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Forage for Knowledge is a AHDB Dairy’s monthly newsletter about the latest research and advice on grass, forage and soil management and encourages efficient forage production systems and how they can become a key component of any dairy farm.

Feed and forage costs remain as one of the largest drivers of cost of production on GB dairy farms, improving the quantity a business can produce, the quality of forage grown and efficient utilisation of forages is a crucial element to maintaining competitiveness.

AHDB Dairy uses monitor farms from across GB to measure and monitor weekly grass growth rates and fortnightly grass quality results throughout the grazing season.

The 12 farms across Great Britain use a mixture of spring, autumn and year-round calving systems across GB, and anywhere from 150 to 800 cows all with the goal of achieving a profit from grazing and quality forage.

As on of the monitor farms grass growth rates and average farm cover are collected weekly and grass quality samples are collected for analysis every fortnight.  Grass samples are posted by Wednesday lunchtime every fortnight in pre-payed envelops. Grass analysis report will be received from the lab in the same week. Those already measuring grass will already have the data to hand and the free sampling is a useful incentive.

If interested please contact Stuart Martin at the Scottish Dairy Hub on 07500 766083