We wanted to improve our overall cow health and mobility, so we worked together with Advanced Nutrition. Their Advanced Mobility program helped to give us a true understanding of the lameness and mobility issues we had within the herd.
Continual assessment keeps family farm business on track
A commitment to dairying and careful planning has enabled a Shropshire dairy herd to keep expanding and remain profitable by identifying, addressing and improving critical aspects of the business. Mike Green, British Dairying pays them a visit to find out more.
The Tudor family have made continual improvements to herd productivity, health and welfare since they decided to house their cows all year round. The dairy unit at the 445-ha Hallon House Farm, Worfield, near Bridgnorth, is run by James Tudor with his daughter Pippa.
James is responsible for the herd’s nutrition and management, while Pippa takes responsibility for day-to-day running of the unit as well as the fertility and breeding programme. The family started milking here in 1976 with 50 cows. Cow numbers increased to 120 by the early 1980s and reached 200 when housed permanently 10 years ago. There are currently 340 cows in the herd with 290 in-milk. Milk yields now stand at 12,000 litres at 4.0% fat and 3.3% protein. Cell counts are below 120,000 cells/ml, with milk sold on a liquid contract to Staffordshire-based Wells Farm Dairy.
Improving facilities
This performance has been accomplished by improving cow facilities and nutrition to meet the Tudors’ aims of high-yielding cows with first class health and welfare standards.
Various management, feeding and cow environment factors have all contributed to the herd’s progress.
Sand bedding was introduced to the cubicles over a two-year period in 2012 and 2013 when straw prices were high. “Sand bedding is great for the cows but bad for everything else,” says James. “We dig out the slurry store every year and have got management down to a tee now. It has definitely contributed to helping cows meet their potential and increasing milk yields.”
Ten years ago the decision was made to house the milking herd and close-up dry cows permanently. To facilitate this, the buildings were updated to improve conditions for staff and cows. The original lighting was replaced with 200 Lux LED lights which are on a timer, with 16 hours of light per day and eight hours of darkness. Stainless steel water troughs were introduced, which were easier to clean and satisfy cow intakes.
Feeding trough space was addressed by installing outside bunker feeding areas. “All things that were limiting factors in the housing have been improved,” says James. “This has really helped the herd move forward over the past 10 years.” However, they still felt there was huge untapped potential in the cows, which led them to look at cow rations more carefully and seek specialist nutritional advice.
So around five years ago they consulted Will Tulley, now Head of Technical at Advanced Ruminant Nutrition (ARN). “We needed to move the business forward and make it more sustainable,” explains Will. After studying the herd, performance, facilities, rations and business goals they agreed that the first area to address was the management and rationing of the transition cows. The main change was to put close-up dry cows on to a straw-based ration.
“This was a revelation, and we got an immediate four-litre increase in milk yields,” says James. “Since getting the transition right everything else seemed to fall into place.”
The team at Advanced Ruminant Nutrition look after the nutrition work and performance has continued to improve. The feeding regime is kept as simple as possible, with heifers initially moving into a first lactation group before joining the main milking group. Both groups get the same mixed ration, with those producing more than 40 litres getting an additional 0.4kg/litre in the parlour. All far off dry cows are grazed on pasture on an area of the farm with light land before being housed in the close-up group.
“We really enjoy working with Tudors – they have a passion for cows and want to drive change in the industry," says Will. They are always looking at ways to improve cow performance, health and welfare. Increasing output and Margin over Purchased Feeds are the headline targets, using the best and most appropriate feeds and ingredients available.”
Two years ago, the cows were yielding 38 to 39 litres per day. But the Tudors felt there was still potential to increase yields further. “With the cows producing high yields on twice-daily milking, maintaining optimal nutrition and herd management is crucial,” says Will Tulley.
He suggested trying Zinpro IsoFerm, a new essential nutrient from Zinpro. Backed by extensive research, it has been shown to enhance fibre digestion and protein utilisation along with feed efficiency.
At first I was sceptical but thought we would give it a try,” says James. So in September last year they introduced the supplement to the ration, and after six weeks saw a difference. “We were expecting a 1.5-litre/cow lift but daily yields are currently at 42 litres/cow which we are very happy with. “We ran out of the IsoFerm for a while in December and decided to leave it out of the ration to see what happened. Milk yields dropped off and we soon put it back in again,” he adds. “It has been used over nine months now and we have seen great results. It really helps our cows consume large amounts of dry matter.” In addition, the dietary changes have brought health and fertility improvements. The herd pregnancy rate currently stands at 34%, with conception rates at 46%. “We have only had one case of milk fever in the past year, few retained cleansings and no left displaced abomasums.”
The pedigree Hallon herd’s breeding policy and management has also improved production and health. Pippa works closely with most breeding companies. “I have a passion for cows and have always been interested in pedigrees and showing cattle,” she explains. She uses World Wide Sires’ CowManager ear tags to monitor cow activity and health. All youngstock have a genomic profile analysed by Genus, and artificial inseminations are the responsibility of Cogent.
“When choosing bulls I will sit down with most of the breeding companies and produce a list of sires we could use on the herd,” she says.
Pippa looks to breed strong, big-chested cows which carry a lot of milk. The main breeding traits considered include type, milk yield, fertility, chest and rump width, rear udder height and teat placement. Only sexed semen is used, with 60% from proven sires and 40% genomic. Pippa is keen to breed some cows for the show ring, although this has been curtailed in the past by TB restrictions. But she has continued to be involved in the show ring with the help of the Shropshire Holstein Club.
An important factor in the progress and success of the herd has been team work, stresses James. “Our vet James Marsden from Shropshire Farm Vets has worked closely with nutritionist Will, ourselves and the farm team to improve nutrition and herd health,” he says. “We have regular meetings to discuss progress, and everyone is on board with what we are doing.”
Many further improvements are currently being addressed, including reducing the average age of first calving from 24 months to 22 months and improving forage production and quality. Around 69ha of maize is grown in the arable rotation, which includes barley, wheat and grass. Lucerne silage has been produced in the past on some of the lighter land, but James felt it did not feed as well as expected and was inconsistent. However, this is something that may be revisited sometime in the future.
The biggest change planned for the future is to introduce robotic milking. “We have no room for further expansion and have been looking at introducing robotic milking and cutting milking numbers down to 250,” says James. “It’s a huge step but Pippa is more than capable of managing the change. The plan is to introduce the robots over the next six to 12 months. But we must get the switch absolutely right, particularly the housing and feeding.” Will has lots of experience in transitioning herds from conventional to automatic milking systems, from both a management and nutritional perspective, so will provide support throughout the transition.
Pippa explains: “Two key older members of staff are coming to retirement age and the unit is very reliant on student labour. It is becoming harder to get students who want to milk cows. We can’t carry on with the uncertainty of farm labour. “We need people in the parlour capable of spotting any cows with problems,” she adds. “Robots will give us more time to spend with the cows and hopefully lift milk yields further.” The target is to increase yields by 1,000 litres to 13,000 litres/cow. “The cows have progressed exceptionally well here over the past 10 years and I am very happy with the current performance,” says James. “We will continue to aim for a high yielding, healthy and profitable herd which is better for the cows, better for the staff and better all round.”
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