Heanton Barton strategic farm launch Q&A

Jim Kirk answer the questions put to him during the launch of Heanton Barton as a strategic dairy farm.

1. Can you give a detailed run down of his experience with robots, reasons for changing to rotary, effect on cow performance, labour & running costs compared to robotic system

Reason for changing was after a time, robots started to cause problems and most callouts to fix the problem were at night. Rotary was the better option for the future herd expansion. Cows are seen 2x day which assists with cow management and there is  also less mastitis. No regrets at all moving to rotary.

2. Do you sell the beef as calves , stores or straight to fat?

Some calves sold at 40 days and the rest as stores

3. How do you plan & make silage to insure it’s excellent quality silage

All operations are in house, no contractors, ensuring we cut at exactly the right time and height. Roll in layers, plus use additive, clamp and ensure it is sealed well.

4. What type of parlour do you have? and what times do you milk?

60 point GEA rotary . Milk times 4am and 3.30pm

5. What beef bulls are you using ?

Belgian Blue and Welsh Black

6. Who do you sell your milk to?

Crediton Dairy.

7. Are the milking cows fed twice a day?

2x per day, at milking

8. How big is slurry pit and how often do you empty it ?

Six month capacity. Spread generally when conditions  permit and also consider optimum time for grass to gain benefit from nutrient value

9. Why the move from robots?

Wanted to expand herd size without limitations

10. Was it a hard decision to move away from robots? Any regrets?

No regrets at all changing to rotary.

11. Is there any Johnes in the herd?

Very little. Johnes plan in place and strategy followed

12  Is there any cover crop grown to manage soil run off and nutrient loss on maize ground?

Nothing grown at the moment, but under consideration currently for the future.

13. What is the average concentrate use per cow per year? What is the yield from forage per cow?

Average concentrate 3,650kgs Yield from forage 1,450 litres

14. How many days dry period?

57 days

15. Are your cows cubicle housed or open straw yards?

Milking cows in cubicles and dry cows in straw yards

16. How do you manage your dry cows? Close ups far offs etc how are they housed?

Managed the same, one ration for dry cows. Housed in dry cow shed.

17. What is your lameness prevention program?

Foot trimmed at dry off and 100 days in milk and then as when necessary

18. What’s the average milk yield in first lactation, and then in 2nd lactation?

First - 10,000 litres

Second - 12,000 litres

19. What is your Tb situation?

Clear. Long may it last.

20. When vaccinating salmonella at dry off, does that cover the calf for salmonella too?

Yes

21. Do you use any monitoring systems?

Not currently, only chalk. We review periodically.

22. You mention maize from rented ground and grazing at home. Do you have any issues with TB?

No issues

23. Who does the milking, and do you have relief milkers etc?

Herdsman plus staff in teams and one relief milker does 2 milkings once a week. There are two in the parlour and milking time take 2 hours from start to finish

24. How do you find the easifix cubicles?

Easyfix cubicles are great and cow friendly

25. What milking groups do you have? eg lows and highs or flat rate groups?

Two groups - fresh and late

26. What do you do with the cow dung?

Spread on the maize ground

27. Will the water be treated before use?

Water runs through filter and ultra violet light

28. What are calf rearing protocols? Machine/bottle/bucket?

Teat and bucket.

29. Which company do you buy your sexed semen from? What is the bull number?

At the moment mainly genus but also shop around

30. Is there much trade on Welsh black calves?

We will see going forward. Not sure yet.

31. Do you use RMS, or AI yourselves?

We were on RMS but now done by Jim and herdsman.  

32. Do you officially mobility score, or just visibly? As in if they see something slightly lame they would just get her in the crush?

Cows are scored once a month in line with milk contract . We are trained and qualified to score. Problems checked and dealt with there and then.