5644 Jameson October Newsletter_Jameson Newsletter October 2012 27/09/2012 18:24 Page 1 ANIMAL FEEDS • FERTILISERS • SEEDS • COUNTRY STORE Focused on Farming Jamesons Country Store OCTOBER 2012 ISSUE GRAHAM JAMESON The new look Jamesons Country Store is now open. We stock everything for Sugar rush! the horse and pet owner, country dweller and small holder. Local people Feeding molasses may well be an will also be able to find those every day COUNTRY STORE economic alternative this year since forages are likely to be low in sugar. essentials. For shooting folks there’s clothing, bags, snares and gun Molasses can improve palatability of cleaning products. If horses are your other feed ingredients, thus stimulating passion, there’s a great range of feed intake. It can act as a source of feeds, clothing, rugs and grooming energy for the rumen bugs allowing equipment. For the pet owner we them to produce microbial protein from can supply leads, collars, dog coats, forage. This could prove very important beds and shampoos. If the this year as forages are generally low in countryside and wildlife are your sugar due to the lack of sunshine the thing, we stock a great range of summer has dealt us. wild bird feed and lovely outdoor Feed typically 2kg per head per day. clothing. Small holders will find anything from pot-bellied pig feed to layers pellets. Why not call Just a reminder... in and see what we’ve got. ...about grass staggers. I’m sure you’re all aware of the dangers of Our new trade counter for farmers has staggers, but even in September we good stocks of raddles, harnesses, were hearing reports of farmers losing crayons etc. We also stock electric cattle to this problem. fencing, rat poison, markers and foot treatments. Farmers will also find pour- Hypomagnesaemia occurs when the ons, drenches & boluses, as well as intake of magnesium is exceeded by its vaccines such as Heptavac, Ovivac, output. The clinical signs can occur very Crovexin & Bravoxin. quickly because the cow does not store magnesium, and so must have a daily supply. As is often the case, animals Terrific Texels! showing clinical signs are just the tip of the iceberg, many cows will not show DR RUTH LAWSON symptoms. Daily supplementation of Jamesons customer, Colin Doney, showing and selling for the first magnesium should be given to animals at risk. This can be achieved by using time ever at Skipton, achieved a memorable debut double when Dalesman Tri Mag buckets or blocks. exhibiting both the first and second prize Texel pens. Colin farms with his wife Caroline at Pasture Close, Dacre, Harrogate. Taking Monthly Offer on more farm land has Dalesman Feet & Fertility buckets given the Doneys, who in Buy 10 get another bucket FREE the past have only reared and sold prime lambs, the opportunity to provide longer keep and raise shearlings, 30 of which were consigned at Skipton. “They have grown out well,” said a delighted Mr Doney. 5644 Jameson October Newsletter_Jameson Newsletter October 2012 27/09/2012 18:24 Page 2 milk yield, poor fertility, increased somatic cell ear and stalk boring count and increased disease susceptibility. insects. Harvest Mycotoxins In trials, exposure to mycotoxins resulted in forages as quickly DR RUTH LAWSON losses in milk yield of 1.5 - 2.0 litres per cow as possible and per day and an increase in somatic cell pack tightly and be Mycotoxins are produced by moulds and count by 100, 000 cells/ml. So what are sure the silo is fungi in feed. Cattle are exposed to the symptoms in your dairy herd? Well, sealed to exclude mycotoxins from grass, silage, straw or symptoms are quite general and will depend oxygen. Patch any contaminated grain. We think it may be a on the exact mycotoxins involved. But cows holes in plastic bad year for mycotoxin problems as they won’t be milking quite as well as they should covers, bags, or thrive in low temperatures and moisture. be. The dung is a little loose and variable and wrapped bales as Also, when it’s a late harvest or there’s soil the milk fat is a little low. The cell counts may soon as possible. contamination, mycotoxins do well. Other have gone up and fertility is not as good. Also, discard situations that cause mycotoxins to be Other effects of mycotoxins may include: - obviously spoiled produced are when the silage clamp is reduced feed intake, acidosis-type feed or layers of feed and clean out leftover poorly consolidated or finished feeds are symptoms, poor response to disease or feed from feeding troughs regularly. Think poorly stored. infections, bloody dung, lower leg / teat about using an inoculant in silage (such as A healthy rumen has an ability to protect swelling, or unsettled cows. So what can be our Pento-guard) to enhance preservation. against low levels of some mycotoxins; done to manage mycotoxins? Firstly, try to Try to have as small a clamp