Strategic Farms

Derbyshire: Weaning calves to perform at grass and sustaining farm profit in volatile years

Tue, 24 Feb 2026 16:49:04 GMT

Join us at Rough Grounds Farm for a farmer-led workshop looking at rearing youngstock for the best possible transition into the milking herd with Laura Tennant and Beckie Harrison, Bess Neil and Tony Evans. They will also be discussing resilience with grazing systems to stay profitable during lower milk prices.

Calf growth rates can drop quite dramatically once calves are turned out, and noticeable differences are often seen between batches.

The morning session of this meeting has been set up to focus on closing that gap – supporting lower-performing calves to lift growth rates and improve consistency across the group. The aim is simple: better growth now drives better results later.

We will address:

Improving performance in calves with lower growth rates
Strengthening their development into well-grown replacements
Improving grass quality for calves to support stronger growth rates
Improving first-lactation outcomes – with the spring 2025 first-lactation heifer group performing at around 83% of the third-lactation spring calvers
Highlighting the opportunity to narrow that gap through targeted improvements at the rearing stage

Using real-life examples from the Worsey family, this meeting will help you:

Understand the hidden costs of heifer rearing
Discover the ‘true’ value of successfully transitioning your heifers to the milking herd

The afternoon session will focus on making profit in volatile years.

In today’s climate of fluctuating milk prices and increasingly unpredictable weather patterns, maintaining profitability can feel like a moving target. The Worseys have continued to deliver consistent profits despite this volatility – and in this session, Tony will explore how through:

The Worseys’ approach to staying profitable through volatile milk prices
Managing risk in the face of unpredictable weather patterns
Practical decision-making that protects margin, not just output (CFP analysis)
Demonstrating the strategies behind their performance
Clear, practical techniques that you can adopt within your own system

This session is designed to provide practical insight and real figures showing how resilience and profitability can go hand in hand, even in challenging years.

Tea and coffee is served from 10:00, the meeting starts at 10:30.

Speaker profiles

Laura Tennant

Dr Laura Tennant, Young Animal Feed Technical Advisor at Trouw Nutrition GB, graduated with a PhD in ruminant nutrition in 2017. She joined Trouw Nutrition GB in 2019 and is particularly focused on improving hydration in young calves.

Beckie Harrison

Beckie, from Peakfield Farm Vets, has worked with the Worsey family for many years and helped them introduce pneumonia vaccinations and lung scanning, as a part of their healthy calf club.

Neil Bess

Neil, Pasture for Profit consultant at LIC, has spent almost 15 years helping British farmers implement sustainable, profitable grazing systems, drawing on experience gained across three continents.

Tony Evans

Tony Evans is a Partner and Head of Dairy Consultancy at Andersons, and is also a long-standing Forage for Knowledge contributor.

When the rain doesn’t come: Smart grazing in tough conditions

Wed, 10 Dec 2025 15:38:08 GMT

When the rain doesn’t come: Smart grazing in tough conditions

Planning ahead: Accurately budgeting feed for a successful winter

Wed, 10 Dec 2025 13:10:21 GMT

Planning ahead: Accurately budgeting feed for a successful winter

Using tech to talk to soils

Thu, 20 Nov 2025 10:01:45 GMT

Using tech to talk to soils

Wiltshire: Extreme Grazing - How to plan for challenging seasons

Mon, 20 Oct 2025 09:40:19 GMT

Cold springs. Hot dry summers. Relentless rain. Over the last few years British farmers have faced some of the most challenging grazing seasons on record. Wolfhall Farm near Marlborough have rapidly assessed and adapted their grazing strategy to ensure grazed grass could be maximised in their diet.

Join us at AHDB Strategic Dairy Farm Wolfhall Farm where herd manager Antony Mitchell and LIC Pasture to Profit consultant Piers Badnell will review the decisions made this season and discuss how to plan for the extreme weather events in the future.

At this meeting we will discuss:

Using grass growth data to plan grazing strategies
Limiting damage in wet conditions
The when, what and how of cost-effective supplementary feeding
Planning winter forage stocks
Inclusion of forages resistant to climatic extremes

About Piers Badnell:

Piers has been working with AHDB for years, as a part of his role with Pasture for Profit, providing consulancy for our Forage for Knowledge network.

Piers recently worked on a case study with Wolfhall as a part of Forage for Knowledge.

If you would like to better understand how to manage a herd in a grass & forage-based system in climatic extremes, such as the prolonged wet weather of 2023/24 or the extreme dry weather of 2025, this practical session will provide the tools, knowledge, and next steps to take action on farm.

Learn more about Wolfhall Farm.

