Estate Guide - Dairy Unit

Cows are milked twice a day with the high and close observation groups housed all year round.

More Information:

Estate Guide - Dairy Unit

Location:

The Pitsford Centre (Stud Farm)

Aim

To demonstrate high standards of management, economic and physical achievement in the operation of a pedigree herd of 350 Holstein Friesian cows plus followers as a primary enterprise within the College farm system.

Summary

350 Holstein Friesian cows plus followers.

Cows are housed on a mixture of both cubicles and straw yards.

Cows are managed in four distinct milking groups: fresh calvers, highs, mids and lows. This works on the cascade principle, with animals moving down groups as they move along the lactation curve. Feeding is based on home grown forages of maize and grass and lucerne silage mixed with purchased blended straight and wet feeds. These are fed through a mixer wagon which creates a homogenised diet mixed to provide the nutritional requirements of the specific group the animals are in.

Cows are milked twice a day with the high and close observation groups housed all year round.

Cows are milked through a new Fullwood 36/36 90° rapid exit parlour.

The herd calves all year round, replacement stock being reared on farm and calved down at 2 years. The emphasis of the breeding on the unit is now focused equally on 'type traits' (legs and feet and longevity) and 'production traits' (yield, constituents and hygiene).

Currently RMS is used which is a systematic approach to maximizing pregnancy production, this works especially well on today's large dairy farms. It is a proven system, first introduced in the late 90's on large Californian dairies, and now also operating in Italy, Australia and Canada. This system is supplied by a prominent breeding technician service and cows are mated using a breeding program to prevent inbreeding and maximize genetic gain. supplied by a prominent breeding technician service is used and cows are mated using a breeding program to prevent in-breeding and maximise genetic gain.

The College owns 3,702,841 litres of Wholesale milk quota at 4.03% butterfat. Milk is marketed directly to Arla Ltd on an Asda contract. Collection is every second day from a 16,000 litre DX bulk tank.

Kite Consulting provides dairy consultancy services.

Dairy Performance

	00/01	01/02	02/03	03/04	04/05	05/06	06/07	07/08	08/09
Average no. of cows in herd	196	196 NMR+	221	351	330	362	400	334	317
Average yield (litres)	10,018	10,800	10,561	10,430	10,406	10,770	10,026	9,826	9,751
Stocking rate/ha	2.46	2.20	2.18	2.18	2.09	2.24	2.47	2.11	2.06
MOPF/cow	£1,152	£1,333	£1,335	£1,195	£1,203	£1,217	£960	£1,155	£1,340
MOPF/ha	£2,822	£2,932	£2,910	£2,605	£2,610	£2,730	£2,376	£2,423	£2,935

In Detail

Annual milk yield	8,160 litres. 3.92% butterfat, 3.17% protein 1,578 litres from forage 25.64p/litre milk price
Feed	0.38kg/l concentrate usage 3.072t concentrate use per cow 7.96p/litre total feed cost
Fertility	432 days predicted calving interval 2.67 services per cow

Herd Genetic Summary

	£ PIN	Type Merit
1st lactation	41	2.2
2nd lactation	32	1.8
3rd lactation	30	1.2
4th lactation	28	0.7
5th lactation	19	0.7
>5th lactation	18	0.6