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the day and housed at night through the summer from May to September. “They are fed a TMR ration of grass silage, whole-crop wheat and blend, with whole-crop purchased off the field locally.
The herd is averaging 9500kg at 4.35%bf and 3.25%p with cows milking through a 20:20 ADF parlour.
he is by Destry and out of a VG86 scored Skyhigh Respect daughter that is backed by eight generations of EX scored cows from the Vaakje family.” Ridgefield Lightning is a stock bull that left a lasting impression in the herd, by Crestomere Lightning he is from the Laurie Shiek family. He bred 25 daughters or which 24 were classified EX or VG and all bred well.
“Installing the Crystal software from Fullwood has helped
improve fertility and while I check for cycling cows the technology helps to highlight silent heats or cows that are active through the night. As a result the calving index has reduced to 395.”
Selling heifers means the Buntings aim to calve heifers just over two years old with a market for bigger, stronger heifers.
And, with the farm sitting between 950ft and 1200ft cows are turned out during
The 200 cow herd is milked twice a day through a 20:20 auto ID parlour with ADF and variable speed vacuum, which was updated from a 10:20 in 2010. “There are another 10 years left in the parlour at the moment, but I would probably consider robots when it comes time to replace it. We used to milk three times a day and there are definitely performance and efficiency benefits from milking three times a day,” says Will. In 2013 Will had his own success when he won the Matthew Turnbull award for Arla Young Farmer of the Year. This award recognises an enthusiastic and talented person 35 years or under that is successfully running or managing a farm.
Due to restrictions on wind turbines in the Peak Park the Buntings have opted for solar panels.
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