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Farm Visits |
Farm visits allow for a much deeper investigation and assessment of a farm problem. Nutrition is a clinical subject and a through clinical examination of the animals, feeds and farm are essential to get a full, rounded picture of the situation. |
| Before the visit |
Such visits are always preceded by examining any paper work that may be available. Looking at feed analyses, formulated rations and animal outputs (milk production etc.) starts to give pointers as to the nature of the problem. The amount of data available on farm will vary but is never absent. At its simplest the data may just be the milk quality and quantity data supplied by the milk buyer or it may be NMR, CIS or similar records or a fully recorded Herdsman or InterHerd system. |
| On farm |
On farm the visit normally starts with a general meeting where the current situation is assessed and past performance reviewed. At this time any matters identified from the preliminary appraisal are discussed and possible target areas identified. A detailed farm and animal inspection is then carried out looking at feed presentation, assessing animal's appetite, rumen activity and faecal output. Feeds are manually examined and assessed and subjected to tests such as the Penn State Sieving procedure if appropriate. Once the farm and animals have been inspected it is usually possible to draw up some initial recommendations. Often these are designed to test out various possibilities before making more major alterations |
| After the visit |
| After any such farm visit the collected data needs to be analysed and possible ration changes assessed. Such changes will be examined for their practicality and ability to fit into the farming system. Such work results in a final report that is supplied to the farm both electronically and by post. |