FARMERFOCUS
FARMERFOCUS
John Alpe
John Alpe farms with his
parents at New Laund Farm,
near Clitheroe in Lancashire.
Besides the tenanted 80ha
(200 acres) the family own
36ha (90 acres) and rent a
further 40ha (100 acres).
Stocking is 60 dairy cows
and 60 followers, 500
Swaledale and Mule ewes
and 250 store lambs
GROUND conditions have remained exceptionally good and as a consequence, in late November practically all dairy youngstock are still outside grazing pasture land, with straw available from ring feeders.
Poaching has not been a problem but any deterioration in the weather will force youngstock to be brought inside, which can only be days away.
In preparation for that day we have just completed some running repairs and adjustments to housing. These include re-concreting two cubicles, and erecting a small breeze block wall.
I actually enjoy small stints of building work and find it a pleasant change. A friend called one afternoon while I was doing the block work. He saw my wall and instantly remarked that "I was definitely the David Beckham of the building trade". This sounded rather complementary and being a little vain I couldnt resist but ask him to expand his remark, to which he replied that I was "one of the few people who could curl a straight wall!"
As part of our Stewardship agreement scheme we have just finished erecting a new double sheep netting fence. It is about 150 metres long and between the two fences we are going to plant Holly and Hawthorn saplings to create a new hedge. These dense native trees provide ideal cover and nesting areas for bird and wildlife and Im looking forward to seeing the results of our labour.
Using a JCB track machine we have created two 10 metre (32ft) wide, but fairly shallow ponds in pastures which have rushy areas. The idea is to attract wildlife and I hope it works.
Ironically we found two land drains in one of the newly created ponds. It crossed my mind that if the man who had originally installed the drainage tiles to try and dry out and improve the land for the future – I suspect with no more than a spade and a great deal of effort – could see me digging up the area in the late 20th Century and being financially rewarded for making wet areas for birds and wildlife he would probably think I had gone crazy and he would probably be right! *
Dennis Bridgeford
Dennis Bridgeford farms
50ha (125 acres) at Petley
Farm in Easter Ross, north
of Inverness. The farm
comprises of a 480-sow
indoor unit producing 95kg
pigs for one outlet and 85kg
pigs for a local abattoir,
while sows are also run
outdoors
ITS been said often enough and loud enough but the pig industry is in total collapse. The long awaited price rise prior to Christmas is not going to happen. The exact opposite is taking place with Unigate pulling prices back as they import more product – so much for the highlighted Malton code on feed type and welfare.
As an industry, surely we should expect some backing from Government. At the start of this decline Scotland had a pig industry with over 72,000 sows – we are now heading for a herd of 40,000.
This has very serious consequences, not only for the pig industry, but also for slaughterers and supply industries. Arable producers should also take note; just short of 4000t of grain are required for every 100 sows and progeny.
I recently attended a joint National Pig Association, MLC and NFU meeting. Not only did MLC predict a desperate situation for next year with prices struggling to rise above the high 80p/kg, but they never apologised or explained why its predictions were so badly wrong this year. I would say many producers left that meeting deciding that enough was enough and now was time to leave the industry.
Over the last few months, two people who work in the feed trade decided to take time to persuade local authorities to buy British produce. For this they should be highly commended, but surely this should be part of MLCs remit. A period away from their cosy headquarters in Milton Keynes might do them some good.
If all this was not enough, we have had one breakdown after another over the last few weeks. Our wet feeder can be the best thing we ever bought until it breaks down. Then I feel like throwing it from one end of the farm to other. It would appear the only fault was a socket sending rogue signals round the entire system.
On top of this we managed to lose our entire pig records off our computers hard drive. We all know that we should take plenty of back-ups, but in this case, that is all we did know. I await to hear if we can retrieve all or any of our data.
