farmer who is making use of the high power to weight ratio tractor.