George Holmes
George Holmes
George Holmes farms with
his brother David, on two
rented units totalling 144ha
(360 acres) in Sussex. They
are currently stocked with
115 dairy cows, block
calved in the autumn and
100 followers. His objective
is to decrease costs,
particularly by increasing
use of grazed grass
George Holmes farms with
his brother David, on two
rented units totalling 144ha
(360 acres) in Sussex. They
are currently stocked with
115 dairy cows, block
calved in the autumn and
100 followers. His objective
is to decrease costs,
particularly by increasing
use of grazed grass
EXTENDED grazing is great for the bank balance, but feeding spring grass for a month longer means a month extra of green liquid muck being liberally sprayed around the milking parlour.
By the time I was hit in the face for the third time with a dung-sodden tail whilst milking one morning, I made the decision to buy an electric clipper and all my cows are going to suffer the indignity of having their tails completely shaved. I have noticed how much cleaner my neighbours cows are with their tails shaved, but up until now the £200 cost of the clippers had been too much to swallow. Not any more.
We have moved the heifers, due to calve this autumn, back to Withypitts Farm from our other farm, 15 miles away. Over the last two years we have moved the calving start date from June 1 to September 1. As a result these heifers will be two years and three months at calving and it shows.
Despite living only on forage, apart from a little maize gluten during the service period, since their first winter they are big and fat. I was hoping difficult grazing conditions since turnout would have caused a loss of condition, but not a bit of it. We will have to set stock them tightly and feed straw to avoid calving difficulties.
Our maize was planted on May 9 – the latest for some years. We also planted five acres of soya-beans on May 11 as an experiment to replace expensive bought in protein. At least it was expensive when we decided to grow soya-beans. I suspect it will probably be more profitable to grow another cash crop and use the proceeds to buy in protein feed.
The silage pit at Withypitts is ready for the first cut of 70 acres of grass silage at around the end of May. Having just looked around all the silage fields, I would say yields look very promising. Particularly pleasing is the heavy crop on 30 acres which adjoins the estates woodland. Last year it was fenced with a 5ft high stock fence to keep deer out. On some evenings, before the fence was erected, we had up to 80 deer grazing our grass. *
An early turnout is good for income, but feeding spring grass is not fun at milking time, says George Holmes.