October 12 2009
OVER 50 farmers attended the launch meeting of the Northwest Livestock Programme’s Lancashire Dairy Monitor Farm at Mason House Farm, near Clitheroe.
The day was organised to introduce Lancashire and Greater Manchester dairy producers to the concept of monitor farms, to familiarise themselves with the farm and interest them in attending future meetings as part of a business group that will discuss relevant performance issues with input from industry specialists.
John Hartley, who milks 140 pedigree Holstein Fresians at the Bashall Eaves farm, explained why the family chose to put in robotic milkers, how the cows have taken to them and the permanent indoor system they now work with.
The farm’s nutritionist, Peter Storr from Graham Surtees Associates, explained the work being done to improve the dry cow transition diet, by introducing higher dry matter after calving, as well as the importance of two cuts of quality silage.
Farm vets Fergus Condi and Roger Marsden from Myerscough Vets outlined the advantages of having an animal health and welfare plan completed (under the Northwest Livestock Programme), and how they’re now working to cut the calving interval by improving fertility and calving to conception.
A tour of the farm’s 24-hour robotic milking machines proved popular. In two groups of 25 the tour observed the indoor herd have free access to routinely visit the two Lely Astronauts whenever they wanted.
The vets approved of its cleanliness and reduction in infection as Tim Gibson from Lely explained how it worked.
The machine knows each cow individually by the collar it wears, its yield, weight and how much concentrate to give it on each visit.
On entry the robot automatically brush cleans all four teats using the cow’s stored co-ordinates. It then scans to detect each individual teat before carrying out a second scan and attaching each teat cup fast and individually.
Optimal milking is executed across each quarter, where as soon as one quarter is finished the teat cup is very gently taken off. After milking, every quarter is sprayed to ensure optimal udder health and all four cups are flushed to prevent cow to cow contamination.
Each robot can manage 60 to 70 cows depending on the milk speed and yield of the herd, taking on average 2 to 2,500 litres per day. Servicing is done three times a year, and if anything goes wrong, say the machine is out of disinfectant, the robot will call your phone with a voice message to say what’s gone wrong.
Representatives from DairyCo, Promar and Genus also gave short demonstrations of the services they offer and how they hope to work with the farm.
Karen Lancaster from DairyCo outlined the levy-funded organisation’s MilkBench scheme, which analyses farm inputs and outputs to find the full economic cost of producing a litre of milk on a farm and then compares it to the cost on other farms.
She said: “We can’t control milk contract prices but we can look at feed, forage and fertiliser, as tweaking concentrates or ration mix can improve performance.”
The information is confidential and involves someone from DairyCo spending two to three hours on farm collecting data.
Karen also outlined DairyCo’s Mastitis Control Plan which instead of giving “generic mastitis information” is very much “tailored to each farm” through nationwide vet and advisor training.
Isobel Gardner from Genus talked about genetic index scoring to choose bulls, judging longevity, feet, type, fertility, yield and performance by numbers – with the target being bulls with typically over 100 daughters in 60 herds.
And Promar’s Richard Bell addressed feed and fertiliser as the two biggest costs of any farm. He said improving grassland with manure was key to reducing costs by soil sampling and providing the missing elements in a crop, whether that was phosphorous (P), potassium (K), nitrogen (N) or lime.
He also touched on the importance of keeping rain water out of your slurry and improving capacity by making better use of storage as this allows for spreading at the most advantageous part of the year for growing a good crop rather than out of necessity through lack of space.
And pointed out how a nutrient management plan or resource audit can help you stand back and take a fresh approach.
He said: “A fish can’t see the water. A fresh pair of eyes can show you what you’re up against”
Monitor farms are about local farmers taking the lead with support from industry advisors, addressing issues farmers want to improve on by working together.
The first business group meeting took place on Thursday, December 8th 2009.
Click Here to read more from the monitor farm and its meetings or contact farm facilitator Robert Burrow at Myerscough College on 01995 242 206.