Strategic Dairy Farm Launch - Bridge Farm Somerset

Join us for the launch of our latest strategic farm run by David Cotton who will guide us through the farm’s story, his move to Autumn Block Calving and future plans.

David has spent over 30 years supporting the dairy sector outside of his farming duties and continues to do so. At home, he has a practical approach that ensures the simple things are done well.

Over the next three years he will focus on improving the rearing of young stock, making better use of a recently purchased adjoining farm, improving grassland, and look to invest in the current farm infrastructure to ensure it continues to be efficient and profitable into the next generation of family tenants.

At this launch we will cover

• An introduction to the background to the farm including a farm tour
• An overview of their current technical and financial performance against AHDB’s Optimal Dairy Systems defined KPI’s for autumn block calving herds
• The practical steps they took to change from all-year round calving to autumn block and what factors contribute to their current performance
• The long-term vision for the farm, including a critical look at areas for improvement and future focus

Who should attend? Anyone who is autumn block calving, thinking of changing to this system or interested in benchmarking their business.  

Booking Details

To book your place contact the AHDB KE Events Hub on 01904 771216 or ke.events@ahdb.org.uk .

Please wear clean disinfectable boots.

For more information, please contact Emily Collins, AHDB on 07776 599778.

About Bridge Farm

Bridge Farm’s herd consists of 280 Holstein x Friesians yielding 7,932 litres, 4.3% butterfat and 3.47% protein.  All heifer calves are reared as replacements in house and the beef crosses are sold as stores/ finishers. Bridge farm is 213Ha, of which 203Ha are owned and 10Ha are tenanted. The farm consists of 200Ha of grass (mixed permanent pasture and rotational) and 13Ha of Winter Wheat which is used to provide feed and straw for both the dairy and beef enterprises.

The farm is owned and operated by David and Lene Cotton in partnership with David's parents. The herd manager, Steve Crowther has been employed for 9 years and Chris Glass, with the business for 18 years, is a general farm worker shared between the dairy business and a friend’s arable business.

David has been running the farm since the age of 28 and aims to consistently improve and stay high performing whilst ensuring his staff management remains a priority. David aims to continue learning along with his team, including family members who will look to take on the farm in the near future.

The dairy business scores well against the AHDB key performance indicators for autumn block calving.

About Strategic Dairy Farms

Strategic dairy farms aim to help farmers learn from each other through regular on-farm meetings where we will share key performance data and showcase what the best farmers are doing.

They form part of the Optimal Dairy Systems programme which aims to help dairy farmers reduce costs and increase efficiency by focusing on either a tight block or all-year-round calving system.

The growing network of strategic dairy farms have calculated KPIs for their enterprises which are shared at meetings and published online. These are physical and financial performance measures that are critical to success. Farmers can benchmark their businesses against these KPIs to help identify areas for improvement.

Follow the programme and find other local SDFs at www.dairy.ahdb.org.uk/ strategic-dairy-farm 

If you no longer wish to receive this information, please email comms@ahdb.org.uk