Aly Balsom

England

Reporter at Freelance

Freelance agricultural and rural living journalist. Get in touch if you have a story.

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Articles

What is the secret to a smooth calving period?

1 week ago | fwi.co.uk | Aly Balsom

Anything that can be done to make an intensive block-calving period run as smoothly as possible will be advantageous for a busy farm team. It stems from preparing staff, processes and cows ahead of time. Whether calving in spring, autumn or both, the essential ingredients for an effortless calving period are body condition, mineral status and calving ease.
Benefits of magnesium for suckler cows ahead of calving

Mar 24, 2025 | fwi.co.uk | Aly Balsom

If beef farmers are assisting a high proportion of cows at calving, or if stillbirth rate is higher than wanted, then cow magnesium status could be to blame. Magnesium is commonly supplemented at turnout as part of grass staggers prevention, but vet Lucy Hepworth of Friars Moor Livestock Health believes most beef farmers could benefit from introducing it four to six weeks before calving.
8 things to consider before sowing maize

Mar 2, 2025 | fwi.co.uk | Aly Balsom

Maize growers who are consistently getting crops off late, struggling with yields, and negatively impacting the environment may be asking themselves whether maize is the right crop for them, or if they could grow it better. The past two years have proved particularly challenging for maize growers, with late springs, unpredictable growing periods and wet autumns resulting in huge crop variability.
How foliar feeding maintained grass growth at half N rate

Jan 23, 2025 | fwi.co.uk | Aly Balsom

Dairy farmer Robin Nicolson has halved nitrogen use on grazing leys while maintaining annual growth at 12t/ha dry matter by foliar feeding instead of using conventional, prilled fertiliser. Foliar feeding is commonly used in horticulture and arable systems and works by applying liquid nitrogen directly to the leaf, where it is absorbed through the leaf’s pores.
Advice on flexible milking as a management tool

Jan 20, 2025 | fwi.co.uk | Aly Balsom

Building flexibility into milking frequency could boost production, alleviate staff shortages, or create a better work-life balance at certain times of the year. There is scope for farm owners to think differently about how and when cows are milked, says consultant Ian Ohnstad of The Dairy Group.
How a Somerset dairy cut mastitis cases by 40% in two years

Nov 18, 2024 | fwi.co.uk | Aly Balsom

A free monthly report summarising mastitis and somatic cell count patterns prompted changes to dry cow management and milking routine at Westford Park Farm, Chard. Together, these led to a 40% reduction in mastitis cases. In 2022, Clive and Angela Mowlem, daughter Jade and son Shaun signed up to receive the Mastitis Pattern Analysis Tool (MPAT), which is available free to milk-recorded herds (see box).
7 ways to lower the risk of 'rumen drinking'

Nov 11, 2024 | fwi.co.uk | Aly Balsom

How quickly calves consume milk and at what height they drink could be contributing to calf mortality on dairy farms and calf-rearing enterprises, according to Scottish data. Rumen drinking is where milk is directed to the rumen and reticulum instead of the abomasum. This was identified as the second most common contributory factor to calf mortality during routine surveillance testing of 614 pre-weaned dairy and dairy beef calves. It was found in 101 calves.
How three dairy farmers maintain high-yielding herds

Oct 25, 2024 | fwi.co.uk | Aly Balsom

What is the secret to achieving high yields of more than 10,000 litres a cow a year? Asked how they maintain high levels of production in their dairy enterprises, three farmers put their success down to different factors. One has a grazing herd milked by robots, another manages a housed herd on an agricultural college farm and a third runs three-times-a-day milking. They set out what they regard as the most important in producing consistently high yields.
How a high-yielding dairy herd hits 1,000kg milk solids a cow

Oct 22, 2024 | fwi.co.uk | Aly Balsom

A multi-pronged approach with ration consistency and genetics at its core has helped the Campbell family increase kilos of fat and protein from 754kg to 1,000kg a cow since 2016. Previously, they had prioritised volume, with little consideration for the kilos of solids produced by their Holstein herd at Cally Mains Farm. When their milk buyer, Arla, started to pay for constituents, they knew their policy needed to change.
Managing soils to withstand wet winters and dry summers

Oct 6, 2024 | fwi.co.uk | Aly Balsom

Farmers could bolster production and farm resilience by focusing on soil health, rather than blaming the weather, soil type and location for waterlogging and drought. So says independent farm adviser Niels Corfield, who has monitored more than 200 farms throughout the UK and believes poor soil health is holding back performance across the board. As a result, businesses are less able to cope with extreme weather events.