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fertile, says Ronald, is the herd’s health status and the policy of keeping a closed herd and running a strict biosecurity policy. “The herd is vaccinated for BVD, Lepto and IBR as well as being BVD free. We also Johnes test every quarter as part of our Tesco contract, he explains. “We don’t buy anything in now and anyone visiting the farm is asked to dip their boots to ensure we don’t bring disease in. I firmly believe keeping the herd healthy is essential to keeping it fertile and cuts out any potential problems, particularly in high yielding cows where they are already operating near the peak of their potential.
“And while vaccinations and monitoring take care of many of the key diseases we’ve also invested heavily in the facilities to keep the herd healthy and efficient too. The new cow housing erected four years ago
was built along Continental lines with a 22 degree pitch on the roof, delivering a better chimney effect for ventilation and this combined with automatic blinds on the sides helps keep the airflow optimised, meaning beds stay fresh.”
Ronald says this helps keep mastitis levels low, as well as helping lower the chances of respiratory disease issues and ensuring a pleasant environment for cows to thrive in. “It’s without doubt the best cow housing we’ve ever had and has been central to the decision to house cows all year round.
“With a building like this cows are always in the best environment, no matter what the weather. We bed with sawdust on top of the mattresses in cubicles twice a day which also helps keep udders dry, reducing mastitis risk.”
But while health is important to the Barrons, so is nutrition and
breeding, with heifer rearing a central cog in the wheel to ensuring healthy, fertile, long- lived cows, explains Laura who is in charge of calf rearing. “Getting calves off to a good start is vital to them being productive later in life. We feed calves their own mother’s colostrum for the first five days and then they move on to a V40 Volac automatic milk feeder along with ad-lib 18% calf pellets.
“That gets them off to a great start and they are then weaned once they’ve been on the feeders for 54 days and moved on to straw and an 18% heifer rearing pellet, with heifers going out to grass during the summer months. Then they move on to a TMR diet for the winter to grow scale and frame without putting too much fat on,” she explains. Heifers are generally served at 13-14 months, with service decisions made on size rather than age and all of one batch
Calf rearing is a key focus of the Barron’s business.
Cows are introduced to a ration similar to the milking ration three weeks prior to calving.
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