ABOVE In-calf heifers are now wintered on silage and Brian is pleased with the results.
RIGHT Young stock and dry cows are now wintered on sand cubicles rather than straw yards in a bid to reduce costs.
BELOW RIGHT Sam Moorhouse is driving the next venture at Aireburn by starting Skyr yoghurt production this summer.
are now on deep sand cubicles with sand saving honeycomb mats in the base, something we are really pleased with. The heifers have also grown well on the silage based ration which again is cheaper than straw and concentrates. At the same time as updating the heifer shed we also changed the dry cow housing to the same system.”
Surplus heifers are regularly sold at Skipton Auction with an average of three sold each month. Brian has found that both pedigree and com- mercial men are looking for a similar type of animal now compared to 10 or 20 years ago.
“Everything has changed, I remem- ber when there used to be a produc- tion sale every week and it was quite a social aspect. But the market now seems to be for fresh calved animals and most buyers will pay a premium for a medium sized animal
with plenty strength, good feet, legs and ud- ders. As well as heifers we keep between six and 10 bulls a year which we sell to repeat customers privately and through Skipton Auction.” With limits on expan- sion caused by a struggle to cope with any more slurry, Sam is driving a diversifi cation project to produce Skyr, an Icelandic style yoghurt.
“I have been looking at ways to add value to what we are already doing on the farm without increas- ing cow numbers and I wanted to do something different. Skyr has been the staple dairy product in Iceland for decades, it is a natural, semi-set yoghurt that is low fat, low sugar and high protein, making it marketable as both a health and sports product. “I visited Iceland to fi nd out more and met an advi- sor who used to manage production of Skyr on a large scale. The product uses skimmed milk so I’m working with Dales Dairies, our milk buyer to buy back skimmed milk until I am in a position to be able to buy my own machines to skim and pasteurise the milk.
“Things are in a very early stage, but the production area is ready and I’ve been taught how to make it so we will be up and running soon. I’ve been in touch with local farm shops and hotels and the interest is encouraging. We will also market through Deliciously Yorkshire at farmers markets which are strong in the local area.”
THE JOURNAL JUNEL 2015 53
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