sires from strong, proven cow families to protect the herd and where possible use an outcross pedigree.” Current AI sires include proven bulls Dorcy, Mogul, Shottle, Navarro and Atwood, while genomic sires are Octavian, Josuper, Mesdoor, Penley, MVP and Comander, but Brian and Sam are already looking at the next genomic bulls to use.
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The focus at Aireburn is on a simple management system. Cows are fed TMR most of the year and during summer when the weather is good cows are out during the day. Due to the type of land and with a rainfall of be- tween 45 and 65 inches, Brian has realised that it is better to look after the swards with sheep rather than reseeding.
A simple approach is the preferred option for herd management, with
a fi rm focus on the basics, says Sam. “In our aim to keep things simple we look after the cows and give them what they need – fresh food, clean water and clean, comfortable beds. The TMR is made up of grass silage with brewers grains, short chopped straw, soda wheat, blend and miner- als. Cows are also topped up to yield when they are milked twice a day in the 12:24 Westfalia parlour.” The rolling herd average is 10,123kg at 3.84%bf and 3.15%p with a calv- ing interval of 426 days. In a drive to reduce the calving index Brian signed up to Genus RMS last December.
“I hope that having a
The focus at Aireburn is on a simple herd management system
ABOVE LEFT Aireburn Sam Bevin VG89 is a Mr Sam daughter out of the EX91 Joelee Outside BC Bevin.
ABOVE RIGHT Aireburn Indro Sarah EX91 sold at the 2006 production sale to Willsbro Holsteins.
BELOW LEFT Cows are bedded on deep sand beds with sand savers in the base and sawdust on the top.
BOTTOM Aireburn cows are turned out during the summer weather depending.
technician coming in will help us focus on fertility and cows will hopefully be served sooner, reduc- ing the days in milk and increasing productivity. I will still look after AI’ing the heifers which are current- ly averaging 27 months at calving, but we are aiming to reduce that to 24 months.”
With the volatile milk market the Moorhouse family reconsidered their youngstock rearing system to reduce costs. Heifers used to be reared on straw yards until they were 15 months old and fed on straw and concentrates, however, cubicles have been built in replace of the straw yards and they are now fed on a silage, straw and blend ration.
“Heifers always wintered well, but it was an expensive system with everything being bought in. They
52 THE JOURNAL JUNE 2015
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