Contents

• Catch crops for production and environmental benefits
  The fallow period after winter grazing of kale or fodder beet crops creates a potential risk for nitrogen leaching. This risk can be significantly reduced when a catch crop is established directly after grazing in winter.
• Prudent use of dry cow antibiotics - what does this mean?
  International calls for “prudent” or “judicious” use of antibiotics for food production animals have implications for how we manage mastitis in New Zealand dairy herds. Use of antibiotics at dry off is coming under increasing scrutiny and will change how we dry cows off in future.
• Principles from Pastoral 21: Optimising dairy system strategies to meet nutrient limits
  The New Zealand Government released its National Policy Statement on Freshwater Quality in 2011 to trigger Regional Council planning processes aimed at improving long-term water quality throughout the country. It is now clear that dairy farmers in many regions will need to reduce the amount of nitrogen leached from their farm systems to comply with regional nutrient limits.
• Science snapshots
  Snippets of hot science.