years and will continue to flourish alongside newer families like the Melody, Amanda and Sally. It will be a case of developing world class families that have proven their worth elsewhere and taking them to the next level at Wyndford, with families such as the Maude’s (Hilltara) and the Barbie’s (Regancrest) greatly admired. They will be blended with the leading sires available to breed a medium sized cow that has plenty of chest width and capacity to breed regularly and produce milk efficiently. The herd average is around 10,000 kg at 3.8% fat and 3.2% protein; although milk is sold to Milk Link on a non component-based contract, Ben is keen to maintain and improve solids from the perspective of marketing stock. Shottle has left a number of good daughters in the herd. Of his original 14 born daughters at Wyndford in 2005, four are EX and four VG so far. Thanks to the farm’s central location in the country and easy accessibility to major roads, Genus ABS have brought many visitors to see the group. Since then, Mr Sam has done a good job and the next generation of bulls like Jeeves and Atlas have daughters to calve later this year while bulls like Sid, Seaver, Dempsey and Sanchez are being used alongside some young bulls like the Million son of Barbie and stock bull Wyndford Earl (Goldwyn x Field of Dreams Formation Erle EX95-3E) who has a VG85-2yr full sister in the herd. At the 2009 National Holstein Show, the herd won Premier Breeder as they did at the last Royal Show. One of the stalwarts for the Wyndford show team has been the popular Wyndford James Grey EX94-2E, who was Reserve Champion at Agriscot in 2009 and was nominated All Britain and is now due her fifth calf on 1 December having gained a week over her five calvings. In calf to Sanchez, she has completed a fourth lactation of 12,400 kg at 3.94% fat and 3.6% protein and is considered the epitome of a show cow in that she is easy-care and tremendously well balanced with great dairy strength. At the Huddlesford dispersal earlier this year, David Maddocks bid last at 32,000gns on the sale topper, the EX second calver Huddlesford Mrs Melody who had just freshened with her third. Since then she has gone on to score EX93 and is the seventh generation VG or EX, tracing to Volume 1 of the Herd Book. She is the type of cow that the business is willing to invest in; show-winning type, solid pedigree, high production (she has notched up over 10,000 kg in 200 days at 4.16% fat) and hopefully she can soon develop a family at Wyndford. Mrs Melody has already made a valuable contribution to the show team, winning the Senior Cow class at last month’s National All Breeds Show and helping the Wyndford team to win both the Premier Exhibitor and Breeder banners in the Senior Show; they were also runners up to Knowlesmere for both the Junior banners.
While on the subject of great cows, it would be remiss not to mention the influence of the Rebecca family in the herd. They all descend from the purchase of Grasshill Alta Rebecca, an EX91-3E Prelude whose third dam is in fact Glenridge Citation Roxy EX97. Alta Rebecca gave over 120 tonnes lifetime and, together with her daughters, has yielded over half a million litres of milk. There are now over 60 progeny registered from her in the herd, mainly born without the aid of ET. Rebecca had a VG89 LP110 Slocum daughter, a VG88 LP80 Emerson daughter, an LP50 EX93-2E Convincer in Rebecca 13 (who has been Holstein Champion at many local shows) and an EX90 Drake as well as a VG85 Patron and a GP83-2yrs Mr Sam, leaving a great legacy from which to grow the family at Wyndford. One of the farm’s biggest challenges is somatic cell count with loose housing. Straw demands for the unit are very high and are supported by the arable crops, with the trade off that the farm’s light land, which requires irrigation, benefits from the addition of the FYM, especially
RIGHT Wyndford At- las Winsome 82 won the Senior Heifer in milk class and Best Udder at the National last month. She is yet to be classified.
LEFT A VG88 two- year-old, Wyndford Mr Sam Margi 51 comes from a family that traces back through the Mansion-Val- ley herd in the USA. She has a daughter by Allen and a Bolton son on the ground.
34 THE JOURNAL OCTOBER 2011
before potatoes. The best straw is used for feeding, while poorer bales are used for the heifers and youngstock. The yards are bedding up twice per day and pre milking foam, medicated wipes and post milking dips, all of a barrier nature, are applied by hand as routine to keep on top of the cell count issue. Other routine operations include foot trimming, every nine weeks, and a full winter body clip in November each year, which Ben calculates returns a 5% increase in food consumption and 10% increase in milk yield on completion. All heifers are then fully clipped once they enter the herd for the first time. It seems Wyndford have a clear vision for the future; new facilities will enable the genetics to be exploited and a sustainable unit has been developed which has the cows’ comfort in mind and provides easy working conditions for staff. By working to prevent problems, whether that be routine foot trimming or weekly vet visits, the aim is to maintain the high yields that are needed to bring the economic rewards to make the dairy viable within the whole business for the Maddock’s family. Showing won’t stop as it’s the herd’s biggest marketing tool, and genetics will continue to see investment and also further exploitation in the future while Ben and the Maddock’s are keen to focus on herd health and housing for other animals on the farm. It’s clear to see both milk and stock must be marketable at Wyndford to make the business tick.
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