Derbyshire: Managing lameness in an AYR robot herd

Join us for an on-farm event and find out how to improve lameness in a robotic herd with strategic dairy farm hosts Michael and Tony Ball.

You will hear form Michael and Tony, as well as vet and lameness expert Sara Pedersen, on ways to keep on top of hoof health through preventive trimming and trimming protocols.

They will share their current protocols around identifying and treating lame cows as well as discussing the changes they have seen from moving to a robotic system and how housing has impacted foot health.

The meeting will cover:

• Foot trimming – Determining the best protocol for the herd
• Cow Comfort – Letting the cow lie down for as long as she wants when she wants
• Detecting and treating lameness – Treat early, treat well, treat once

If you’re responsible for managing cows, interested in exploring robotic systems and improving lameness in your herd, then this meeting is for you.

Although there will be discussion around hoof heath within the context of the robotically milked herd, this meeting will be relevant to all management systems and there will be plenty of opportunity for discussion.

To assist with biosecurity and conform to government guidelines please ensure outer clothing and vehicles are clean and that clean boots that can be disinfected are worn. Please note children under the age of 16 and dogs are not allowed at the event, even if they are staying in the car.

Health and Safety guidelines for AHDB Events

About Coton Farm

Brothers Michael and Tony Ball farm in partnership, running a 500-strong herd plus followers across three sites and operating an all-year-round calving system. Five years ago, a major investment was made into robots to increase cow numbers from 200 to 500 with the intention of producing milk in the most efficient way possible with an emphasis on cow comfort and welfare.

Based in Derbyshire the Balls currently produce 9,500 litres per cow per year on their 750-acre farm and are looking to optimise their system to reach 10,000 litres. They have a great team around them consisting of 4 full-time members of staff and 1 part-time.

The herd is currently made up of 500 All Year Round Holsteins averaging 9500 Litres at 3.88% fat and 3.35% protein through 8 Lely Robots. They run three groups, fresh cow, high yielders and low yielders. The low yielders graze from April through to October with the highs on a mix of cut and carry and TMR.

All replacements are home reared, calving in at an average of 25 months at an 18% replacement rate.

The Balls are exploring every factor to hone the robotic dairying system to efficiently and profitably produce milk, paying key attention to enhancing the health and welfare of the herd to directly improve the profitably of the business. By refining the management of the transition period, revising the nutrition and use/utilisation of forage within the diets and paying more attention to the monitoring and husbandry of youngstock, gains can be made to achieve their goals.

Find out more about Coton Farm

About Strategic Dairy Farms

Strategic dairy farms help farmers learn from each other through regular on-farm meetings where we 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 farmer’s lower costs and increase efficiency by focusing on either a block or all-year-round calving system.

The growing network of strategic dairy farms have calculated key performance indicators (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 and identify areas for improvement.

Explore our other strategic dairy farms