North Devon: Maximizing Returns on your Heifers

Join us for an on-farm event at Newlands Farm to find out how strategic dairy farm host, David Luxton, is looking to improve his heifer rearing and efficiency on farm. 

By reducing your calving age from 26 to 24 months, significant savings can be made to your farms finances and business productivity and carbon footprint. As age at first calving increases, cost of heifer rearing increases and rearing replacement heifers is the second largest annual expense next to feed costs, and accounts for on average around 20% of production costs. 

Heifer calves are the future of the milking herd, and in order to do so they need the best start in life to achieve their potential and pay back their cost or rearing. 

At this meeting we will hear from Ginny Sherwin from Nottingham University on how to measure and manage your heifer rearing on farm. 

• KPI’s for successful heifer rearing
• How data can be used to drive decision making to optimise your heifer rearing.
• Using the advantage of feed efficiency in heifers at a young age.
• How early life care and nutrition of calves can impact future productivity.
• Sustainability of your business 

You will then hear from Newlands Farm Nutritionist, Matt Jackson on some of the economic aspects in heifer rearing efficiency at Newlands, and how reducing calving age to 24 months, can reduce your feed bill and rearing costs. 

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.

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.

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.