face exposed however, some mycotoxins will be detoxified manage silage to reduce mycotoxin as possible. When confronted with a toxicity in the rumen but will breakdown into new exposure, make sure you purchase seed problem, stop feeding the contaminated feed more toxic metabolites. In dairy animals, varieties resistant to foliar, ear rot, and stalk and add a mycotoxin binder such as production can be affected through reduced rot diseases. Also, select varieties resistant to Mycosorb available at Jamesons. Pasture aeration following a soggy summer PETER HARLAND Large amounts of rainfall this summer have left In the top foot of soil, it’s estimated that there Often compaction is indicated at the depth most pastures vulnerable to soil compaction. are 2 tonnes of soil life per acre. This then tells that it is hardest to push the spade into the Evidence for this has been very clear, with us that the greatest need for oxygen is near soil. A subsoil type aerator is most useful for fields poached up from livestock, and deep the soil surface where there are the maximum compaction caused by heavy machinery, ruts prevalent after silage time. So why is soil number of roots, micro-organisms, and other deeper in the soil profile. The subsoiler lifts aeration important, do we need it and what is animals. Air travels in and out of soil passively, the soil slightly and drops it, producing cracks the most cost effective method of doing it? through holes and cracks. Compaction that run vertically down the soil profile. It is an The vast majority of soil life requires oxygen reduces the movement of air into the soil and expensive operation in terms of time and to release energy from sources of organic so it limits the nutrient release from the soil. diesel and runs the risk of disturbing old carbon, a bit like a fire needs air to burn and When soil is water logged, as can easily drains; therefore it should only be used for release heat. Plants are the main source of happen on compacted ground, air movement deeper compaction. organic carbon in the soil. They take carbon can be reduced by 82%. In soils without Pasture spiker type aerators are becoming dioxide out of the air during photosynthesis, enough air, plant and soil life are unable to popular, these act in the top 4 inches of the and use the energy from the sun to turn the access energy reserves and the cycle and soil allowing air to enter the soil more freely carbon, of carbon dioxide it into carbohydrate. release of valuable nutrients is slowed. so stimulating the soil life (and plant growth). These carbohydrates are stored in the plant Substances are produced in the soils that Wider aerators, 5m plus, offer a far better roots. When this energy is needed by the inhibit root growth, and nitrogen is lost from work rate and so save diesel and time. Muck plant to grow, oxygen is required to release the soil as gas. This is easily seen by poor spreading can also alleviate light surface it from the root. grass growth in compacted areas. compaction by increasing soil life, and Micro-organisms are the soil’s life. They As mentioned in previous newsletters, the encouraging the earth worms and beetles to too require oxygen to breakdown and utilize best way to assess compaction is to dig an 8 burrow through the soil, which again helps air dead and decaying plant & animal matter. inch square hole by a foot deep. Try to remove and water move more freely through the soil. Micro-organisms are responsible for the this in one piece and lay it next to your hole. All forms of aeration work on the same cycling and release of nutrients (including Ideally the top 2 inches should have a nice principle, of increasing air passage into the nitrogen), the breakdown of manure and the crumbly structure, the next 2 inches should be soil, this then stimulates the soil life, increasing maintenance of optimum physical soil half crumbly, and below this the remaining soil the speed at which nutrients are cycled and conditions. They enable soils to be more should have around 10% crumb texture. released in the soil, and so improving soil robust, better able to cope with droughts, By doing this you can easily see where the soil health and pasture growth. floods, and changes in nutrient availability. is compacted, and react accordingly. USEFUL NUMBERS Nick Bowkett 07715 994178 (Product Sales) • David Lewis 07710 600848 (Dairy Specialist) • Jo Jonathan Stansfield 07732 396078 (Grain Buyer / Fertiliser Sales) • Richard Harker 07732 396079 (Accounts) • Nigel Re 5644 Jameson October Newsletter_Jameson Newsletter October 2012 27/09/2012 18:24 Page 3 Which ingredients should be Pentoguard in a good calf milk powder for Maize DR RUTH LAWSON DAVID LEWIS There is no need for us to discuss the Deciding which milk replacer to progress of maize crops this year as it has use can be very challenging.