Farm Excellence

Farmer tears up plans in bid to rescue struggling crops

Thu, 09 May 2024 13:19:53 GMT

Farmer tears up plans in bid to rescue struggling crops

Setting profit targets with Brendan Horan at Lydney Park Farms

Thu, 02 May 2024 07:53:46 GMT

Setting profit targets with Brendan Horan at Lydney Park Farms

Welsh dairy farms sought for national programme

Wed, 01 May 2024 13:19:35 GMT

Welsh dairy farms sought for national programme

Three new Strategic Dairy Farms

Fri, 26 Apr 2024 09:41:15 GMT

Three new Strategic Dairy Farms

Sut i ddod yn Fferm Laeth Strategol

Wed, 24 Apr 2024 10:24:00 GMT

Sut i ddod yn Fferm Laeth Strategol

Newbury Monitor Farm: Summer farm walk

Thu, 21 Mar 2024 11:56:32 GMT

Join us for the final summer farm walk at Newbury Monitor Farm, hosted by Rob Waterstone. We will look at the cropping for harvest 2024 with stimulating discussions around the season so far and Rob’s experiences over his tenure as a Monitor Farm manager. George Mason of Heygates will present “A Miller's Perspective”, exploring the UK milling wheat market and its requirements.

This meeting will cover

Rob’s three years as a Monitor farmer
A presentation from George Mason – “A Miller's Perspective”
Farm walk

Registration and refreshments will be available from 2:00pm, with presentations commencing at 2:20pm, and a buffet will be provided before departure at 5:00pm.

This meeting is free to attend, but please book a place so we can organise catering.

BASIS and NRoSO points will be available for attending.

Please bring suitable footwear and clothing for a field walk.

What three words address: /// lobster.dried.tripled

Find out more about AHDB Farm Excellence

Gloucestershire: Setting profit targets with Brendan Horan at Lydney Park Farms

Thu, 21 Mar 2024 11:36:04 GMT

Join us at Lydney Park Farms as we discuss setting profit targets to aid successful business planning with Brendan Horan from Teagasc.

This meeting will cover

Why KPIs and profit targets are important to any business
How analysing financial targets can identify the opportunities for a more consistent high-profitability dairy
What are the key focus areas for Lydney Park to improve profitability while improving environmental performance, animal health and welfare, social licence and being a great place to work?

About Lydney Park Farm

Located in Gloucestershire, Lydney Park is a 640-ha farm located on the Lydney Park estate.

As part of the estate, the farm must remain profitable in order to cover its fixed cost.

Changing many years ago from a fully housed system to a low input grazing system has suited the staff and the land and returned increased profits.

The system has been adapted continually having milked 1,000 cows once a day at its peak.

Today the 10-week spring-calving herd of 850 Jersey X cows are milked twice a day and averages 4,750 L per cow per year at 5.30% butterfat and 3.93% protein.

The farm still questions what the right system for dairy is and, alongside their SDF steering group has been working with Brendan Horan to develop a robust set of key performance indicators and profit targets specific to Lydney Park.

Brendan is Principal Research Officer and project leader with responsibility for the development and implementation of grassland science multi-year farm systems research projects at Curtins Farm, Teagasc Moorepark, Fermoy, Co. Cork and Ballyhaise Agricultural College, Ballyhaise, Co. Cavan.

Wiltshire: Wolfhall Farm Strategic Dairy Farm launch

Thu, 21 Mar 2024 11:24:01 GMT

Join us for an on-farm meeting to launch our new Strategic Dairy Farm, Wolfhall Farm, run by Antony Mitchell and Tom Blanchard.

The day will feature a tour of the farm and an opportunity to find out more from the team about their operation, performance figures and goals for the next three years.

This event will cover

How a focus on grazing infrastructure and a flexible approach to forage crops has maximised grazing days
Why the farm is changing from spring calving-dominated split block to an autumn dominated split block system
What type of cow suits the farm and what will influence breeding decisions moving forwards

About Wolfhall Farm

Herd Manager, Anthony Mitchell and farm owner, Tom Blanchard, run a 600 cow, crossbred herd on a split-block calving system, yielding approximately 6,000 litres per cow, at 4.8% butterfat and 3.7% protein. The autumn block is served mainly to sexed semen, with beef semen only used in the spring block. Beef calves are reared to six months of age before being sold as stores. The 600 ha farm has a 175 ha grazing platform with grass, maize, fodder beet and lucerne grown to support the dairy. Wheat, barley and Oilseed Rape are also grown.

On-farm research opportunities pitched to arable farmers

Thu, 07 Mar 2024 13:48:59 GMT

On-farm research opportunities pitched to arable farmers

Hereford Monitor Farm: final summer farm walk

Mon, 04 Mar 2024 16:08:17 GMT

Join us for the final instalment of our Hereford Monitor Farm as Adam Lewis, Rob Beaumont, Martin Carr and Jack Hopkins talk about the developments that have been made on the farm over the last four years.

