AHDB Food & Farming

This Food & Farming podcast episode is part of the Maternal Matters campaign being led by AHDB promoting the production of heifers that are efficient, profitable and fit for the future. 

Our Knowledge Exchange Manager Amy Hughes speaks to suckler producer Pete Burbage who farms alongside his brother Richard in Northamptonshire. Pete talks about breeding technologies in the suckler herd and how using synchronisation, AI and sexed semen has benefited his farm business. Pete has been able to tighten the calving period to nine weeks and the new technologies have improved the maternal traits being bred into the herd.  It can be an expensive investment, however, Pete and Richard have seen a significant return on investment and believe they are better off than they would be having a bull on farm and paying to manage it all through the year. 

Pete calves his heifers at two-years old and puts a lot of emphasis on the importance of good management and good nutrition for the heifers when trying to get them in second calf.  He says: “Calving at two-years-old is reliant on good nutrition to establish the right growth weights. Use quality forage and quality grass and weigh regularly to make sure they are on the right track. At the end of the day, they are trying to grow themselves, get in calf and feed a calf, which is achievable but need to manage accordingly.” 

Find out more about Pete and Richard Burbage: http://www.prburbage.co.uk/contact-us/ 

Find out more about AHDB’s Maternal Matters campaign: https://ahdb.org.uk/maternal-matters 

Thank you for listening.

In this episode, our very own Harry Henderson talks to our three Strategic Cereals Farmers (all conveniently named David) through some of the key findings from their respective on-farm trials and share how others can consider and adapt their own practice.

In this AHDB Food & Farming podcast, Katie Thorley, AHDB senior knowledge transfer manager, talks to Kate Phillips, independent sheep consultant, on the importance of recording data for your flock. They discuss looking at data that includes recording body weight, body condition, scanning percentage, lambing losses and winter forage, that will ultimately help to improve your system.

For further information:

·         Sheep records for Better Returns

·         Recording your sheep

·         Challenge Sheep Project

·         Feeding the ewe

·         Reducing lamb losses for Better Returns

·         Managing ewes for Better Returns

·         Sampling big bale silage with Dave Davies

·         Using EID to drive farm performance 

Outwintering has been a popular approach over the last few years to reduce housing and feed costs, particularly for cattle, but is outwintering falling out of fashion?

In this episode Bryony Ennis, Animal Health and Welfare Scientist, is joined by dairy farmer Adam Boley and beef farmer Johnny Haimes to share their experiences with outwintering cattle and discuss the following areas:

We will also hear from Siwan Howatson, Senior Environment Scientist, about the environmental considerations for those thinking about outwintering and how to manage outwintering to protect watercourses and manage soils.

Learn more about outwintering cattle.

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This episode was produced and edited by Kate Smith, Marcomms Executive (Dairy).

“Leadership and management are for all – you don’t need a title to be a leader”, Izak Van Heerden Senior Knowledge Exchange Manager.

Earlier this year, we conducted a review of leadership and management in the UK farming sector, looking at best practice, traits, qualities, uptake, barriers and future needs. This review highlighted a shocking statistic that only 0.37% of farmers and their employees engage each year in any formal leadership and management training.

In this episode, our AgriLeader team talk through some of the key findings from the review and explain how the it will influence our activity over the coming months.

Read the full review here.

The AgriLeader programme provides a platform where like-minded farmers and growers can meet, exchange ideas and learn from consultants. The programme focuses on leadership, growth and resilience across three key areas:

Leading yourself – developing a growth mindset and becoming more resilient

Leading your team – inspiring your team to have a shared vision and purpose

Leading your business – creating opportunities and questioning assumptions

 

Find out more about our AgriLeader programme: ahdb.org.uk/agrileader

 

Join our AgriLeader Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/239897437413608

Find business and leadership courses for farmers and growers: ahdb.org.uk/business-leadership-courses-for-farmers-and-growers 

If you want to find out more about AgriLeader or talk through the options for developing your leadership and management traits, get in touch with one of the team.