Just to cap it, a piece of steel managed to get into our centre-less auger that feeds one of the fattening sheds, and put it out of commission for a few days. It galvanises the mind, how tedious barrowing feeding is. *
Richard Hinchion
Richard Hinchion milks 60
dairy cows and rears 40
replacements on 34ha (83
acres) at Crookstown, west
of Cork city, in southern
Ireland. With a fixed quota
of just over 300,000 litres,
the emphasis is on low-cost
production. Cows yield
5800 litres from 350kg of
concentrate
AS we face the last month of this millennium we were fortunate to have experienced fine dry weather in November which has shortened the winter.
All cows and dry stock are indoors full time and eating silage. The cow cubicle mats purchased in October costing £32/space are working a treat. Cows seem to be happy and content lying on them.
We are milking 37 cows averaging 11 litres (2.5 gallons) a day on silage and 1.5kg of concentrate. We dried off 16 cows in mid November including some first calvers. The heifers will yield over 5000 litres (1100 gallons) and we feel it pays dividends to give these young animals a 10-12 week rest period.
We plan to cease milking on 8 Dec until next February and all cows will be dried off abruptly. It looks as if we will achieve an overall milk yield a cow of 6140 litres (1350 gallons).
At housing all animals backs and tails were clipped and treated with a pour on for lice. We used this opportunity to give the in-calf animals their second lepto booster injection. Yearlings, in-calf heifers and first calvers were dosed for worms and fluke. These animals will be fed up to 30 Dec on 1-2kg of barley/distillers ration in a 3:1 mix and minerals, costing a total of £105/t.
It is impossible to acquire salmonella vaccine until new year so we are keeping our fingers crossed that it doesnt strike.
When cows are dried off they will be fed plenty of ab-lib silage so as to calve them down at a body condition score of 3.5. Having completed the herds calving dates it looks like we will have a very busy February, with 41 cows – 66% of the herd – calving, and 18 cows – 30% – due in March.
Closing grass cover on all the farm was 300kg dry matter/ha and mild weather in the past month has meant grass is growing at about 6kg DM/ha/day which is exceptional.
If this mild weather continues we should have good grass cover in mid-Feb, and be able to let cows out for three to four hours.
All farm machinery has been worked and oiled and stored away until next spring. Winter gives us an opportunity to tidy up the workshop and machinery sheds. *
Peter Wastenage
Peter Wastenage, in partner-
ship with his parents, farms
a 121ha (300-acre) farm
tenanted from Clinton Devon
Estates. He milks 175 cows,
rears his own replacements
and is converting to organic
production
FOR my final report from Tidwell I think it would be fitting to try and give some sort of review of the last few years.
As weve seen milk price drop there has been more interest in grazing based systems. There appears to be a fast exodus from dairy farming at the moment so surely quota leasing prices must fall at some point in the near future. Also, with feed prices as low as they are it will be time to invest in a feeder wagon and go for yield – but probably not on this farm!
The biggest change we have seen over the last three years has been our conversion to organic. I am sure it will be the right decision for us, as we only need small alterations to our farming system – we were only feeding a low level of concentrate and a small amount of nitrogen.
I am quite worried about producers with high input systems who are converting as their costs may be greater, such as changing cow type, improving grassland and clover and reducing reliance on concentrate diets. The conventional milk price will rise and they will not be better off. It must be a priority for every producer to return conventional milk to a sensible price.
The conversion has been challenging. Contrary to the myth, grass does grow without fertiliser, albeit at a slower rate, especially early in the year. This is something I am reluctantly coming to terms with.
I thought we would get away without youngstock wormers this year from using a clean grazing system, but we still got a build-up of worms. Hopefully we will address this by a faster rotation next grazing season.
One important question you may ask is how cows are coping with the system and diet change. The answer is fairly well – when we can keep them right way up with both bloat and staggers a threat. We have been on a steep learning curve, but I think we are hopefully able to address these now, even if it means we have to plough up pastures with too much clover.
Finally, I would like to thank all those who have contacted me with comments and criticisms and I hope that farming in the next Millennium will start a little better. I know for a fact that the only thing that will be suffering from the Millennium bug in my parlour on Jan 1 will be the operator! *