What will this meeting cover?

Reflections on their journey over the last four years
A walk around Adam’s farm as we look at how he’s coped with this year
The future plan for our monitor farmers

Registration and refreshments will be available from 3pm with presentations commencing at 3:30pm, dinner will be provided.

BASIS and NRoSO points will be available for attending.

The event is free to attend, but please register to allow us to cater accordingly.

Find out more about AHDB Farm Excellence.

Advanced soil testing and Monitor Farm update

Fri, 01 Mar 2024 14:13:55 GMT

Join this webinar to hear from monitor farmer David Cross and independent consultant Dr Liz Genever as we discuss soil health and other updates from the Monitor Farm.

This event will be hosted by Dr Nerys Wright, AHDB, and monitor farmer David Cross.

During the webinar we will provide an update on activity at the Monitor Farm. We will also share the details of the initial soil testing undertaken on the farm as part of a collaborative project with Dr Liz Genever, which forms part of Integrity Soils' CREATE UK course and Regenerate Outcomes.

We will explain what the results mean in terms of soil health and discuss the recommended next steps to address the findings.

Agenda

Monitor Farm update – the last 12 months, new enterprises and why we want to look at soil health; David Cross
Detailed results from soil tests of four fields, including soil food web and plant tissue tests; Dr Liz Genever
Exploring the impact of the 5Ms – Mindset, Management, Organic Matter, Minerals and Microbes
Initial ideas about trials/split fields

ROSA points will be available for joining this online event.

The event is free to attend, but please register to be sent a joining link.

Find out more about AHDB's Farm Excellence programme

The regenerative arable journey with savings and premiums

Mon, 12 Feb 2024 15:46:34 GMT

The regenerative arable journey with savings and premiums

The Norfolk arable farm with practical research at its heart

Wed, 07 Feb 2024 11:39:43 GMT

The Norfolk arable farm with practical research at its heart

How Strategic Cereal Farms tackle nutrient use efficiency

Fri, 15 Dec 2023 11:35:52 GMT

How Strategic Cereal Farms tackle nutrient use efficiency

How Strategic Cereal Farms evaluate cover crops

Fri, 15 Dec 2023 11:24:30 GMT

How Strategic Cereal Farms evaluate cover crops

How Strategic Cereal Farms put IPM to work

Thu, 14 Dec 2023 13:54:26 GMT

How Strategic Cereal Farms put IPM to work

How Strategic Cereal Farms use data to improve yield and efficiency

Fri, 08 Dec 2023 11:06:42 GMT

How Strategic Cereal Farms use data to improve yield and efficiency

Strategic Farms provide platform for learning at launch events

Tue, 14 Nov 2023 13:09:38 GMT

Strategic Farms provide platform for learning at launch events

Wainfleet Monitor Farm: Which break crop?

Wed, 01 Nov 2023 09:46:32 GMT

Join us at the next Wainfleet Monitor Farm meeting when we will be discussing options for maximising your returns.

We look forward to welcoming you to catch up on what has been happening at the Monitor Farm since we last met.

What will this meeting cover?

Monitor Farm update
Which break crops would work best in your rotation?
Options for overcoming loss of direct payments
Making SFI work for you

Registration and refreshments will be available from 9:30am, presentations will start at 9:45am. Lunch will be provided.

The event is free to attend, but please register to allow us to cater accordingly.

BASIS and NRoSO points will be available.

Find out more about AHDB Farm Excellence.

Discover our monitor farm network.

Norwich Monitor Farm: Labour and machinery review

Tue, 31 Oct 2023 08:47:03 GMT

Join us at our Norwich Monitor Farm meeting with host Michael Balls and Ceres Rural as we discuss Michael’s recent labour, power and machinery review.

We look forward to welcoming you to catch up on what has been happening at the Monitor Farm since we last met.

This meeting will cover

The importance of comprehensively reviewing fixed costs using a local, real-world, case study – the Norwich Monitor Farm
Practical strategies for optimising a farm business’ budget, with a focus on the factors at play when replacing machinery, such as depreciation, maintenance, operational expenses and technological advancements
What a labour, power and machinery review entails
A comprehensive review of the labour, power and machinery costings in modern farming practices and how to use the data to inform decision making

Registration and refreshments will be available from 9:30am, with presentations starting at 10:00am.

Lunch will be provided.

The event is free to attend, but spaces are limited, so please register to secure your spot and allow us to cater accordingly.

BASIS and NRoSO points will be available for attending.

Find out more about AHDB Farm Excellence

If you would like to receive email notifications about events happening near you, please visit our preference centre.