Rough Grounds Farm

Follow Rough Grounds Farm if you are interested in:

• Enhancing your farm’s efficiency through grass utilisation and feed
• Achieving high standards of cow health and welfare
• Exploring the benefits of growing forage crops
• Maximising cow and heifer performance through genetics

Overview

Rough Grounds Farm in Derbyshire is rented by first-generation farmers, Graham and Justine.

Working alongside them are their two children, Jess and Tom, who grew up on the farm.

Our farm

This farm in Derbyshire is focused on grazing their cows as efficiently as possible.

The cropping on the 161 ha includes grass/clover leys and a small area of arable for grain. The farm has very good cow tracks because most of the land has heavy/sandy soils.

Our herd

The herd started as a Shorthorn herd, which has been cross-bred with Jerseys and Friesians to help the cows benefit from better butterfat and protein while maintaining good overall health.

Through cross-breeding, Graham and Justine have been able to maximise the grazing efficiency of their cows, producing good litres from forage.

Animal health and welfare is at the heart of Rough Grounds Farm, with a lot of care and attention going into ensuring both cows and youngstock and happy and healthy.

Over the years, Justine has altered their calf management, to ensure excellent animal welfare standards are met. This includes increasing the growth weight of their calves, through regularly weighing them and through joining a healthy calf club with their vet.

Our journey

Graham and Justine started their journeys in farming by working for various local farms and renting various pieces of land.

They then started renting their first farm, which was 60 acres, located within the same village, Cubley.

When they first started, they were milking seven cows. Through hard work and determination, they have managed to increase their herd size to 260.

Six years later, when the tenancy for Rough Grounds Farm came up in 2005, they were offered the 250-acre farm.

Rough Grounds Farm used to be on an autumn block-calving system. However, over the years they have done more of their calving in spring.

By joining the Strategic Dairy Farm programme, Graham and Justine want to get more litres from forage, continue to improve what they are already doing and look at some infrastructure changes, such as improving their parlour.

News and past events

• Herbal leys trial opens doors to investment opportunities (August 2024) – How the Worseys maximised the opportunity to offer their herd manager investment opportunities whilst maximising grazing herbal leys across their milking platform. This was written off the back of their meeting ‘establishing resilience within a pasture-focussed business’. 
• Strategic Dairy Farm launch webinar (December 2023) – New strategic dairy farmers, Graham, Justine and Jess Worsey talk about how they went from milking 7 cows to expanding their herd to 260 (YouTube, 1 hour 3 minutes).

Press coverage

• The Farmart: Herbal leys trial opens doors to investment opportunities pg.12 (November 2024) – How Graham, Justine and Jess Worsey managed to reduce costs and maximise production through the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) SAM3 herbal leys option.
• Dairy Farmer: Focusing on continuous improvement (August 2024) – Rough Grounds Farm focusing on the next generation of the milking herd through high animal welfare standards and youngstock management.
• Cow Management: Building a sustainable business for the next generation (July 2024) – How Rough Grounds Farm are preparing their tenant farm for the next generation, through investment opportunities and maximising production.

Rough Grounds Farm’s steering group

Rough Grounds Farm’s steering group is made up of a variety of farmers and industry experts.

The members are: