A SHOT IN THE ARM FOR WYNDFORD
Sarah Liddle visits the Wyndford herd near Newport in Shropshire, which has recently moved to a new unit and has been set ambitious targets to secure its place in the Maddocks family’s substantial farming business
O
ver the last few years, the Maddocks family’s Wyndford herd has been gathering momentum. Only six years ago, it reached a crossroads with
David, who had fi rst established the pedigree herd in 1949, and his young- est son Richard undecided as to the future sustainability of the pedigree 100 cow herd within the overall farm business. This consists of over 2500 acres of owned, rented and FBT land growing grass, oilseed rape, maize, wheat, bar- ley and potatoes, and is coupled with David’s eldest son running a 2000-acre salad business on an adjoining farm. The dairy herd compliments the light sandy loams at Chadwell; soil structure is maintained to support high value crops with the inclusion of short term grass leys and farmyard manure into the rotation wherever possible. With the decision made to update the dairy unit and the herd to make its contribution viable, over the next few years it has been full steam ahead and the Wyndford herd is on the up. The herd is fi rst and foremost a milk producer, with the expectation that every milker will produce on average 30 litres of milk per day to earn her keep. This means regular calving and good health are paramount and these requirements have been the driver to herd manager Ben Yates since he joined the farm in 2005. He inherited a herd that was based on many Terling and Lavenham bloodlines introduced by David Maddocks as a result of annual purchases from these herds between the late 1950’s and early ‘80s. This latter decade saw the introduction of North American Holstein blood and since then many great North American families have come into the herd. Initially, Ben’s role was to work with the existing 30-year-old parlour to drive yields up and the management of the herd forward so that it could be expanded and grow to a size that could support both himself and an assistant herdsman, as well as part-time cover from the arable side of the business; there are nine full-time employees in the arable business, four of whom assist with the cows on a
32 THE JOURNAL OCTOBER 2011
rota to cover holiday and time off. The company also runs a lorry for hauling produce off the farm and feed back on. Within this plan, there was the intention of building a new unit on a green fi eld site which, after two years of planning, was started in April 2010 with the cows moving in on 1 October. To facilitate the herd expansion, 30 freshly calved heifers were bought at an average of just under £1600 from the Carkin, Ashdon and Fingan herds and already cow numbers have reached 200, with the new loose housing building having the capacity for 300 cows. Ben was given the brief of designing and working with all the contractors involved in the new facility as he is the person who has to make the structure work on a day-to- day basis and, in conjunction with Richard who is in control of the business, they worked on a three quote basis on elements such as the building, electrical work, parlour etc.
In essence the new site is very simple; a large 2200 m3
houses the entire herd and the parlour. There is a main central
ABOVE The new unit houses the milking herd and the parlour.
LEFT Wyndford Jordan Contented 384 VG89-3yr has a second record of 12,240 kg in 305 days.
shed that
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