Club members pool expertise to solve problems
13 July 2001
Club members pool expertise to solve problems
Being a member of the Welsh Dairy Club has allowed Carmarthenshire producer Jeff Kedward to access expert advice to help him overcome the management headaches he has experienced while undergoing organic conversion. Robert Davies reports
ADVICE available through the Welsh Dairy Club has helped Jeff and Cathy Kedward though a period of upheaval on their Carmarthenshire farm.
Not only have they converted to organic production, but have also introduced a crossing programme using Meuse Rhine Issel bulls to improve milk quality.
Club membership entitles them to two free half-day visits a year from specialist consultants. They also receive bi-monthly technical newsletters containing tips on breeding, nutrition, financial planning, grassland management, information technology and organic conversion.
Formed in 1999, the WDC is closely associated with the NMR information partnership and is backed by the National Assembly for Wales and the Welsh Agri-food Partnership.
Grants from the EU and the assembly underwrite club finances and pay for practical and theoretical workshops on a wide range of subjects. The club also arranges farm walks.
Mr Kedward has already taken part in a course on the NMR Impelpro dairy costing programme and has arranged at-home computer skills training next winter. He has also sent stockman Tim Gasgoine on a foot trimming course.
WDC breeding consultant Kevin Lane and nutritionist Barrie Audis have also helped Mr Kedward deal with a fertility problem, copper deficiency and the supplementation of poor quality silage.
"I have no doubt that we get a good return from the £140 annual membership fee we pay," says Mr Kedward, bearing in mind management of the 80ha (200 acre) home farm and 110-cow herd has changed dramatically in recent years.
Until MRI bloodlines were introduced three years ago, commercial Friesians were used to produce reasonable yields, mainly from grass. In one good year, the herd averaged 6400 litres with 5000 litres coming from forage. Maize gluten was the only supplement fed to cows.
There was some clover in the swards, but this did not inhibit heavy nitrogen use. Now organic production means clover is cosseted. Liquid removed from slurry by a mechanical separator has taken the place of the inorganic fertiliser previously used to kick-start growth after grazing. Irrigation guns are used to apply it.
High protein silage
Some fields have been reseeded with perennial ryegrass/white clover mixtures after desiccation using glyphosate. Others had white clover stitched in, with varying degrees of success. Since 1998, red clover has been grown in combination with Italian ryegrass to produce high protein silage.
The Kedwards have faced many problems since first selling organic milk in June 2000. First cut silage was made very late, so it could be classified as organic. But what Mr Kedward describes as a monster cut was poor quality, with a metabolisable energy of 7MJ ME/kg DM.
Organic concentrate
"This meant cows were short of energy, even though we fed extra organic concentrate in the parlour. Yields and fertility suffered and we saw the black spectacles and reddish coat symptoms of copper deficiency. The Soil Association has agreed to allow us to control the problem using injections at drying off."
Average yield fell to 4800 litres and, with organic feeds costing twice as much as conventional, much of the organic milk premium was wiped out.
"We have every confidence that yields and margin will improve when we have some decent silage."
Mr Lane has also drafted a breeding programme, with the aim of improving production. He is concerned that MRI genes have been over-used and has advised back-crossing to Holstein bulls and even using a top Ayrshire sire. The programme suggests the best bull to use on each individual cow.
Nutritional problems have also masked the improvement in milk protein the partners hoped to get from using MRI bulls.
"The whole conversion period has not been easy. We should have put more land into conversion from the start because it has been awkward adhering to all the rules on grazing with only part of the land designated organic," says Mr Kedward.
"It has also cost us a great deal of money, in particular taking on extra land and the reseeding of some leys and improvement of others."
Cow numbers
Extra land has now been rented to maintain cow numbers and allow conversion to be completed.
While the investment was being made, the organic milk premium paid by Axis started to fall. But Mr Kedward is convinced that, when the problems associated with the management changes are ironed out, profitability will be substantially better than from a conventional system.
"Being part of the Welsh Dairy Club helps us cope because the 250 members face the same economic and practical farming issues. *