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
CALVING got underway with a vengeance once February came, with 100 cows giving birth in just over three weeks.
All our pre-planning paid off and the system coped well with the onslaught.
The only part that did not work was our post-calving yard. We planned to put cows into a straw yard for three or four days after calving. This meant they could be pampered and we could cut out the need to milk them individually through the dump line.
But the one flaw in this plan was we were not able to find a spare yard. Next year we want to extend an existing yard at relatively low cost to solve the problem.
Cows have settled on their mixed ration and are milking well, with most giving 40-45 litres.
Although maize is still the main component of our winter ration, the difference this year is we are using hay instead of grass silage. The little grass silage we now make was eaten in September.
Feeding hay is working well because it is much easier to handle and makes filling the feeder wagon quicker. The only downside is its lower energy content, which we are combating by feeding extra wheat and some protected fat.
We keep being reminded that higher yielders need higher levels of management. This year we have run into problems with milk fever, with levels running at 8% in the first two weeks and jumping to 30% in the third week of calving.
This coincided with us changing to a batch of hay bought from a different source and the close dry cow ration was identified as the problem area, so we replaced hay and sodium bicarbonate with straw. Since changing over, we have only had one case of milk fever.
This is my final Farmer Focus article. I have enjoyed writing my contributions and the feedback I have received.
Looking back over the three years, there have been dramatic times in the industry and big changes on our own farm. I am sure the future will always bring interesting times, though hopefully a little less dramatic. *