As a Nutritionist, a great part of my job is helping farmers get the best out of their animals. I get a lot of questions from people new to keeping chickens, so I thought it was worth sharing some answers. Do I have to offer my chickens oyster shell grit if they are on a […]

It is that time of the year when we like to treat our loved ones but what about your chooks, surely they deserve a Christmas treat too? Products available can stimulate chickens to exhibit more of their natural behaviours, increase their enjoyment of life and improve their health and wellbeing. Poultry Peckers Chickens can get […]

Alpacas and llamas have endearing personalities and are great companion animals for people with land. They are generally long living, hardy and “good doers” — naturally selected over millennia to survive in the dry, barren regions of South America. They do not typically require a high level of supplementary feeding. For non-breeding stock obesity may […]

Goats are ruminants, belonging to the same family as cows but as competition from herbivores increased they went down a different evolutionary path and developed an ability to browse rather than just graze. Goats grazing alongside cattle will consume tannin rich vegetation, woody plants, weeds and brush not normally consumed by cows. Although they have […]

All animal species need a balanced diet for health, welfare and productivity but what constitutes a balanced diet changes as an animal grows, matures and goes through different physiological stages. For example, young rapidly growing ducks require high levels of protein and energy however as their growth slows down with age, the amount of energy […]

Have you ever been tempted to keep a pig or two or even some sows? Now is a good time to start planning your new shed or mobile hut and adapt fencing for these strong and intelligent animals. Pigs do not have a coat of fur or wool to keep warm, so must be provided […]

Keeping a flock of laying chickens is rapidly increasing in popularity, as it is a rewarding hobby. With this popularity comes more and more questions from beginners, so below are some frequently asked questions from people who are new to keeping chickens. Why have my chickens gone off the lay? It can be quite a […]

Health and Safety on farms can extend to what is fed to animals to keep them as healthy and safe as possible. Some animal feeds are surprisingly dangerous to some classes of stock, so it pays to read and understand the label when feed arrives. There are a few things to be aware of when […]

Someone told me rabbits eat their own poo! Surely this can’t be true. Yes, this is true! Although they don’t eat all their poo… just some of it. The unique muscles of a rabbit’s caecum allow the intestinal tract to separate out fibrous material from more digestible material; the fibrous material is then passed, while […]

With spring just around the corner, there is naturally a proliferation of young animals on properties across the country. On dairy farms, the focus will be on early lactation and feeding calves to ensure early rumen development and good growth rates. In the same way, anyone wanting to grow young chicks for either egg production […]