Farmers across Northern Ireland continue to trust ProVitaMin to help correct deficiencies, improve fertility and growth rates, amongst their flocks.
A small purebred and commercial flock run by Colm and Enda Mc Aleer, in Dungannon, has a nucleus of 20 purebred Suffolk ewes and 40 commercial Suffolk Mule cross and Mule’s. In addition to the boluses which they had always used, they tried Provita’s multivitamin mineral drench with copper, ProVitaMin. Ewes were given 10 ml 4 weeks before tupping and just before lambing. It is also used for flushing and AI to help accelerate flock development and for growing lambs.
Francis and Joe Connon farm a mixed suckled, beef, sheep and biogas farm in Limavady. Their Maize crop has been doing very well this year. It was planted first week of May under plastic and is now standing 8 to 9 foot tall.
Hugh Gabbie along with his team of staff lead by Johnny Chambers run a 1100 sow, birth to bacon unit near Crossgar.
Key to success on the farm is put down to monitoring all performance figures very closely, great attention to detail and controlling feed quality and cost. The farm buys in its own straights, much of which comes from local farms and mixes its own meal. “This way we know what’s in the meal and it costs less than buying it”, commented Hugh. “The performance has really accelerated the last 6/7 years, the number of piglets born alive is 13.7, with 12.8 weaned, and 2.4 litters per year. However I’d say replacement rates are now higher”, continued Hugh. “Currently prices are good and we are on the crest of a wave which I hope doesn’t break for some time, however regulations and staff shortages are challenges we face.”
Many farmers across Northern Ireland are turning to local animal health manufacturers Provita Protect POM-VPS to help reduce calf scour.
Calf scour stubbornly remains the number one cause of death in calves under 1 month of age. Along with good management and good hygiene Provita Protect will help reduce calve scour. Beds must be dry and draft free, they should pass the knee drop test, i.e. knee should still be dry after you drop down onto the straw bed. Calves should be fed enough colostrum as soon as possible after birth, ideally 2 litres within the first 15 minutes after birth, plus a further 2 litres 2 hours later. Care must be taken when freezing and thawing out colostrum as harmful bacteria can grow to very high levels if it’s left lying around for more than 1 hour. Equally thawing out at too high a temperature will destroy the proteins, if thawing out too slowly this can create very high levels of harmful bacteria in the colostrum. It is best fed fresh or stored in a fridge and used within a few days. Alternatively a powdered colostrum substitute can be used such as Provita colostrum concentrate, it will work through several modes of action including energy, probiotic, egg powder, natural colostrum, minerals and vitamins.
Come and visit us at UK Dairy Day, on Wednesday 13th September 2017, at stand H208. UK Dairy Day is a dedicated one day event for the dairy industry. For more information on the event visit http://www.ukdairyday.co.uk/
Provita will be attending the Agrisja event, with 3B Services AS, from the 25th to the 27th of August 2017. The event takes place in Pin Frigarden, 7517 Hell, Norway. For more information see https://www.agrisja.no/
Perry and Barbara Semple run a commercial flock of 500 ewes near Limavady. The ewes are Suffolk and Texel cross mule sheep put back to Texel and Belclare rams.
“We start to get lambs away from 11 weeks of age at 20kg deadweight with no meal. To do this they need to be thriving well the whole way through and cannot suffer any setbacks.
To achieve this the Semples use a variety of management techniques including rotational grazing and topping to ensure fresh leafy grass is available all the time, a worming and fluke program based on SCOPS principles and a preventative footbathing program.
Colm and Enda Mc Aleer run a small purebred and commercial flock near Dungannon. They have a nucleus of 20 purebred Suffolk ewes and 40 commercial Suffolk Mule crosses and Mule’s.
“We are aiming for a good wide and long sheep with good power and style for the pedigree side of the flock”, said Enda. The flock is run under the prefix Kerrib Suffolks.
For 25 years farmers across Northern Ireland have trusted Provita’s silage inoculants to ensure the best possible silage quality. Advance+ is the only inoculant made in Northern Ireland and it’s designed to produce excellent results in the wildly varying conditions we experience here.
Its strains have been tested through the EU registration system plus it has been tested on farm in mini-silo and split-silo tests.
“We’ve tested it on farm from 18% to 60% dry matter, from 0.7% to 9% sugars on grass wholecrop and maize. Provided good management is also practiced its use results in better fermentation, stability and predicted animal performance,” commented Tommy Armstrong.
