Somerset: Beef up your profit from dairy

Join us for an on-farm event with strategic dairy farm host, David Cotton, at Bridge Farm, Glastonbury, to find out more about maximising your profit from your beef from dairy youngstock.

When rearing or finishing dairy beef animals it is important to explore all options in relation to your own farming system to understand how to get the best margin out of your beef from dairy sales.

James Wright, Breedr, will discuss both integrated and alternative beef schemes options and livestock procurement, while Andy Dodd, Farm Consultancy Group, will explore David Cotton’s figures and records and make recommendations as to what steps David could take to improve his margins.

This event will be an interactive discussion and we would encourage attendees to bring along examples of their own challenges and solutions to share and explore on the day.

In this session you will learn about:

• Commercial aspects of integrated and non-integrated beef schemes
• Types of animals being sourced for slaughter and finishing specs
• At what point to finish or sell as stores
• Economics and options available to improve return
• Choice of breed of animal to maximize selling price
• How to evaluate and make changes to adjust to changing markets

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.

About Bridge Farm

Based near Glastonbury, Somerset, Bridge farm is 236Ha, of which 193Ha are owned and 43Ha are tenanted. The farm consists of 200Ha of grass (mixed permanent pasture and rotational) and 24Ha of Winter Wheat which is used to provide feed and straw for both the dairy and beef enterprises. Other enterprises include a campsite and office buildings rented out. The herd is currently made up of 280 pedigree Holstein Fresian, autumn calving cows. Achieving 7932 litres of milk per cow per year with 4.3% fat and 3.47% protein mix, milking twice per day and grazing from April through to October. All replacements are reared at home with an average age at first calving of 24 months.

About Strategic Dairy Farms

Strategic Dairy Farms aim to help farmers learn from each other through regular on-farm meetings where we will 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 farmers reduce costs and increase efficiency by focusing on either a tight block or all-year-round calving system.

The growing network of Strategic Dairy Farms have calculated 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 to help identify areas for improvement.

About B&L Strategic Farms

The Farm Excellence Programme at AHDB is a project set up to demonstrate the value of implementing best practice on farms. This is one of the ways we aim to deliver our latest guidance and support you to make informed decisions in your business, which will make a real difference.

In the Beef & Lamb team, we began the project in 2017 and over the past five years we’ve worked with 16 Strategic Farms which have all had success in implementing best practice, resulting in improved financial performance. The farmers involved are encouraged to host their own on-farm events supported by AHDB and multiple industry experts to deliver workshops on relevant subjects. The events are funded by your levy and attendees have the opportunity to ask questions to experts in the field and gain valuable knowledge that they can implement on their own farm.

Follow the programme and find other local Strategic Farms at www.ahdb.org.uk/farm-excellence