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Farming Today: 18/07/2022 - Farm heat safety, zero fertilizer, livestock feed

18/07/2022 - Farm heat safety, zero fertilizer, livestock feed

BBC Radio 4 - Farming Today, 18/07/2022 - Farm heat safety, zero fertilizer, livestock feed

Advice for farmers on keeping themselves and their animals safe in the extreme heat.

Advice for farmers on keeping themselves and their animals safe in the extreme heat, farming with zero fertilizer, and a look at the UK feed industry.

With the UK under the first ever red extreme heat warning to be issued by the Met Office, farmers are being warned to take extra steps to keep themselves and their animals safe in temperatures that could reach a life-threatening 40 degrees in some parts. Fields are tinder dry, and machinery - with its hot moving parts, dust and diesel - is already under higher risk of catching fire. We get advice from the Farm Safety Foundation.
As the price of fertilizer rockets - largely due to the war in Ukraine - we meet a farmer who's found an unexpected result of growing more environmentally friendly sward is that he doesn't need as much fertilizer, as the plants fix nitrogen in the soil.
And this week we look at the UK's animal feed industry. We manufacture sixteen million tonnes of it every year for the nation's cattle, sheep, pigs, poultry and fish farms too. 
The presenter is Steffan Messenger.

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18/07/2022 - Farm heat safety, zero fertilizer, livestock feed

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