AHDB Food & Farming Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board

We bring you some of the highlights from the British Pig & Poultry Fair that took place at the NEC, where contingency planning for African Swine Fever (ASF) was among the topics of AHDB's theatre sessions.

Reporter Martin Winch catches up with our Head of Animal Health and Welfare, Dr Mandy Nevel, to talk more about ASF, as well as getting word from recently appointed Pork Sector Council Chair, Glen Nimmo, and Head of Education, Roz Reynolds.

Useful links
Contingency planning in the face of African swine fever | AHDB
Education | AHDB
The British Pig & Poultry Fair (pigandpoultry.org.uk)

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We'd love to know what you think of our podcasts. If you’d like to give your feedback, please complete our short questionnaire, which will help us to improve the podcast on an ongoing basis, or email us with your thoughts, comments and suggestions: foodandfarming@ahdb.org.uk 

We have launched a multi-million-pound project to address the intense pressure faced by farmers to deliver on environmental targets by showcasing the importance of on-farm environmental baselining.

Joining Lisa Bray to talk about pilot that will help demonstrate the real environmental impact of British agricultural products is AHDB's CEO, Graham Wilkinson, and Livestock Science and Environment Director, Chris Gooderham.

Useful links
Environment Baselining Pilot | AHDB
The environment: farming and agriculture | AHDB
Environmental Land Management Schemes | AHDB

Feedback
We'd love to know what you think of our podcasts. If you’d like to give your feedback, please complete our short questionnaire, which will help us to improve the podcast on an ongoing basis, or email us with your thoughts, comments and suggestions: foodandfarming@ahdb.org.uk 

Johne's disease is a contagious bacterial infection that affects the intestinal tract of cattle and other ruminants and is most commonly acquired in young animals.

In this episode knowledge exchange manager James Hague is joined by Pete Orpin from the Action Group for Johne’s, Sarah Tomlinson, AHDB’s lead veterinary science expert, and farmer Caroline Williams to discuss the importance of detection and control of the disease.

Useful links
Johne's Disease | AHDB
Managing and treating Johnes | AHDB
Quarterly screening helps control Johne’s disease | AHDB

Feedback
We'd love to know what you think of our podcasts. If you’d like to give your feedback, please complete our short questionnaire, which will help us to improve the podcast on an ongoing basis, or email us with your thoughts, comments and suggestions: foodandfarming@ahdb.org.uk

Lifting the lid on the world of dairy genomics is AHDB Knowledge Exchange Manager Alan McFadzean.

Alan's joined by strategic dairy farmer John Bailey and veterinary surgeon Dr Neil Eastham to find out what they have achieved by embracing tools like the Profitable Lifetime Index (PLI).

Useful links
Dairy breeding and genetics | AHDB
Breeding indexes and traits | AHDB
Profitable Lifetime Index £PLI | AHDB

Feedback
We'd love to know what you think of our podcasts. If you’d like to give your feedback, please complete our short questionnaire, which will help us to improve the podcast on an ongoing basis, or email us with your thoughts, comments and suggestions: foodandfarming@ahdb.org.uk 

Using genetics, rather than selecting animals purely on their visual characteristics, is likely to lead to a more productive and profitable suckler herd. So why do so few beef farmers use them?

AHDB's Beef and Lamb team caught up with our Lead Animal Genetics Expert, Harriet Bunning, and suckler farmer James Dixon to discuss what factors should be considered when choosing your best breeding animals.

Useful links
Maternal Matters: Using EBVs and Indexes for selection in the suckler herd | AHDB
Choosing bulls for Better Returns | AHDB
National beef evaluations | AHDB

Feedback
We'd love to know what you think of our podcasts. If you’d like to give your feedback, please complete our short questionnaire, which will help us to improve the podcast on an ongoing basis, or email us with your thoughts, comments and suggestions: foodandfarming@ahdb.org.uk 

Using clover can give your farm an environmental boost, but where do you start?

AHDB's Senior Knowledge Exchange Manager, Stephen West, has been to see dairy farmer Wil Armitage who uses clover as part of his organic system at Keythorpe Lakes Farm in Leicestershire.

Useful links
Curious about clover? | AHDB
Establishing and growing clover | AHDB
AHDB Food & Farming / Cultivating clover: Practical farming advice (audioboom.com)

Feedback
We'd love to know what you think of our podcasts. If you’d like to give your feedback, please complete our short questionnaire, which will help us to improve the podcast on an ongoing basis, or email us with your thoughts, comments and suggestions: foodandfarming@ahdb.org.uk