Andy Webb using the new farming app
it saves so much time and once you get used to it, it’s honestly very, very, simple,” he adds.
The dairy herd is served main- ly by Holstein Friesian bulls, with the Friesian bull calves put on a 12-14 month intensive indoor sys- tem. The heifers are all reared as replacements. He used some sexed semen this year, and although
nearly twice the price, feels it was well worthwhile with 18 of 20 heif- ers in calf at first service. Bull calves are reared in groups
of five, then moved to groups of 10. At the end of the fattening process they are sold to wholesalers and most end up with retailer Tesco, the buyer of his milk.
Some Belgian Blue is also
used on the dairy cows, and the farm has a Limousin bull to help ‘clean up’. These calves, heif- ers and steers, are reared on the same system, but grazed for 12 months before coming inside to be finished, thereafter they go to a local butcher. This is an 18/24 month system, depending on the time of year they’re born.
“We have some ridge and fur- row grassland that needs to be grazed, so these calves make good use of this,” says Mr Webb. He makes plenty of silage – with 65ha of first and second cut in the clamp, and around 800 large round bales made. First cut analysis shows a a protein level of 17.9%, compared with 13.3% in 2016. “We use all our own cereals, growing wheat, barley, maize and beans,” he says. “We make about 30 acres of maize silage too, and grow oilseed rape which is sold off the farm.” His only purchases are soya, some molasses and minerals, all mixed in a TMR. An independent nutritionist does the rations, and he stresses how important it is to keep to low cost rations and high feed conversion rates, in order to stay in profit. “For the time of year, the beef price is quite good at the moment, about 50p/kg up on this time last year, but you have to keep your eye on it all the time. That’s where Herdwatch comes in, it makes my decision making much easier and much more effective.”
OCTOBER 2017 • MIDLAND FARMER 11
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
