THE National Sheep Association (NSA) has welcomed the long-awaited news of rule changes for the ageing of sheep for SRM (Specified Risk Material) removal, with Ministers announcing that the existing method of checking for tooth eruption can be changed to an agreed calendar date, and that this date will now be June 30. This aligns with other accepted definitions of when a sheep is 12 months of age, namely in the rules for sheep EID (electronic identification).

NSA Chief Executive Phil stocker said: "As from 2019 Ministers have agreed that we will move away from tooth eruption to a set calendar date of the 30th June, before which no lambs will need to be checked or split, and after which all old season lambs will need to be split and with SRM material removed."

Mt Stocker went on: "We estimate that checking for tooth eruption has cost the UK sheep industry some £24m a year in time and reduced value."

* Meanwhile, an upcoming Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) Dairy workshop - in Dumfries & Galloway on Thursday, November 29 at Buechan Farm, Keir, Thornhill from 11am to 1pm - aims to help dairy farmers facing the winter months with low forage stocks or high dry matter silages.

The free event will focus on how feed management and the cow's environment can maximise dry matter intake, and provide practical advice on improving intake through simple changes to diet, housing and management.

Chris Stockwell, AHDB dairy knowledge exchange manager, said: "For some farmers forage stocks may be particularly tight again this year, and in a lot of cases silage will be of high dry matter which will increase sorting and higher spoilage. So we will be looking at how we can make sure the cows are getting as much as they can from the feed available.

Nutritionist Donald Brown will take the group through those areas vital to good feed intake, including access to feed, access to lying areas where cows can ruminate. and feed management, and he will also discuss the Danish concept of compact feeding.

Compact feeding involves soaking concentrates overnight so they become compacted and harder for cows to sort through, discarding bits they don't want to eat, but which may be nutritionally beneficial.

Mr Stockwell added: "Adjusting the ration with more concentrates or alternative forages might seem like a simple way to ensure good feed intake, but not only is it costly, it can be less efficient. At the event we will be advising farmers to focus on improving feed intake over the winter, through management or housing changes which cost little or nothing."