Staffordshire: Effective nutrition and genetic strategies for feed efficiency and quality milk

Join us for this on-farm event to hear how strategic dairy farm host, Andrew Gilman of Statfold Farm, is ahead of the curve with feeding strategies to improve protein efficiency and reduce environmental impact, lower feed costs, and increase genetic potential for feed efficiency in his cows.

Andrew with the support of nutrition consultant, David Levick from Kite has reduced the protein in his diets and has removed soya and palm fat. Andrews estimated protein efficiency is well above the industry average. At this meeting Kite will be delivering new research from Holland on effective strategies for protein efficiency in the cow’s diet.

The removal of C16 products and using research they are doing on a new product has reduced feed costs with no detriment to cows and will be a positive for any manufacturing process of milk.

Andrew is also using a genomics to selectively breed cows with improved feed efficiency, it is anticipated that in a few years’ time there could be in the region of 10% less feed required per litre of milk.

With Andrew and David we will hear practically how Andrew has implemented these changes and what he has learned in the process. In summary we will cover:

• Low protein diets
• Sustainable ingredients
• New product development for milk quality
• Genetic improvement for feed efficiency

Who should attend?

Anyone interested in dairy cow nutrition and improving feed efficiency through the ration, genetics and management.

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 AHDB's health and safety guidelines for events.

About Statfold Farm

Statfold Farm runs an all year round calving system. The herd is currently made up of 300 predominantly Holstein cows with Swedish red and PRO cross being introduced. Average yield is 10’000 litres with 3.9% Fat and 3.3% protein. The total area of 450 acres is made up of 70 acres permanent pasture and the rest split over grass and maize. The infrastructure includes two cubicle sheds, the older shed with 197 cubicles and the new build containing 104. Original Victorian buildings are still used along with two new open fronted sheds for rearing heifers. Cows are housed most of the year and grazed during their dry period. Cows are milked 3 times a day through a 20/20 herringbone parlour.

Sexed Semen is used for replacements with the rest served to beef. Breeding decisions are data driven using milk quality and serves per conception as the current main drivers. Andrew supplies milk to Arla on a liquid contract aligned with Asda.

Follow their story here or get the latest updates by searching for #SDFStatfoldFarm on Twitter.

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.

Follow the programme and find other local SDFs