allowed us to establish pedigree cow families at the same time as expanding numbers to ensure the herd was able to support all those depending on it for a living,” he adds.
However, while some may believe large pedigree herds require wrapping in cotton wool to be successful the Muldrew family firmly believe in keeping herd management simple and protocol driven. “We’re adamant that to be successful this herd has to be managed to a high degree, but not so much so that it can’t function commercially. As a result we take care to manage cows to a high degree of precision, including PD’ing every two weeks and hoof trimming on the same regime.
“But that doesn’t equate to molly coddling, the aim is to stay on top of and be in-front of health and fertility issues to ensure the herd remains efficient and in peak productivity.”
TOP LEFT Cows feeding in the original cubicle shed.
TOP RIGHT Two adjacent 20:20 parlours where cows are milked three times a day.
BELOW RIGHT The Dillon herd has been successful in herds competitions since the herd was established six years ago.
And the same level of care passes through to the herd’s financial and productivity targets, with the brothers setting monthly and quarterly targets with consultant Jason McMinn and regularly reviewing feeding plans with nutritionist Morgan Sheehy. “We also employ retired dairy farmer Jim Gilliland to take care of all pedigree paperwork and herd record management including Farm Quality Assurance, medicine books and nitrate levels, freeing us up to concentrate on managing the herd to its full potential,” explains Trevor. “We purchased Jim’s Ashvale herd privately, he had a super herd that was best Northern Ireland herd in 1984.”
As well as buying in larger groups of cows to fuel the herd expansion and pedigree status the brothers have also bought select cows with the vision of
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