A trio of projects looking at new breeding technology and bedding for cattle has been awarded more than £175,000.
The funding, through the Scottish Government’s £6 million Knowledge Transfer and Innovation Fund, was announced by Rural Affairs Minister Mairi Gougeon on a visit to Dourie Farm in Galloway.
Dourie is one of three farms participating in the Fast Breeders Project with SRUC – one of the funding recipients.
The project will address the slow rate of genetic improvement in dairy cattle.
The other projects, both run with the Scottish Agricultural Organisation Society, are the East/West Breed Grazing collaboration pilot, and one looking at the potential of woodchip bedding for livestock in west Scotland.
The breeding project involves two breeding cattle movement trials: one from the east to west for summer/backend grazing and one from the west to east for outwintering on forage crops. It aims to quantify the value of moving cattle to lower-cost natural resources.
The bedding project will look at the use of locally sourced woodchip for bedding, in response to rising straw prices.
All three projects were supported in the early stages by the government’s Rural Innovation Support Service.
