ABOVE LEFT Reydon Arron Renate 11 EX90 has had six calves.
ABOVE RIGHT A daughter of Mtoto Annie 13, Reydon Mammoth Annie 25 is a GP84 scored heifer.
before I joined in 1998. Around that time a number of cows were bought from Hazeldean and Hayleys, with some from the Designer herd too.
“The Lauras originate back in the original non-pedigree commercial herd and include the EX92 classified Reydon Jordan Laura 8 which has given more than 11,500kg in each of her second to fifth lactations. Another good family is the Praline family which comes from the Hayleys herd and the Beauty and Jessie families from Hazeldean are doing well too. We’ve now only got one bought- in cow left in the herd, a Hayleys cow which is 14 and due her next
in December. She’s done more than 130t in her lifetime and certainly doesn’t owe us anything.”
On the breeding front Jim aims to start serving cows about 42 days post- calving, allowing up to four services to AI before cows are turned in with the Hereford sweeper bull. “I like to give cows every chance to get in calf, with our calving interval sitting at 415 days and cows getting 7-8 weeks dry. Anything classified at less than 80 points is served to a beef bull from the outset.
“It might not suit everyone, but it’s working for us and means we get the best out of our cows,” he explains.
Jim applies the same theory to calving heifers, preferring to leave them until about 18 months old before serving them to calve at 27 months. “I prefer to let the heifers grow out before calving, so up to now have avoided calving at 24 months. It is something we’re reviewing and with cow size on the large side we could perhaps calve younger without doing any detriment to the herd.”
Fed a TMR all year round the herd’s diet is based on grass and maize silage, with brewers grains sourced from local brewer Adnams along with sugar beet pulp, straw and a cereal replacer. “A protein blend and minerals are added to that, with cows fed to appetite,” adds Jim. “High yielders are fed on the way out of the parlour in the morning and
THE JOURNAL OCTOBER 2014 49
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