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Carpenters Farm
Name:
Joe Carter
Location:
Wiltshire
Farm sectors:
Dairy
Twitter:
About Carpenters Farm
- Joined the strategic dairy farm network in December 2018
- 280 acres owned and 50 additional acres rented
- All-year-round calving herd of 290 cows, mostly Holstein
- Recently established a small herd of Brown Swiss cows
- Yielding 10,900 litres per cow per year – milked twice per day
- Supplying milk to Cadburys through Selkley Vale
Follow Carpenters if you are interested in:
- Maximising heifer health, welfare and performance
- Breeding for welfare
- Maximising udder health through the dry period
- Scenario planning for business resilience
Overview
Joe Carter, in partnership with his parents, farms 300 Holstein cows across 330 acres in Chippenham, Wiltshire. The cows are housed all year round in two groups and calved throughout the year. While only milked twice per day, the herd yields just under 11,000 litres per cow per year. Emphasis is placed on a high welfare cow environment, with minimal hard group transitions. Milk is supplied to Cadburys via a Selkley Vale contract. Joe is an active member of Calne Dairy Discussion Group and regularly benchmarks his business.
Our farm
Based in Chippenham, Wiltshire, the farm consists of 330 acres of grass and maize. Post-weaning heifers are reared away from the farm.
Our herd
The herd is currently made up of 290 all-year-round calving Holsteins with a small integrated herd of Brown Swiss cows, achieving 10,900 litres of milk per cow per year, milking twice per day. Heifers calve by 24 months old and the average lifetime daily yield of animals leaving the herd is >17 litres; this indicates that cows are fertile, long-lived and efficient.
Our journey
Their journey has seen them concentrate on minimising health issues in the pre-weaned calves by optimising the calf environment and managing colostrum. The welfare of calves, fulfilling calf energy requirements and managing protocols to dovetail with evolutionary behaviours have been a strong focus for one particular meeting at Carpenters Farm.
Creating a breeding plan to allow for a robust and long-lived cow is at the forefront for further developments. In addition, the plan is to adopt a selective dry cow protocol that optimises udder health while fulfilling due diligence and reducing antibiotic usage.
Significant investment has been made in the business so exercises in maximising return on this investment, while also building a more resilient business, will be a focus for further meetings at Carpenters Farm.
Our key performance figures
Carpenters Farm openly share their key performance indicators, so you can see how they perform against a number or technical and financial measures.
News and past events
- Driving performance over a lifetime (March 2021) Joe Carter talks about how his Holstein herd achieves an impressive daily lifetime yield of 20.4 litres
- Excellence in youngstock welfare (June 2019) Professor Jim Reynolds talks about helping calves thrive and an update recent improvements at Carpenters Farm
- How calf performance contributes to a dairy business (April 2019) Joe Carter explains how improvements to calf management will lower age at first calving to 24 months
- Carpenters Farm launch (December 2018) Joe Carter is joined by over 80 farmers from across the region to launch Carpenters Farm with a guided tour and overview of their operations
Joe Carter
"It's great to be involved and access feedback from other farmers on issues that they have had experience in resolving through the events we hold on the farm."
