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to get the rumen back up to speed before they calve so they can cope with the milking ration and get back in to milk quicker. “When we were working on lower yields that maybe wouldn’t have been so important, but when you’ve got cows giving an average of 35 litres a day it’s vital to keep the rumen functioning properly or you risk problems.” On the breeding front the family are careful to ensure they protect the robustness they’ve bred in to the herd over time, choosing not to buy in cattle. “Plenty of people would be keen to buy in new cow families every so often, but we’ve always avoided that for health reasons. Our cows perform well for us and while we did dabble with a few embryos a few years back we didn’t feel the resultant cows really matched up to our own. “It’s our own old established families, such as the Bellas, the Nickis and the Crocuses
Calves are reared on automatic milk feeders following fi ve days on colostrum.
that are delivering for us consistently and while they’re not some of the fancy families known across the world they’re yielding well and breeding solid robust cows that really work for us.”
As a result the Barrons are careful with bull selection, using a mix of proven bulls and genomic sires to move the herd forward all the time. Ian keeps about 75% of services to proven sires to ensure he’s breeding the sort of cow he wants. “I have faith in genomics and hope to see the benefits as time progresses, but proven bulls still feature strongly in our breeding plans. “We’ve used many of the noted bulls over recent years, with Wyman and Goldfish daughters calving in at the moment and looking really well. In the past we’ve used Comestar Outside, Roylane Jordan, Talent and Shottle heavily and all of those delivered great cows.
“In the tank at the moment are Destry, Bossman, Zeber, Razzle, MVP, Ayers and Jettie,” adds Ian.
The family take pride in what they do, having been in the top 20 herds in the Agri-Scot dairy farm of the year competition every time since its inception as well as being runners up in 2010 and 2014, says Ronald. “We were also finalists in the Royal Northern Agricultural Society good farming practice award in 2013 and Tesco Dairy Supply Group dairy farmer of the year finalists in 2012. Being among the top farms in these competitions helps reinforce that we’re doing things the right way, “It’s a complete team effort, with Donna Muller and Robbie Houston sharing milking duties and contributing significantly to the success of the business” adds Ronald.
Robust cows and tight management are key for Ian and Ronald Barron who are achieving a calving interval of 385 days.
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