NewsTicker

How will changing health and safety legislation affect your farm? Are empty rates higher than normal this season on dairy farms? And what alternatives are there to chicory for summer cropping? These key dairy industry topics and more will be discussed on Wednesday 2 March at Owl Farm’s first farm focus day for 2016. Owl Farm, the St Peter’s School and Lincoln University Demonstration Dairy Farm, will host guest speakers from Fegan & Co, LIC and PGG Wrightson Seeds. Owl Farm Manager Tom Buckley will give an update on the season so far and give examples from Owl Farm to illustrate the issues at hand. With the new Health and Safety Act becoming operative on 2 April, Owl Farm is busy reviewing their health and safety systems. With assistance from consultant Steve Sharpe from Fegan & Co the team have been identifying hazards around the farm and ensuring the correct measures are in place to reduce the any potential injury. Owl Farm is formalising a training programme complete with standard operating procedures for various activities which occur on farm. At the farm focus day, Steve will be talking about what changing legalisation means for farms and what is needed to ensure best practice is achieved and, of course, ensuring that our people return home happy and healthy after work. Steve will also be available after lunch if any farmers or rural professionals would like to discuss the implications of the health and safety legislation changes for their business. In-calf and empty rates are another big talking point at the moment. “Early evidence within the Cambridge area has seen the average empty rate up around 12-14 percent,” says Doug. “Fortunately at Owl Farm we achieved an empty rate of six percent which, considering the various on-farm challenges we faced in spring, […]