Izak Van Heerden: [email protected]

Mark Campbell: [email protected] 

Amie Burke: [email protected]

We'd love to know what you think of our podcasts. If you’d like to give your feedback, please complete our short questionnaire, which will help us to improve the podcast on an ongoing basis, or email: [email protected]. 

 

This episode was produced and edited by Miriam Drewett, Marcomms Manager (Pork).

In this Food and Farming podcast John Bates speaks to AHDB’s Dr Phil Hadley and David Swales about why opening up export markets

is a crucial strand of work by AHDB and why levy payers ought to be concerned when news breaks, as it has recently, about China banning British beef.

For more information on the work AHDB exports does visit the AHDB exports page

Feedback survey: We'd love to know what you think of our podcasts. If you’d like to give your feedback, please complete our short questionnaire, which will help us to improve the podcast on an ongoing basis or or you can email: [email protected] 

This podcast was hosted by John Bates has been produced by Gemma Pamment and Sarah Measom. 

The AHDB Maternal Matters campaign aims to highlight the connection between maternal performance and profitability in the suckler herd. The campaign focuses on two key areas of maternal performance: age at first calving and fertility. 

In this podcast suckler farmer James Shouler explains to AHDB’s Knowledge Exchange Manager Amy Hughes why he calves his heifers at two and what changes he made to be able to do it. 

Calving heifers at two-years of age reduces costs whilst increasing the number of calves the cow produces over her lifetime. In the UK only 35% of suckler producers implement this practice, however, in other countries it has been commonplace since the 1970s.

The aim of AHDB’s new Maternal Matters campaign is to raise awareness and increase the use of good maternal genetics within the English suckler herd whilst also informing producers of the management and selection practices required to enable greater cow lifetime reproductive performance and profitability. With the changes in agricultural payments around the corner, there has never been a more poignant time for suckler herd producers to home in on how they can make their herd more efficient and more profitable. Find out more at https://ahdb.org.uk/maternal-matters . 

In this AHDB Food and Farming podcast we talk with Ed Usset, a Grain Marketing Economist at the University of Minnesota, about all things grain marketing. Looking at what constitutes a “good price”, letting go of sales, and the five key mistakes made in grain marketing.

Please note the podcast was recorded online, so the recording may have some echo.

Further content from the Grain Market Outlook conference 2021 is available on the AHDB Cereals & Oilseeds markets page. 

https://ahdb.org.uk/price-risk-management-tools

https://ahdb.org.uk/farmbench

https://www.cffm.umn.edu/grain-marketing-plans/

In this podcast AHDB’s Derek Carless and Peter Shallcross a dairy and arable farmer in the South of Wiltshire speak to John Bates about how levy payers can access free support to help decision making in connection with the ending of the basic payment scheme in 2027. The rundown of payments starts its run down from December and farmers need to manage the transition the best they can.

AHDB’s job is to help levy payers navigate complicated issues and present evidence and facts for farmers and growers to consider and adopt, for their individual circumstances and their business needs. The Government has embarked upon an enormous reform of farm payments and the demise of BPS is referred to as the biggest agricultural policy shift since the end of the second world war.

Help is available, paid for by the Defra Future Farming Resilience Fund. Take a listen to find out how you can benefit.

Website: www.ahdb.org.uk/farm-business-review 

Phone: 02475 189300

Email: [email protected]

The podcast was hosted by John Bates and produced by Gemma Pamment.  

AHDB chief executive Tim Rycroft speaks frankly to John Bates about his first few weeks in the job, meetings with levy payers, the changes in progress for the organisation and the spring 2022 vote.

Tim speaks about the conversations he has had with levy payers in his first few weeks and how welcome the pledge for AHDB to be leaner and more efficiently run will enable farming success. In future AHDB’s activities will focus on products, tools and services which levy payers will have rated as important and worthy of levy investment. Spring 2022 is the first opportunity for levy payers to vote to shape the future of the organisation.

If you would like to contact AHDB about the future of the organisation please email: [email protected] 

Feedback survey: We'd love to know what you think of our podcasts. If you’d like to give your feedback, please complete our short questionnaire, which will help us to improve the podcast on an ongoing basis.