North Devon: Dry Cow Transition - It's more than just diet

Join us for an on-farm event at Newlands Farm to find out how strategic dairy farm host, David Luxton, is looking to improve the transition period for his herd.

Good transition cow nutrition and management should be a primary objective regardless of milking cow system, yield target or milking frequency. The cost of poor transition across the industry runs into millions of pounds each year as a result of lost output, metabolic problems, impaired fertility and premature culling.

By focussing on the key drivers of good transition, we can identify strengths, weaknesses and opportunities to improve productive performance, health and dairy herd economics.

At this meeting you will take part in a farm walk with Hefin Richards from Rumenation Nutrition Consultancy, looking at David’s robotic parlour, dry cow area, feeding options, cow flow and management to achieve optimal transition for your herd. 

’We will also touch on Body Condition Scoring with Lauren Heard from Penbode Vets, and when it is most important to do so in terms of transition decision making pre calving. 

The meeting will cover: 

• Cow environment – How can shed layout, cow flow and comfort affect transition
• Management – What simple things can we do to improve cow behaviour
• Diet – How to manage energy, protein and mineral supply pre calving
• Cow – Reducing incidences of metabolic diseases, achieving yields and getting back in calf
• Body condition scoring – Importance of avoiding fat cows and thin cows and why

Registration and coffee will begin at 10:30am for a prompt 11:00am start.

Lunch will be provided – please contact us as soon as possible with any dietary requirements.

Please note children under the age of 16 and dogs are not allowed at the event, even if they are staying in the car. Click here to find out more about AHDBs health and safety guidelines for events.

About Newlands Farm

Newlands Farm, near Bude, is run by David Luxton and the Haworth family. Having been in the family since the 1960s, Newlands Farm runs an all-year-round calving, pedigree Holstein Friesian herd and milk 180 through a guided robotic system. Previously a traditional grass-based system, the farm invested in a guided robotic system in 2019. This has delivered an increase in yield from 8,500 litres, to about 11,000, which the team continually review and hope to lift further.

The 250-acre farm is all down to permanent pasture which they reseed as regularly as they can. They’ve always seen good yields and are currently achieving around 4,000 litres from forage, which they hope to improve during their time as a strategic farm. A further 70 acres is rented, 35 of which is to grass, with the remainder used for maize, which David trialled for the first time in 2021.

The milking herd consists of 180 pedigree Holstein Friesians. All cows are fully housed, including youngstock, which has helped increase growth rates. A new, purpose-built shed houses the robots and milking herd.

Over the next few years, David is particularly keen to focus on his financial key performance indicators (KPIs). The team are also looking to improve their age at first calving which they hope to reduce to 24 months. To achieve this, David is taking a particular focus on his heifers’ growth rates and is looking to make further improvements to their management.