REASEHEATH’S BUMPER CROP OF STUDENTS
RIGHT 150 students
milk the Genus MOET
herd in Reaseheath
College’s new rapid
exit parlour.
BELOW Will Lewis
milks at Reaseheath
on the CIS monthly
recording day.
L
iving up to its reputation as one of the country’s leading
land-based colleges, Reaseheath College in Cheshire contin-
ues to attract a bumper crop of agricultural students. This year,
Reaseheath’s 250 agricultural students are enjoying milking the
renowned Genus Moet herd in a cutting edge 32/32 rapid exit
WestfaliaSurge parlour.
Reaseheath’s students are heavily involved with the day to day
running of the Moet herd. The National Certificate and National
Diploma first year students have to complete weekly stock duties
such as milking, feeding and bedding up. The Advanced National
Certificate students record heifer weight, height and body
condition score monthly and put their findings into the Cattle
Information Service (CIS) Your Herd program. All students benefit
from practical sessions covering weekly tasks such as vaccinations,
disbudding, halter training and foot bathing.
Another main asset to the students’ learning is the wealth of
Holstein breeding knowledge which is passed over by experienced
Moet Herd Manager Philip Dobson. The students also learn how
to linear score and then test their skills when the Holstein UK
classifiers visit. The classifiers spend time explaining their reasons
for scoring each heifer or cow and their input and encouragement
is much appreciated by the students and staff.
CIS have also set up four demonstration programmes using
Moet data so students can practice putting in different scenarios
and accessing reports without affecting the real live herd data.
Advanced National Certificate dairy students have been entering
data such as monthly young stock height and weight records, and
have been highly impressed with the ease of navigating the CIS
website and accessing reports on herd performance. They will be
using this system to help with their livestock production systems
module, when they benchmark Moetnulls performance against similar
high yielding herds and compare them to herds on different
management systems.
Student Harry Salt, whose family business Quixhill Farm,
Denstone, is already a CIS client and milks 125 pedigree Holsteins
66 THE JOURNAL APRIL 2009
e2-09 Reaseheath.indd 2 01/04/2009 08:13:37
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120  |  Page 121  |  Page 122  |  Page 123  |  Page 124