PHOTO: ANNE VAN DER WOUDE
PHOTO: JAN WILLEM SCHOUTEN
WORLD OF DAIR ▶▶▶Y
How resilient is your farm?
What are some key points for building a resilient farm business? A recent webinar held by the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) tackled this topic and provided some insights into how to build a resilient and robust farm business.
BY ZANA VAN DIJK, EDITOR DAIRY GLOBAL
“A really good herd of cows can take years to build up, but with a few years of poor manage- ment you can have a serious problem,” said Oliver Hall from The Andersons Centre.
O
liver Hall from The Andersons Centre – which pro- vides business advice, research and economic analysis to the agricultural, rural and food sectors – looked at some points to consider to build a re-
silient dairy farm business and remain strong and resilient over the years.
Feed factor What can we do today to make our dairy farm business more resilient, taking into consideration weather patterns like drought in the UK, for example? Hall stated that during times of large deviation from average forage production, remaining resilient requires a plan. “Variability in our weather is the new norm, and we need to think about how we prepare for that in our business.” To stay on top of the feed side of things, he said
monitoring is important: quantify and measure forage growth, what crops are yielding year to year, how much is grown currently and how much needs to be grown, as well as silage yields. He added that it is vital to have a backup plan, and that in terms of quantity, it is important to have one tonne of dry matter per hectare farmed or 30 days feed left over when the forage cycle is finished, if you are grazing. He also stressed the value of using good quality feed.
Cow health
A lot of time and money is spent on protecting herd health. Hall said that a really good herd of cows can take years to build up, but with a few years of poor management you can have a serious problem. What is your approach to protect your herd’s health? What is the vaccination plan or decision? What are your strategies to deal with TB or Johne’s for in- stance? These points on a health plan need to be in place and thought about when it comes to protecting the herd and keeping them healthy, productive and performing well. He added that when we have a good business it’s important to protect it if we want to have repeated success year on year.
Dairy farm staff When it comes to staff and employment, length of service
24 ▶ DAIRY GLOBAL | Volume 9, No. 2, 2022
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