Management Matters: Energy savings will be worthwhile

Thornton Grange Farm

Widespread milk price cuts announced earlier this spring have forced Peter Chapman to investigate a number of ways to save money and improve the profitability of the farm’s 170-cow dairy herd.

The latest project is the purchase of a heat recovery system for the milking parlour, which Mr Chapman estimates will cut around £3500 a year off his electricity bill. The Smart-Heat Duplex unit uses heat normally wasted through the bulk refrigeration process to raise the temperature of water used for parlour washings.

“The makers offer no guarantee about water temperature levels because they will vary, depending on refrigerator design,” he says. “I need 90C for washing water. The Smart-Heat system will only bring it up to about 50-60 degrees, so the deficit will have to be filled using mains electricity. But, the installation will reduce the farm’s carbon footprint, which is another benefit.”

Total cost, including fitting, will be £7100. However, Mr Chapman has been awarded a 50% grant from Business Link, which means the Smart-Heat system should pay for itself within about 14 months, assuming everything goes to plan.

Cow management

Calving intervals and cow management are the other main areas coming under scrutiny. Intervals had peaked at 430 days at one stage, but Mr Chapman is pleased that the figure has come down to an average of 400. He and his wife, Jane, have made a conscious effort to step up heat detection, and bulling cow management.

“Experts reckon it costs about £3 a cow for every day that a cow is not in calf,” says Mr Chapman. “In a herd of 160 cows, knocking 30 days off the calving interval translates to a saving of somewhere in the region of £4000 a year. I think 380-390 days is a realistic target to aim for in the future.”

Included in the revised Thornton Grange policy is the use of tail paint, at a cost of about £1 a unit. It is employed across the herd, at 42 days post-calving. A tail tape is applied at the same time. The tape makes it easier to spot cows that should be bulling, and highlights cases where the tail paint has been rubbed off.

Another addition to the routine is to check all cows for endometritis within three weeks of calving. Suspect cows are washed out, and given a course of antibiotics where necessary. Mr Chapman is surprised to find 25-30% have shown signs of the disease since the new regime began.

“Previously I would only have acted in cases where I suspected there might be a problem. In some instances, the examination might not have been carried out until 6-8 weeks post-calving. On reflection, I was leaving it far too long,” he says.

Heifer fertility has also come under the spotlight, with a subsequent review of nutrient intakes. Three weeks before service, 2.5kg of heifer rearing nuts are added to the silage diet. This is continued until six weeks after service, or until a pregnancy diagnosis has confirmed the animal is in calf.

Sexed semen is used exclusively on maiden heifers. It has been declared an overall success, with only two bulls born out of 80-90 animals served. Among the sires used recently are Stopper, Netherside Dynamo, Retinue Red and Bilsrow Jock. The general principle is to select a large bull that will maintain height, as the new cubicles have been specifically built for bigger animals with a high dry matter intake potential.

Among the selection traits considered particularly important are good temperament, good feet and legs and a PLI (Profitable Lifetime Index) of £100-plus, to ensure longevity. Mr Chapman will only consider bulls with a milk-plus figure of 400-500 litres. His other preferences are not quite so logical, he admits.

“I don’t really like cows with a lot of white in their colouring, and I will always choose a darker animal, whenever possible. It is really just a personal preference, although with dark cows, the freeze-brand is much more visible.”

DFB is sobering news

Although Mr Chapman sells his milk to Arla, he says the recent demise of Dairy Farmers of Britain came as sobering news. “I can’t see how I would be able to cope with the loss of one month’s milk cheque. I would just have to hope that my bank manager would be accommodating.”

Given the uncertainty that this news and the spring price cuts created, he says he is sitting tight for now. Plans to expand the herd haven’t been abandoned, but he acknowledges it is likely to happen at a slower rate than originally anticipated.

Herd numbers have been growing steadily since Mr Chapman’s father started out milking six cows in 1965. By 1994, the herd stood at 130 head. At that point, however, the cows were split between Mr Chapman and his brother, who set up a new unit nearby.

From 1995 onward, three or four additional replacements were brought in each year, adding to the remaining 82 cows. Numbers dropped slightly in 2001, but picked up rapidly, once Mr Chapman started using sexed semen. This was followed by a static period, during which he culled hard to improve herd health.

“In 2006, I decided to weed out any cows that were susceptible to mastitis and lameness, to get the herd in better shape for the future. This move has paid off, because the 168 cows I am milking today have fewer problems. Another bonus is that milk output has risen from 7200kg to 8100kg.

“I had hoped to reach 200 cows by the end of this year, but the poor milk price and constant need for re-investment means that 2012 is probably a more realistic goal. Rather than taking on extra staff, I will continue to look for labour saving machinery, and perhaps rely more heavily on contractors for some of the routine tasks.”

Silage risk

First-cut silage, taken on 18 May using a bacterial inoculant, has not yet been tested. It was ensiled at about 24-25% dry matter, although the target was closer to 28%. First-cut makes up half of all the silage stored in the clamp over winter. The next cut will be taken in early July.

“I took a calculated risk,” says Mr Chapman. “The grass was ready to cut, but the weather forecast was not very good. In end, I was forced to bring the crop in, or it would have been very wet indeed. The contractor picked up 155 acres of grass in just eight hours. This reaffirmed my decision to bring in outside help, rather than trying to do everything ourselves.”

Farm facts

• Thornton Grange Farm, Thornton Village, Middlesbrough, Cleveland, is a 167ha (415-acre) rented dairy and arable unit run by Peter Chapman
  
• The majority of the land is ring-fenced and rented from one private landlord. The soil is a fairly heavy, deep clay
  
• Around 97ha (240 acres) of grass is rotated with 70ha (175 acres) of wheat, maize and set-aside. Oilseed rape is sometimes grown as a break crop
  
• Thornton Grange supports 168 mainly commercial Holstein Friesians averaging 7,950 litres a cow. Calving is all year round and milk is sold to Arla. The business is on course to move up to 200 cows over the next few years
  
• Peter and his wife, Jane manage the farm with help from one full-time worker
  
• The farm has been in Countryside Stewardship since 2000, and entered into an ELS agreement February 2006