‘20:20 VISION’
Industry needs 27p
for cows to be attended to in the herd.
By December 2007 a rotary milking parlour
to prosper, insists
was built which gave more time to spend with
Carmarthen dairy farmer
the cows, and veterinary visits were increased
to twice per week.
The UK dairy industry needs a milk By April 2008 this has reduced the Calving
price of 27ppl in order to have a pos- Interval to 410 days, yields were up to 7,100
itive dairy future, according to Car-
litres and 17% dry cows in the herd. “I hate
marthenshire dairy farmer Howell
dry cows in the herd because they just cost you
Richards (pictured left), who spoke
money,” said Mr Richards.
at this week’s Semex dairy confer-
Nutrition was addressed by increasing feed
ence, in Glasgow, entitled “20:20
space, feeding three times a day, introducing a
Vision”. Chris Walkland reports.
consistent diet, more attention to dry cows and
Mr Richards’ vision of the future
introducing a post calving group. In May 2008
was a large, well managed dairy
three times a day milking was introduced.
herd with top class nutrition, cow fertility, cow environment and
By April 2009 herd numbers stood at 1,200
labour. But the milk price would have a major bearing on how
cows, calving index was down to 390 days,
he and fellow milk producers react in future, he warned. “At a
milk yields stood at 10,600 litres and 14% of
milk price of 20 pence a litre farmers faced a fast death,” he said.
the herd was dry. Now plans for the immediate
“At this price, farmers will be trading on their father’s wealth,
future are to improve dry cow management
their own wealth and their son’s wealth. A lot will carry on milk-
by housing and managing them at Cwrt Malle
ing but they cannot expect their sons to follow them into the
rather than on a neighbouring farm, maintain-
dairy industry. Due to the modern education system people now
ing yields and increasing herd size to 1,800
expect to be able to earn 30, 40 or £50,000 a year.
cows. To that end a new shed for 500 more
“At 22 pence a litre many farmers will continue to milk but
there will still be no succession. At 25 pence a litre the top 25%
cows is just being completed. This will have
of herds will be able to make some money and invest in the busi-
a fi ve foot wide feed passage to allow more
ness. But at 27 pence a litre there would be a very positive dairy
space for the cows. “With more room for the
industry in the UK.”
cows there will be less bullying, we will see
Mr Richards explained how he had built up his business, ad-
more cows bulling and overall allow the cows
dressed problems and was currently in the process of expanding
to express themselves better,” he said.
his herd to 1,800 cows. He bought his fi rst farm with his wife
Mr Richards had considered cross breeding
Susan in 1991 when he was 27. They were both working full
but has decided to stick with pure Holstein
time but by 1994 the 44-acre farm had a dairy herd of 50 cows.
cows. “But I don’t want big, rangy cows,”
In 1994 he bought 90-acre Rhos Farm and rented a further 150
he said. “I will stick to pedigree animals
acres. Over the next 10 years the herd was built up to 340 milk-
but those with a smaller frame. We want a
ing cows. In 2004 he purchased his present farm, Cwrt Malle. This
healthy cow which lives a long time — which is
extends to 220 acres and a further 100 acres is rented. In 2006 a
a happy cow.”
further 60 acres was purchased and 120 acres rented and the herd
Last year Mr Richards took on a full time
doubled to 700 cows.
fertility technician but this has not worked
“The herd reached 1,000 cows by 2007 but then the wheels
out. With fertility being such a vital manage-
dropped off,” admitted Mr Richards. “Ineffi ciencies creep up
ment issue he is currently looking at reintro-
on you and our milk yields dropped 1,000 litres to average 6,000
ducing the contract fertility technician or in-
litres, 20% of the herd was dry and the Calving Index was 440
stalling the ai24 Heatime cow activity monitor,
days. “Profi ts were down and poor fertility was costing us a total
which does all the hard work of heat detection
of £270,000 or £270 a cow, which was shameful.”
itself. “One thing that will make or break you
There were lots of reasons for this, he explained - including
is herd fertility,” he warned. “You can’t afford
building work as they expanded the herd, having the wrong type to get it wrong.”
of cow, a reliance on bulls that weren’t performing, and not be- Now that Mr Richards has sorted his man-
ing focussed on cow records. “But at the end of the day it was agement problems and has the herd running
my fault and we could not carry on as we were.” effi ciently and profi tably, he is a big supporter
In response he took on a company to monitor the fi nancial of large dairy units.
aspects of the business more closely, contracted out his fertility “People should never assume that as herds
management, started weekly veterinary visits, took on an expe- get bigger it is a bad thing,” added Mr Rich-
rienced herd manager, employed a nutritional consultant, put ards. “Usually it is the bigger herds that are
auto-ID on all the cows and started to draw up weekly action lists better looked after and managed.”
78 THE JOURNAL FEBRUARY 2010
e1-10 Semex conference.indd 4 27/01/2010 22:00:04
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