For part-time farmers it can be a challenge to feed and herd all stock during the day, with a lot of these jobs carried out in the evenings or mornings when it is dark.

One option that can help reduce labour required during the weekdays, which is always on show at the Ploughing Championships, is automatic feeders. While they can be a costly investment they could offer major labour saving benefits.

One new product to the market is a 3-in-1 feeder, supplied by Dairy Direct. The feeder will only provide a small amount of restricted feed to animals throughout the day meaning that they will have more regular, smaller feeds which will help to keep the rumen pH more consistent.

There is restricted access to feed meaning that cattle can only lick a certain amount of it until their tongue becomes dry at which point the animal will walk away and graze until saliva production is restored.

A half-tonne feeder starts at €1,250, including the VAT and can feed approximately 35 calves while for larger stock this would drop down to 20 cattle. There are also one-tonne feeders which cost €2,250, two-tonne feeders which cost €2,500 and four-tonne feeders which cost €4,000. Each of these feeders has similar feed space and is capable of feeding approximately 100 calves or 60 to 70 older cattle.

These are only guideline figures, the bigger the cattle and the more they are being fed will lead to a reduction in the number of cattle the feeder can facilitate.