Dairy Roadshow - Gloucestershire

Join us at Court Farm, Kempley for our Gloucestershire Dairy Roadshow. You will meet with industry experts who will be sharing their findings from our five-year research partnership led by the University of Nottingham. You will hear key findings from some of the studies and how they can be put into practice on farm.

During the day you will move through five themed interactive stations covering mastitis, lameness, nutrition, silage slippage and Johne's disease. There will also be plenty of opportunity to ask questions and discuss the topics with the researchers and fellow attendees over lunch.

Station 1: Mastitis

Mastitis Pattern Analysis Tool with James Breen from University of Nottingham

You will hear about:

• How and when infections can be picked up
• How a better understanding of your herd mastitis pattern can allow you to focus on control measures
• An introduction to the Mastitis Patter Analysis tool - a simple and automated way of finding out where most infections are happening on your farm

Station 2: Lameness

Effects of Anti-inflammatories for treatment and prevention of lameness with Dr James Wilson

You will hear about:

• The challenges presented to the industry from lameness
• The role of NSAIDs on the effects of lameness
• How to incorporate the use of NSAIDs into the management of heifers to prevent lameness and set them up to succeed.

Station 3: Nutrition

Growing your own protein forage to reduce protein in diets and lower ammonia emissions with Professor Liam Sinclair, Harper Adams University

You will hear about:

• Reducing the protein content of diets based on high protein, home-grown forages such as red clover and lucerne
• The effects on animal performance, nitrogen excretion and purchased feed costs

Station 4: Silage Slippage

Clamp Silage Slippage with Dr Dave Davies from Silage Solutions

You will hear about:

• The fermentation and spoilage losses associated with clamp silage slippage.
• Recommendations on improving clamp consolidation

Station 5: Johnes Disease

with Steven Van Winden from the Royal Veterinary College

You will hear about:

• The importance of dam infection on the risk of Johne’s disease
• The relationship between Bovine TB skin test and Johne’s disease milk ELISA performance
• Johne’s classification algorithm for decision making for individual cows.

About Court Farm 

Court farm is family run, farming about 110 hectares. Herd is made up of 260 dairy cows (averaging 12,980), plus followers. Cows are all-year-round calving and milked through 4 robots. Maximising milk from forage through a partial TMR is a key focus for the farm. The TMR ration includes grass and maize silages, with purchased wheat and rape/soya blend. There is a strong focus on genetic gain and a constant focus on improving health and welfare. The farm aims to maximise output without expansion to develop a sustainable business for the next generation.

Levy-funded research and development can contribute to a more sustainable future by improving technical efficiency, reducing costs of production and retaining positive public perceptions of dairy farming.

Dairy Research Partnership 2016-2021

The Research Partnership was funded by AHDB Dairy with financial contributions from the academic partners - University of Nottingham, Harper Adams University, Royal Veterinary College and SRUC.

The partnership, led by University of Nottingham, addresses three of our strategic priorities:

• Feed efficiency and sustainability
• Optimising cow performance through health & welfare
• Creating a positive image for dairy farming

Learn about the seven work packages in the Dairy Research Partnership Programme by visiting our webpage.