Leicestershire: Reviving a redundant dairy - final strategic farm meeting

Join us for our final on-farm meeting at Houghton Lodge to hear how Evolution Farming have invested significant capital developing a new dairy unit over the last four years.

As well as a farm walk, you’ll hear how Tom Rawson and Charlie Crotty brought the redundant dairy on the Stoughton Estate back to life and their reflections on that journey.

You’ll learn how they invested in infrastructure including reseeding, cow tracks, buildings and new parlours as well as a 600+ spring block herd.

At the meeting, we’ll cover:

• Performance against plan
• Yearly KPI performance
• Investments and what they’d do differently
• Whether buying 500 heifers and going spring calving was the right decision.

Booking is essential – You must book your place in advance and all bookings will receive email confirming your place. No individuals will be able to join without receiving an email confirmation.

Refreshments – AHDB will be able to provide Covid secure refreshments and lunches in the form of individual packed lunches. Please feel free to bring your own if you prefer.

Biosecurity – 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.

Health and Safety guidelines for AHDB Events

About Houghton Lodge Farm

Run by Evolution Farming in a joint venture and financed with £1 million of seed capital, the project has brought life back to a redundant dairy unit at Houghton Lodge Farm.

The money has allowed investment in farm infrastructure including, reseeding the ground previously laid to arable and 20,000 sleepers for cow tracks.

The farm has is 428 hectares with a 273 hectare grazing platform. Grass is key to keep costs low and their aim is to enter grass covers at 2,700-2,800kg DM/ha and leave covers of 1,500kg, working to a wedge.

Find out more about Houghton Lodge 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