Using efficiency to improve your environmental credentials

Joining the programme are Howard and Tom Pattison, who run Willow Tree, a 162-hectare family farm in North Yorkshire. Over the next three years they will be sharing the steps they have already taken to reduce their carbon footprint and key learnings as they continue to fine tune their business while improving their environmental credentials.

Willow Tree Farm

First and foremost, Willow Tree Farm is a successful dairy business. And Howard and Tom believe that efficiency, coupled with their intensive system, is the reason for their low carbon footprint.

The herd has been closed for over 30 years and currently consists of 280 Holstein cows that are fully housed and calve all year round. There are around 260 cows in the milking herd at any one time and they produce an average of 12,000 litres per cow per year on twice a day milking. Protein levels are at 3.32 and butter fat is 4.02.

Milk is supplied to Arla, where they have been asked to join the Starbucks contract and have recently signed up as part of the Arla 360 programme.

The team rear about 120 replacement heifers on the farm, while beef calves are sold at around four to six weeks of age. “We use a bull selection programme from Semex,” says Howard. “Sexed semen is used for all replacements. Cows are chosen based on set criteria including having a Profitable Lifetime Index (PLI) >300 and mastitis resistance less than 0.”

While the pregnancy rate in the herd is 28%, the conception rate recently dropped to 33% which they put this down to a nitrogen problem earlier in the spring. Having recently introduced and Allflex SenseHub system, which has improved heat detection, conception rate is back up to 44%. “These collars are also providing health and cow distress alerts,” says Tom, “helping us to monitor them more closely.”

Heifers are served at 13 months and calve in between 23 and 24 months. “All heifers are genomic tested at around 10 months old,” says Tom. “The average PLI for the herd is 281 but the average for those under 12 months old is currently 521. They are also showing a gain in mastitis resistance.”

Howard and Tom have a successful youngstock programme. Stillbirths are 7%, while, of those calves born alive, death rates in calves up to 12 months old is just 1%. “Each calf gets its own mothers’ colostrum,” says Tom. “We test it using a Brix refractometer and then move on to milk replacement powder at five to seven days old.”

Going soya free

A further reduction to Willow Tree’s carbon footprint has come from the decision in 2021 to move to soya free rationing.

Working with nutritionists at KW Alternative Feeds, Howard and Tom have replaced all soya in their feed, while maintaining high yields.

“We run a total mixed ration for the dairy cows,” says Howard. “We feed all home-grown forages, about two thirds grass silage, with one third maize silage. This is then supplemented with co-products from the food industry, including wheat syrup, brewers’ grains, and sugar beet pulp, all of which have a very low carbon footprint. We also use NovaPro, which is a UK produced, heat-treated rape protein.”

This has had a significant impact on their carbon footprint. “Before we took the soya out, our carbon footprint on feed alone was 536,” says Howard. “Since taking soya out, we’ve got it down to 238.”

Tackling mastitis

“One of our biggest battles has always been clinical mastitis,” says Tom. “Our cell count is only about 150, but we currently see around 63 cases per 100 cows per year.

Reducing the number of mastitis cases is a target area Howard and Tom will focus on as part of the strategic dairy farm programme. They have begun working with vet, James Breen, Map of Ag and Nottingham University, to try to address this, with the goal of cutting down on medicine use and increasing both welfare and profitability.

“Testing has shown that it is exclusively environmental infection,” says Tom. “Previously the herd was divided into three groups, each with their own area in the shed. Working with James, we have now opened this up to give the cows more space and loafing areas.

“Analysis suggested a lot of the mastitis could have been caused by faecal particles which were probably being picked up from spending too much time lying down in the sand cubicles. By providing more loafing space, we hope it will give them more space to wander around. This reduces the likelihood of the beds becoming contaminated as there is less activity in front of the beds and cleaner passageways.”

Howard and Tom have also changed the type of sand used in the cubicles. “When we first put the cubicles in, we started on beach sand,” says Tom. “When this was no longer available, we tried numerous products. We ended up with a sand more like a builders’ sand which we were digging out and replacing every five to eight weeks.

“We’ve now replaced this with a sand which is still quarried but has bigger particles and is more like the original beach sand, which is freer draining. We have been on this for five months now and haven’t needed to dig the beds out and replace them. We take samples to test for bacteria regularly, and so far, these have all been stable. When we see a change, we will replace the sand, but it’s expected that this will be every six to 12 months.”

Howard and Tom are rightly proud of their set up and continue to strive to find ways to improve. Efficiency has been key to the success of their business, but it is this focus that has also allowed them to reduce their carbon footprint.