Scanning for healthy heifers: Tackling early signs of pneumonia

Wed, 01 Oct 2025 09:51:21 GMT

Scanning for healthy heifers: Tackling early signs of pneumonia

Ayrshire farm adopts carbon-saving practices

Wed, 01 Oct 2025 08:08:48 GMT

Ayrshire farm adopts carbon-saving practices

Understanding your data to make better strategic decisions

Tue, 30 Sep 2025 13:17:10 GMT

Understanding your data to make better strategic decisions

Lockerbie dairy farm transforms their business and boosts profitability

Thu, 25 Sep 2025 14:23:06 GMT

Lockerbie dairy farm transforms their business and boosts profitability

What's your machinery really costing you?

Wed, 17 Sep 2025 12:16:28 GMT

Is it smarter to keep running old kit, invest with a neighbour, hire a contractor, or upgrade machinery?

Monitor farmer Tim May, Rob Meadley (Brown & Co.) will review the costs and options to help you make informed decisions.

This meeting will cover:

Review: Insights from Monitor Farm costings to guide smarter business choices
Decision making: Get answers to your questions on managing labour and machinery cost

The event is free to attend, but please register. Lunch will be provided.

BASIS & NRoSo points available.

David Hunte r - Knowledge Exchange Manager - Cereals & Oilseeds

Hampshire: Lean on the land - applying learnings from Japan

Mon, 01 Sep 2025 14:26:19 GMT

Join us at Whitewool Farm for a practical workshop to demonstrate how a Japanese automotive technique can be used to improve business profits with Jamie and Will Butler, and Neil Fedden, Managing Director of Fedden USP.

Neil works with businesses to help create time, that’s then up to the operator to use appropriately. Time to be used to focus on the business and increase profits or more time off farm to spend with family or other pursuits. The workshop will help you get more engagement from staff and show you how to get ‘action plans’ done.

Jamie and his brother Will operate a diversified farming business, with glamping sites, fly fishing, corporate days, clay shooting and self-storage running alongside their 445 ha dairy and arable farm. They use lean management to help identify areas of efficiency and areas for opportunity to lean into their land.

You will hear Jamie's progress since the last KPI meeting at Whitewool and how that links into how he already uses lean principles to manage a successful business. Applying the principles of lean management, Neil will discuss case studies of applications from the farming sector, including from dairy to practically highlight how to apply these to your farm.

10 years ago Neil supported Jamie and the team at Meon Springs to improve the day-to-day routine of milking, scraping and feeding. Jamie says now the efficiency is second to none and almost an hour has been taken off the morning routine, allowing more time for other jobs or an earlier finish for staff.

From clamp to tank

We will walk this process and identify all the potential wastes. Looking at a cow day, what is her ideal, how much time she wants to spend eating, drinking, lying and what affects this and how can we improve.

This is a workshop for the whole farm team, to talk through processes together and share improvements and best practices. You can then go home and apply these lean management techniques to your own business. Standardised processes can be used to inform and train new people as they come on to farm too.

This event will cover

How can a Japanese automotive technique help you to improve your business profits?
What are the stages of lean management and how can this benefit your business planning?
What are the typical areas of waste on a dairy farm?
How to create capacity and time to allow you to increase profits, or spend more time with your family!
How to get more buy-in and involvement from your staff and why this is important
How to implement end to end business mapping, process mapping and waste walks on your farm.
How to start creating ‘Action Plans’ and visual management boards

About Neil Fedden

Neil, Managing Director of Fedden USP, specialises in the application of Lean and Continuous Improvement into Retail, MoD, Local Government, Finance, Agriculture, Horticulture, Manufacturing, Engineering and Process Industries.

Find out more about lean management

Learn about Whitewool Farm

Cheshire: Leaning into Dairy Business Management

Fri, 29 Aug 2025 09:54:06 GMT

Join us at Curtis Hulme Farm for a practical workshop on the lean fundamentals with Dan Humphries.

This workshop will illustrate the fundamental principles of lean management and how they can be applied on dairy farms. You’ll see real examples of how these approaches improve profitability, personal satisfaction and animal welfare.

This workshop will cover:

The core concepts of lean management and how they fit into dairy farming
Examples of how lean has already been implemented successfully on farms
Ways to reduce waste and increase efficiency in day-to-day routines
How lean thinking can improve staff satisfaction and cow welfare
Practical ideas you can try straight away on your own unit
An introduction to the background of the farm, including a farm tour

About Dan Humphries

Dan graduated as a veterinarian from the University of Bristol in 2012 and went on to co-found Horizon Dairy Vets in 2017.

Operating out of Shropshire, he provides hands-on, technical, and management-driven support to farms across the West Midlands and North Wales, helping boost production efficiency. His impact extends globally as well, working with farmers and agribusinesses worldwide to empower and elevate agricultural practices.

