Farm Excellence: Dairy
Our network of strategic dairy farms share good practice through on-farm and virtual events, giving you access to industry experts and the latest research.
Strategic farms follow either an all-year-round or block calving system so you can see relevant real world demonstrations and get ideas to make improvements on your farm.
The farm are solid performers who openly and honestly share their experiences and performance figures at on-farm and virtual meetings.
You’ll hear about a range of topics from mastitis and managing calves to breeding and buildings. We’re confident you’ll find something of interest.
We’re aiming to have 26 strategic farms across Great Britain funded by AHDB, Welsh Government and Volac’s charitable foundation.
The farms form part of our Farm Excellence platform, a network of inspirational farmers who open their doors to help you learn, share and create new ideas to drive innovation and productivity.
Strategic dairy farms: ten reasons to get involved
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Meet our strategic dairy farm hosts
All year round calving farms
Fully housed crossbred herd of 530 cows, milked three times a day, yielding 11,300 litres run by Tom and Karen Halton in Cheshire
500 cow Holstein herd, robotically milked, producing 9,500 litres run by Michael and Tony Ball in Derbyshire
High yielding herd of 310 pedigree Holsteins, achieving 12,000 litres run by Willie Baillie in Lanarkshire
Fully housed herd of 290 Holsteins yielding 11,000 litres, milking twice a day on 330 acres in Wiltshire run by Joe Carter
Home to a herd of 336 Holstein Friesians on 220 hectares in North Wales run by John and Anna Booth
AYR calving herd of 520 Friesian Holsteins, run by Jim Kirk on 700 acres in North Devon
Find out more about Andrew Gilman's all-year-round calving, high yielding strategic farm in Staffordshire
Spring block calving farms
Evolution Farming brought a redundant dairy back to life with 650 crossbred cows on 428ha in Leicestershire
Herd of 240 New Zealand Friesians and Friesian jersey crosses producing 4,900 litres on 182ha in Devon run by the Tucker family
Spring calving herd of 550 Friesians and Jersey X cows on 283ha in Pembrokeshire run by Dylan and Hannah Harries
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Organic herd of 260 crossbred cows on 365 acres in Shropshire run by Tim Downes
Spring block calving herd of 600 Holstein Friesian cows based on 345 ha of farm in Ayrshire
Herd of 370 New Zealand X Friesians, producing 5,500L/cow and 450kg MS/cow on 100ha in Pwllheli run by Matt Jackson
Autumn block calving farms
Herd of 440 Norwegian Red and Flekveigh cows, yielding 8,500 litres on 250ha in Oxfordshire run by Phil Kinch
Autumn calving herd of 375 Friesian crossbreds on 85 hectares in Denbighshire run by Arthur Owen
Herd consists of 280 pedigree Holstein Fresians, achieving 7932 litres on 236ha in Somerset run by David Cotton
Autumn calving herd of 380 Holstein x Friesians, achieving 8,000 litres on 190 ha in Leicestershire run by George Wade
Organic herd of 315 Holstein Friesian cows, producing 6,000 litres of which 3,181 litres is from forage run by Dan Burdett in Sussex
Autumn calving herd of 120 cows, averaging 8,000 litres per cow on 250 hectares in Cumbria run by Adrian Bland
Herd of 200 Holstein Friesians, Ayrshire, and Danish Reds, producing 8500 litres on 356 acres in Dorset run by Kenton Bennett
How to get involved
Browse upcoming strategic dairy farms, catch up on previous meetings and explore the network.
Catch up on previous meetings
Updates from past strategic farms meetings and webinars, covering a variety of technial and business related topics. Explore individual farms to see their previous events.
Strategic dairy farm news
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20 November 2020
Reducing intervals between silage cuts has helped strategic dairy farmers Tony and Michael Ball improve their milk from forage and reduce feed costs.
13 November 2020
Dan Burdett reduced his autumn calving block from 12 weeks to six weeks
26 November 2020
James and Wallace Hendrie share their ambitions as they become Scotland's second Strategic Dairy Farm
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29 October 2020
John and Anna Booth from Rhual Dairy, joined by Dr Robert Hyde from the University of Nottingham, share their experience of improving calf health.
16 October 2020
Moving to twice a day feeding has increased milk production by 1.5 litres per cow for no extra cost at Chance Hall Farm
16 October 2020
Michael Ball provides an overview of his reasons for moving to a robotic milking system
16 October 2020
How incidences of mastitis have been reduced at Hillhead of Covington
16 October 2020
A focus on feeding, colostrum management and tubing will help reduce age at first calving to below 24 months at Carpenters Farm.
16 October 2020
Richard Tucker share how they have improved herd lameness by following the healthy feet programme.
6 August 2020
The launch of our latest autumn block calving strategic farm run by the Wade family
Meet the Knowledge Exchange team
National
North East & North West
East & West Midlands & East Anglia
South East & South West
Wales
Teaghan Tayler
Knowledge Exchange Senior Manager Wales Uwch Rheolwr Cyfnewid Gwybodaeth Cymru
Scotland
