Livestock
Southland and Otago farmers face feed squeeze as wet weather drags on
New Zealand's Rural Co-ordination Group says silage is very tight and transport is stretched, and urges farmers to plan feed early and seek support.
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Forage
LivestockProlonged rain squeezes feed and stock on Southland and South Otago farms
A rural co-ordination group says supplementary feed is still available but silage is very tight and transport is stretched, and urges farmers to budget feed weeks ahead and ask for help early.
CropsUK forage maize lists drop 'favourable site' ratings for maturity-based choice
The British Society of Plant Breeders has redesigned its Forage Maize Descriptive Lists for 2027, grouping varieties by maturity and performance across all 13 trial sites and adding ten new varieties.
LivestockEl Niño threatens Philippine poultry with heat stress and dearer feed into 2027
A USDA FAS report warns a strengthening El Niño could cut broiler weights, egg output and hatchability and tighten corn supplies, while ventilated commercial farms are better placed than smallholders.
Crops
EU project PROCEED aims to cut Europe's reliance on imported feed protein
A €5.5 million, five-year Horizon Europe project with 20 partners will build regional hubs linking legume growers, processors and livestock farmers, as a quarter of EU feed protein is still imported.
LivestockMore than 50 UK dairy farms trial 200 practical ways to cut emissions
The Defra-funded UK Dairy Carbon Network, led by AFBI, is testing nutrition, breeding, animal health and nutrient measures on farms across Great Britain and Northern Ireland, increasingly in combination.
CropsSalt-tolerant Salt King wheatgrass crowds out kochia on saline Prairie acres
A hybrid wheatgrass bred at the University of Saskatchewan is out-competing herbicide-resistant kochia on saline ground, and a new trial is testing how to grow it for seed.
LivestockVirginia declares a state of emergency over a 500,000-ton hay shortfall as drought forces early winter feeding
Governor Abigail Spanberger's Executive Order 21 grants over-width waivers for hay haulage from 1 October, opens emergency funding and activates price-gouging protection after Extension put statewide hay yields down 35 percent.
LivestockSouth Africa's record maize crop eases feed costs, but El Niño and fuel prices may swallow the relief
Absa's AgriTrends Spring 2026 sees the maize market well supplied for the rest of the season; Epol's feed director says feed is about 70 percent of livestock input costs, while a poultry producer warns drought reserves and diesel could keep feed prices where they are.
LivestockDeep-rooted lucerne kept Brecon lambs gaining 320g a day while the grass shut down
Newton Farm near Brecon doubled its lucerne to 12 hectares and grazed twin lambs to 320g a day through a rainless summer in which the rest of the 344-hectare sheep and beef farm stopped growing, and now plans to put 15-20 per cent of the farm into the crop.
Crops
Northern Ireland heads for one of its earliest forage maize harvests on record
Maizetech's Robert Duncan says a significant acreage of forage maize will be cut in Northern Ireland in the last days of September, fully mature, and explains the cob and kernel checks that show when a crop has passed 30 per cent dry matter.
Livestock
Teagasc guide ranks winter feeds by energy, protein and fibre as fodder runs tight
With fodder and cash flow tight on Irish dairy farms after the drought, a new Teagasc guide sets out the energy, crude protein and fibre of forages and concentrates, from grazed grass and red clover silage to fodder beet, brewers grains, beet pulp and palm kernel.
Livestock
Feed is 70-75% of the cost: seminar urges precision nutrition for affordable protein
At a FIAB-USSEC seminar in Dhaka, the fisheries and livestock secretary and the livestock DG said the feed industry must move from conventional formulation to science-based nutrition to cut costs and keep protein within reach.