LOW COSTS AT
PAAHILL
The Paahill herd is managed on a simple, low cost grazing system that is focussed on producing milk as cheaply as possible
L
arge framed cows with chest and rump width as well as deep bodies are central to the successful grazing system run by John Duckworth at Floors Farm, Kilmaurs.
Having established the Paahill herd 35 years ago when he left the family farm in Lancashire to take on a County Council smallholding at Carlisle, John expanded from his original 37 cows to 60 cows through judicious purchases at Lancaster. “I then got the opportunity to expand further when I took on the tenancy of the 145 acre Floors Farm. I moved to Floors with 60 cows and continued to purchase at Lancaster to build the numbers up to 90 cows,” explains John.
“Following the split up of my marriage I had to sell 120 cattle including cows and in-calf heifers in 2000. The timing couldn’t have been worse as the milk price had slumped at that time and the sale averaged £499.
“Fortunately I was only out of milking cows for 12 months with youngstock coming through and the purchase of some bulling heifers.”
Aiming to make the most from grass, cow type has been central to John’s system at Floors. “The herd has always been a functional type although more traditional and the first bull that made a big difference on changing the herd was Grove Brandy.
“Paradise-R Roebuck was another bull that bred hard wearing milky cows with six cows still in the herd, two EX and three VG all in their sixth, seventh and eighth lactations. One of his daughters, Paahill Iris 4 VG89 is the kind of cow that I like, a sixth calver that has milked well. “The Rose family are the most consistent family that regularly
LEFT John Duckworth and partner Ellen Wilson run the Paahill herd at Floors Farm, Kilmaurs.
24 THE JOURNAL JUNE 2015
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