Yield slips a challenge
Yield slips a challenge
Fertility seems to be
improving among the
Conyboro cows at last, but
just to keep everyone on
their toes, milk production
has dipped again.
Suzie Horne reports
COWS have been easier to spot bulling this autumn than the last, which has helped fertility.
The last pregnancy diagnosis session showed 14 out of 15 animals in calf, but blood tests showed low energy levels, which is the likely cause of lower milk production.
Farm manager, Duncan Rawson, is a big believer in regular blood tests, which are done by farm staff. He pays £440 a year for a service whereby blood samples are analysed by the University of Edinburgh. This ensures speedy results and offers phone advice on the analyses.
Blood samples can be taken as many times as needed with this service. Conyboro cows are tested five to six times a year, but Mr Rawson would like to increase that.
"The feed analysis and the rationing computer only give you half the picture – the bloods tell you exactly what is going on with the cows. One remedy to increase energy would be to feed brewers grains. But this would be a significant change to the ration and I would be worried that it would affect fertility, so we have chosen to include Megalac at 500g a day to the high yielders." A further blood test will be done before Christmas to assess the impact of this change.
Margin up
Latest dairy costings to the end of October show a significant improvement on a year earlier. Margin over purchased feed/litre has risen to 15.66p compared with 13.46p, milk price has risen to 19.85p/litre (17.12p/litre) and yield stands at 7562 litres (7486 litres).
The dairy is still looking for a herd manager. It is suffering from the same staff-search problem as most other south-eastern dairy farms.
Fewer students are studying pure agriculture, and many older workers are leaving the industry permanently. That means there are fewer to choose from, and many that do opt for agriculture do not stay as long as they would have done in the past.
"Ours is not the simplest dairy in the world," says Mr Rawson. But there is huge potential for someone to go in there and prove themselves.
"We are finding it harder and harder to attract the right staff – it is not just the job that has got to be right, but the house, pension, security, and so on. It is getting increasingly difficult and I am afraid it will get worse."
In the dairy itself, heifers came in three weeks ago, but some dry cows are still out. While it has helped that animals have been able to stay at grass for so long, straw supply is a worry, and the 80 bales of silage made as a fourth cut are being fed to heifers.
Getting more from the farms resources is a constant challenge.
Machinery policy will come up for discussion in the coming year as the Challenger and the combine come to the end of their hire periods. With the merger of machinery and labour operations to form Sentry Sussex earlier this year, where men and machines cover several sites in Surrey and Sussex, all machinery must be as flexible as possible and compatible to minimise travelling.
In this respect, the Case Maxxum 5140 is struggling to keep its place. "It is really just not big enough for some of our jobs, such as heavy grain trailers," says Mr Rawson. "One of the big challenges with this move is managing the kit. It takes a lot more time than people think. We need any tractor to be able to pick up any piece of kit."
Some contract spraying is being done locally and other possibilities are being explored. The workshop at Lock Estates, one of the other Sentry Sussex sites, is very busy, says Mr Rawson, but there may be opportunities here for machinery from other farms to be serviced and repaired.
This will be the last report from Conyboro. Reviewing the two-and-a-half years in which farmers weekly has visited the farm, there are several areas Mr Rawson is pleased to have seen develop.
"The staff have taken everything we have thrown at them in their stride and they have really made it work. They have put in extra effort and have a good understanding of the reasons behind it all.
"Taking last year out, the physical performance of the farm has improved and so has the relative financial performance. The cropping is good and although we still have a lot to do, the physical appearance of the farm has been improved too. Going into the first harvest and drilling under the Sentry merger, it has worked very well and I believe that it can be very successful.
Better spraying
"We have proved to ourselves and everyone else that although we have larger machines and a larger acreage, the timing and spraying of our crops has been better than ever despite the distances travelled. I would like to see that continue." As always, Mr Rawson is on the lookout for more land.
But there have been negative aspects, too. The appalling prices of the past two years are top of the list, says Mr Rawson. "It is just very frustrating when everyone is working harder than ever and we are not seeing the returns.
"We have to be realistic. The only certain thing is that volatility will increase. Things are not going to get any easier, but we have to learn to farm within those boundaries and be profitable within them. Then if things do improve, so much the better."
The proposed South Downs National Park includes some Conyboro land, and other environmental initiatives may bring new opportunities for the future, says Mr Rawson. *
(From left) Duncan Rawson is full of praise for Conyboros farm staff; Paul Wren, Jon Hobbs, student Peter Barden and John Bartholomew have put in extra effort to turn plans into reality, he says.
FARM FACTS
• Conyboro Farms, in East Sussex, a 405ha (1002 acre) arable and dairy unit, farmed on five-year contract by Sentry Farms.
• Land is mainly weald clay with a small strip of greensand.
• Arable crops – all first wheats this season, also winter beans, peas, oats.
• 230-cow dairy, yielding 7696 litres a cow in year to April 2000.
• Calving mainly June to September. Total dairy forage area of 122ha (302 acres).
• Five full-time staff, including manager.
• Arable operations merged with other Sentry farms as Sentry Sussex. Area covers 1133ha (2800 acres).