FARMERFOCUS
FARMERFOCUS
Richard Thompson
Richard Thompson farms a
325ha (800-acre) mixed
arable and dairy unit near
Kings Lynn, Norfolk. The
200 dairy cows average
6500 litres on a simple, high
forage system. They are
allocated 40ha (100 acres)
of permanent pasture,
44ha (110 acres) of short
term leys and maize grown
in the arable rotation
WALKING our paddocks in mid-August, I am sure this is the best grass we have had at this time of year.
There has been a continual flow of heavy rainstorms this summer which have kept grass growing. We topped paddocks at the end of July and they have all sprouted lush fresh green grass.
This is a real bonus, as the farm usually resembles the Gobi Desert in August. We have also been lucky with extra grass as the continual buffer feeding of maize silage through the season has taken a heavy toll on maize stocks.
Despite eking it out, we will run out at the end of August. Next year, with our spring calving, we will use less maize through winter, leaving much more for summer.
We have come to crunch time in our spring block-calving system. It is our final pregnancy test and any cows not in calf must be culled. This is the main problem with block-calving systems. As you set out on this type of system, your worst nightmare is that a large group of top yielding cows wont be in calf and will have to be culled from the herd.
Our final results were 22 cows not in calf out of 190. This represents 11% of the total. This is close to our 10% budget, which, being our first year at block calving, I am happy with.
What is also pleasing is that empty cows are not all high yielders. They are a mix of cows, several of which wont be missed at all. This shows feeding was right and justifies offering maize to complement grass during May.
One of our main aims with mixed ration feeding was to keep it simple, feeding one ration to all cows. This has worked well so far.
Unfortunately, we have now reached the stage in our transition period where autumn calvers are becoming stale while spring calvers are still milking well. So we have decided to go back to our old system of feeding concentrate in the parlour. We will carry on with this until all cows are dry. *
Peter Delbridge
Peter Delbridge farms 162ha
(400 acres) in the Exmoor
National Park, near South
Molton, Devon. The farm is
mostly permanent grass,
classed as less favoured and
environmentally sensitive,
and all above 300m
(1000ft). It is stocked with
800 ewes, replacement ewe
lambs, 60 spring calving
sucklers and their followers
IT WAS a welcome surprise when the Devon infected area, which we are just within, was lifted suddenly in early August.
It probably had as much to do with foot-and-mouth controls as Mr Blairs impending West Country holiday, which he took after his Mexican break. That holiday ended his South American trip, on which he informed Argentinian producers they had a bright future increasing cheap beef supplies to European consumers.
Is this why Lord Haskins thinks under the Agenda 2000 proposals, 40% of mollycoddled British producers have to go, even when we are only about 80% self-sufficient in the commodities we can produce here?
With sheep auctions a long way off restarting, the annual South Molton sheep fair was unable to be held for the first time in living memory. In its place, Stags auctioneers, along with Exmoor Farmers, organised a video sale.
Being first on the sale catalogue, my 70 full mouth and 50 shearling ewes were filmed two weeks earlier than was ideal, when still recovering from the traumas of weaning.
Using the smallest field on the farm as a film set, the three lots were filmed individually. It was amazing how a few ewes suffering from lameness, were the least camera shy and wanted to take centre stage.
The sale went well with trade better than I had expected, fuelled by some looking to restock. Perhaps prices may harden with more buyers coming on-stream as autumn progresses.
There is no shortage of jobs to be done, so a phone call from DEFRA to organise a blood test of my sheep was the last thing I needed. Apparently, I was within a 10km zone and picked at random. It is funny, but I dont seem to be selected so often for lottery or premium bond wins.
Anyway, a team of five vets arrived at 10am and by 1.30pm, 270 samples had been taken from adult sheep and all stock inspected. I am still awaiting results, which will take two weeks. When we come to sell store and breeding sheep, I think the effort may well have been worth it. *
Alan Montgomery
Alan Montgomery runs
a 300ha (750-acre) mixed
farm near Downpatrick, Co
Down, Northern Ireland.
