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Data Collection
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Taylor, Helena, Beaumont, Deborah, Darch, Tegan, Griffith, Bruce, Jones, Andy, Le Grice, Phil, Sint, Hadewij, Harris, Paul
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Stella, Alberto, Darch, Tegan
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Animal feed, Silage, Pasture, Dry matter, Protein, Carbohydrate, Fibre, Organic matter, Energy, NWFP
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Farming Footprints and Adaptations
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The North Wyke Farm Platform- National Capability [2023-28], The North Wyke Farm Platform- National Capability [2017-22], The North Wyke Farm Platform [2012-2017]
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5 March 2026
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26 October 2015 27 March 2023 |
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The data form part of the rich data set collection from the North Wyke Farm Platform (NWFP), a field-scale facility sited in SW England and a UK National Bioscience Research Infrastructure. The NWFP consists of three outdoor self-contained farm systems or ‘farmlets’ that are managed according to different operational philosophies or practices. Each farmlet is approximately 21 ha and is comprised of 5 hydrologically isolated catchments consisting of single or multiple fields, thus fifteen catchments in total. The NWFP also includes a housed (fourth) system where cattle are reared indoors from weaning to slaughter. The operational practices that differentiate the farmlets from one another have changed over time, and users are recommended to read the ‘Design, Establishment and Development’ user guide for the NWFP, https://doi.org/10.23637/rothamsted.98y1x.
The NWFP is highly instrumented and monitored, and core NWFP datasets are openly accessible. They include in-situ water flow and chemistry taken at 15-minute intervals; 15-minute Met measurements; 15-minute soil moisture measurements; 30-minute GHG emissions; soils, crop and botanical field survey data; livestock and crop performance data; and farm operational activities, and contextual information. See https://nw-farmplatform.rothamsted.ac.uk/ for the data portal and supporting information.
Animal_Feed.csv gives feed quality data (dry matter content, protein, carbohydrate, fibre fractions, organic matter [ash] and metabolizable energy content) for the livestock on each of the farmlets. The data clarifies whether the data is from silage (preserved as clamp, bale or AgBag) or whether the animals were grazing pasture at the time and therefore which field they were in. Pasture samples were taken on a fortnightly basis during the summer and monthly during the winter when sheep were grazing. Samples were taken in a ‘W’ pattern across the field and bulked. Silage samples were taken on a weekly basis but bulked to give a fortnightly sample. Full details about the sample collection, processing and analysis can be found in the ‘Forage Quantity and Quality Data’ user guide at https://doi.org/10.23637/rothamsted.992wy.
While the data in Animal_Feed.csv can also be accessed via the NWFP data portal (https://nw-farmplatform.rothamsted.ac.uk/), it is available here as a prepared and published dataset. Published datasets have a number of benefits including: stable and citable dataset which can be referenced from publications, and which support reproducible research; easier to use for researchers who just want a packaged dataset; improved findability, supporting FAIR data principles; simpler traceability and version control.
The data in the portal is managed in a SQL database and this dataset comprises data extracted by SQL query in February 2026 and covering all data available to date. Once a tranche of new data is quality controlled it is made available on the portal, and therefore users should be aware that the portal may contain newer data.
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Rothamsted Research
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Published
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10.23637/rothamsted.00033749
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, Darch, Tegan