10 things that impressed me from my visit

  • 1. He has a very clear vision of where his dairy farm business is going around cow numbers and type of cow. He is very focused on achieving balance with a good quality of life with a great respect and working relationship with his farm manager Nick.
  • 2. Huge focus on treating his cows on the basis of what they need versus calendar dosing and also minerals are supplemented on the basis of a need on soil herbage analysis.
  • 3. Attention to detail on calf health with a very methodical approach, every calf getting colostrum clean, quickly and in larger volumes of three litre plus. Testing every colostrum sample and feeding cows for three weeks out from calving to ensure high quality colostrum is only fed to calves.
  • 4. Hygiene routine is big across the farm, active disinfectant point, low SCC at 120,000, cleaning buckets for calf colostrum after each use and also regular footbathing regime through the drafting system for the cows coming from the parlour.

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  • 5. Using his herd health bulk milk samples to monitor disease and also make better vaccinating decisions. He has a clear vaccination calendar which he worked on with his vet.
  • 6. Highly innovative with a novel way of feeding a small amount of soya bean meal once daily with required minerals running through it. He has worked out what minerals are needed and adds them to soya bean mixture which is then fed through a hopper to the cows in the parlour.
  • 7. Is environmentally conscious on the farm reducing down fertiliser, looking at mixed swards, reducing anthelmintic and antibiotics where possible. He is doing selective dry cow therapy and only treating 22% of his herd with antibiotic tubes at drying off.
  • 8. Massively curious as he discovers more about the dung beetle and how it is involved in soil fertility and possibly helping parasite control on farm.
  • 9. Has recognised that some mineral levels were low like iodine and copper. He has tested his soil and herbage and this has allowed for much more accurate mineral supplementation.

  • 10. Has the right attitude.