As well as cereals and
potatoes, the farm supports
a 130-cow suckler herd, 800
breeding ewes and
1000 store lambs
WITH foot-and-mouth back in the headlines, it is a stark reminder to those of us who have been disease-free for some time, the virus refuses to be beaten.
One careless movement of man or vehicle and the present euphoria of high lamb prices in the province would disappear overnight.
Lambs are now moving for slaughter in the Republic and prices have risen from 235p to 265p/kg deadweight. A firmer price in France and a stronger Euro would account for some of the difference. But I suspect the greater part resulted from northern factories taking an over-generous margin.
Cattle prices at 160p/kg for a U3 are a mirror image of the sheep trade. BSE has prevented Republic cattle from being shipped live to Middle Eastern outlets. This leaves an estimated 5000-6000 extra cattle to be marketed by the south each week for the foreseeable future. Fortunately, we only have a few heifers finishing off grass.
Results from the natural care lambing study, of which we are one of six participating farms, are starting to come through. When comparing the indoor and outdoor lambing groups, there was little difference between the two.
Number of lambs born were 1.73/ewe indoors and 1.7/ewe outdoors. Mortality at lambing was 0.06 and 0.07 lambs, respectively. When comparing birth weights, outdoor lambs at 5.4kg were 0.2kg heavier than indoor-born lambs.
The average time spent lambing ewes at 1.8 minutes, and 1.3 minutes/ewe spent on lamb care, was almost identical for both groups. Favouring outdoor lambing are savings on concentrate, conserved forage, bedding and time taken to carry out these routine tasks.
These trials will be repeated next season with additional shelter provided to increase lamb survival and growth rates.
Postponed from February, our livestock marketing group had its Annual General Meeting at the Meat and Livestock Commission headquarters recently.
We were brought up to speed on the new improved Farm Quality Assurance Scheme, with a list of criteria extending to several pages. It reminds me of a vehicles MOT. A successful test provides a roadworthy motor, it does not, however, make a better driver. *
John Glover
John Glover milks 140 cows
on his 52ha (130-acre)
county council holding near
Lutterworth, Leics. The
business is run in partnership
with neighbouring tenant
Mark Wilks, with dry cows
and youngstock kept at Mr
Wilks 32ha (80-acre) farm
I WOKE up the other day with a smile on my face because I was going to be a part-time farmer for a day. Lord Haskins would have been proud of me.
By 8.15am I had done three hours work around the yard and parlour and was going in for breakfast.
With no straw to move due to rain the day before, I took the rest of the day off to spend at a cricket match. Matthew, my nine-year old was playing a kwik cricket tournament at Grace Road, home of Leicestershire County Cricket Club and we stayed to watch a match afterwards.
A glass of beer, warm weather and even a new hat to ward off the sun and Haskins, Witty, Blair and co were forgotten for the day. I find it difficult to understand why farms which are producing food at or below cost of production are being told to cut costs further and that half of us will be forced out farming over the next 20 years.
For farming to survive in any form, the housewife must pay more for food, hopefully through higher farm gate prices or alterations in subsidy payments. Farming in this kind of economic climate, together with all the negative press coverage, probably takes more out of us mentally than we realise, so time away from farm can be enjoyable.
Anyway back to reality. We are trying to milk cows fed from acidic forage and rationing is becoming more like a chemistry lesson. Tests showed maize with a pH of 3.5, first cut silage pH3.8 and second cut, pH5.3.
The obvious solution would be to feed the very acidic maize with the least acidic second cut silage, but life if not that simple. We need to use the first cut before housing to make room to feed one group of cows.
This years maize crops are now looking well and harvest is only 3-4 weeks away. Early-sown LG2185 is about 3.3m (11ft) tall and Pretti, sown three weeks later, 3m (10ft) tall, so we are looking forward to a good maize harvest. *