Find out more about Curtis Hulme Farm

From data to decisions: Turning numbers into insight

Tue, 26 Aug 2025 11:56:24 GMT

From data to decisions: Turning numbers into insight

Strategic Cereal Farm East 2025: Trial Results and Insights at TMAF

Thu, 07 Aug 2025 14:16:55 GMT

Join us to hear David Jones (TMAF) share his story of his second year as a Strategic Farm host.

Morley Farms (TMAF) became an AHDB Strategic Cereal Farm in June 2023. As a Strategic Cereal Farm, AHDB commission funded research on farm to investigate existing and novel research and demonstrate its practical application.

David will be joined by research partners (ADAS, NIAB and Harper Adams) to deliver the annual trial results.

The trials at Strategic Farm East fall under three work packages:

Rye-grass management: Learning more about Italian rye grass as a weed. Can we be smarter with rotations and cultivations to manage grass weed populations?
BYDV management: Defra now offers £45/ha not to use insecticides. Can we be smarter at insecticide use when targeting BYDV in cereals? Can we manage the risk and use less insecticide?
Nitrogen use efficiency (NUE): This package uses long-term spatial data and alternative sources of nitrogen. Can we use less nitrogen and still produce good yields?

This meeting encourages conversation to shape the aims of the trials going forward. AHDB work at Morley also complements existing long-term projects, which will be discussed.

Refreshments and registration will start at 9:30am, with presentations at 10:00am.

This event is free to attend. Lunch will be provided, but please register so we can cater accordingly.

Basis & Nroso points are available.

Henny Lowth Senior Knowledge Transfer Manager – Cereals & Oilseeds

Human vs machine: The quest for BYDV monitoring accuracy in cereals

Thu, 07 Aug 2025 10:17:02 GMT

Human vs machine: The quest for BYDV monitoring accuracy in cereals

Helping farmers measure carbon: The environment baselining pilot

Mon, 21 Jul 2025 08:36:36 GMT

Helping farmers measure carbon: The environment baselining pilot

Webinar: Nutrient balance – What’s in it for me?

Tue, 15 Jul 2025 10:39:29 GMT

Join our strategic dairy farmers, Gavin Green and Keith Davis from Lydney Park Farms in Gloucestershire and independent soil nutrition specialist Chris Duller as they discuss what a whole farm nutrient balance is, how it’s calculated, and what benefits you will see as a dairy by managing it.

Understanding your nutrient balance can help you identify areas for improvement by tracking the nutrients entering the farm through fertiliser and feed, and the nutrients leaving the farm through milk.

Surpluses are likely to lead to losses both environmentally and financially.

Previous studies have indicated that between 50% and 80% of calculated N and P surplus can result in leaching, runoff or atmospheric emissions to natural ecosystems.

In 2023, Lydney Park Farm had an N surplus of 168 kg/ha. Brendan Horan from Teagasc recommended reducing it to below 100 kg/ha.

We will discuss how the farm can achieve this and the impact it will have on the business and the environment.

We will also be joined by First Milk’s Head of Regenerative Farming, Lee Truelove, as he explains why the co-op are calculating the nutrient footprint for all of their suppliers.

This webinar will cover

How to calculate nutrient balance
What a surplus of nutrients could mean for your farm
How Gavin and Keith started working on balancing their soil nutrients at Lydney Park and why this important for their farm
Calculating nutrient footprint in soils and why this is important for milk buyers

Learn more about Lydney Park Farms

North Yorkshire: Digging into your dairy soils

Tue, 01 Jul 2025 13:13:47 GMT

Join us on Tom Pattison’s farm for a practical session focused on assessing and improving soil and nutrient management.

This event is part of the Strategic Dairy Farm programme and will provide an honest look at current practices, highlight challenges and share evidence-based solutions that work on real dairy farms.

You’ll leave with at least one idea you can take back to your own business, whether it’s about reducing fertiliser costs, managing compaction, or making the most of slurry.

What to expect at the meeting

Review of current soil and nutrient practices on Tom’s farm
Identifying key challenges (e.g. compaction, drainage, nutrient losses)
Understanding nutrient inputs (slurry, fertiliser) and soil health status
Practical solutions to improve soil structure and nutrient efficiency
Reducing reliance on bought-in fertiliser
Integrating soil health into day-to-day dairy operations
Potential demo areas digging with a spade

Speakers

Tom Pattison – Host farmer, sharing current practice and goals
Philip Wright – Independent soil specialist, expert input on structure and nutrient use
Alan McFadzean – Facilitator, AHDB Dairy Knowledge Exchange

Please arrive at 10:30am for an 11am start.

New Strategic Cereal Farm in the Midlands

Wed, 18 Jun 2025 12:53:03 GMT

New Strategic Cereal Farm in the Midlands

One year on: What’s the impact of tackling mastitis?

Mon, 16 Jun 2025 12:57:46 GMT

One year on: What’s the impact of tackling mastitis?