FARMER FOCUS: Maize yield is disappointing

The maize is now in the clamp and into the ration almost as quickly. Harvest seemed less stressful than last year with no serious incidents such as out of control trailers or milk tankers stuck in the road. The yield was disappointing at about 11t/acre, but the real value will be in the analysis. 

The crop had a tough start with the lack of rain at the critical growing stage and also compaction issues restricted root development, particularly in the heavy clay. 

We have switched our milk replacer in the calf-rearing system. Before we were using a whey based product that was 23% protein. We have stayed with a similar constitution but increased protein to 26%.

 This has allowed an increase from 500g up to 900g a calf a day as the extra protein helps frame growth to keep up with the weight gain. This regime has been in place for two weeks and the calves appear to be growing at a phenomenal rate, with no apparent negative consequences. 

Now the heifer facility project is well underway, thoughts about the next project are starting to emerge with the prospect of a new milking parlour. We’ve considered rotaries and robots, but the favourite at the moment seems to be a large swing over, suitable for one person.

We think this is the most cost effective solution, with the aim of milking at least 100 cows a man an hour without the need for in or out of parlour feeders. In order to achieve this we will have to plan cow flow very carefully.

Currently, throughput stands at 50-60 cows a man an hour so the new parlour will alleviate this bottleneck, allowing us to expand the herd in the future. 

Brothers Ben and Sam Foote farm 150 dairy cows plus followers on 125ha with their parents in Hampshire. Production stands at 9,000kg, but this is expected to increase alongside the total of number of head

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