ABOVE An extension was added to this shed to house in-calf heifers.
RIGHT Cows are housed all year round on a high input high output system.
FAR RIGHT Will would advise anyone in a similar situation not to invest too heavily in permanent features.
BELOW Milk from Meadow Farm is sold to Wiseman on a Co-Op contact.
Sanchez Leona is out of an EX92 Shottle dam that is a granddaughter of Licorice. “There is also a granddaughter of Copywood Integrity Sara in the herd by Rampage, purchased as an embryo she is out of Riverdane Strawberry Red, an EX91 Talent daughter. Classifi ed VG87 Distinctive Rampage Strawberry has a Willsbro Red Razzle daughter in the herd.” Stanhope Talent Rae was a purchase made in partnership with Bill Nadin and is still milking in the herd in her seventh lactation, adds Louise. “She has bred daughters by Damion and Jeeves in the Distinctive herd with the Jeeves recently calving a heifer calf. She also
bred Sterndale Kite Rae EX94 who is the dam of the successfully shown Sterndale Goldwyn Rae EX92.
“One family that started through the purchase of an older cow was the
Triuna family, they stem from Sterndale Flip Triuna EX94-5E which was purchased at the Sterndale Sale. She bred two daughters that will hopefully develop the family in the herd.”
When it came to funding foundation purchases Will was fortunate to receive his share of the partnership from the home farm allowing him to buy cows without any borrowings which got them off to a good start. “We were also fortunate to both have assets to use as security and this helped pay for rent. It is important not to have all your eggs in one basket. “Getting going was tough, there are expenses that build up, even buying tools such as hammers and saws soon tallied up.
“The one part we managed to stay under budget on was machinery – neither Louise or myself are keen on tractors so we didn’t look for anything fancy, but just bought something that would do the job. Other than spreading fertiliser contractors carry out all the fi eld work,” explains Will. But the wet summer of 2012 proved a challenge, says Louise. “We hadn’t budgeted on a bad summer so soon after starting and following the wet summer in 2012 we were short of forage to feed and I was working to pay for feed for the cows. If we hadn’t had my salary to see us through we’d have had to take a loan, not a risk we wanted to face so early on.” More recently Louise has recently been appointed as Cheshire Sales Manager for Genus ABS following two years lecturing at Reaseheath. Both Will and Louise say others thinking of following in their footsteps shouldn’t be put off by the challenge. “If it doesn’t scare you then why bother – you need to have a challenge to drive you to make you succeed and feel proud to have achieved it,” says Louise.
“But, also, never be scared to take a break from the farm, some time out enables you to see different perspectives and stops you from getting totally
42 THE JOURNAL APRIL 2015
burned out.”
And Will says spending time working elsewhere can also be important. “We’ve both travelled a bit, both around the UK and abroad and it is useful to have seen good and bad systems to give guidance for the future. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes – so long as you learn from them and don’t make them again.
“If you are renting try not to make investments in too many permanent features. I’ve laid concrete sleepers in the yard where it got quite dirty in winter, this way I can lift the sleepers if need be. Consider any investment against the time of the tenancy and whether it justifi es itself. “One piece of advice I’ve stuck by is to pay those people you rely on such as contractors and feed suppliers, on time. This usually results in a better service and also it can help spread cashfl ow, we try to pay contractors before they start work so as to prevent big bills building up.
“Before embarking on such a commitment you defi nitely need to have love and passion for it, but not have regrets. You need to be prepared to work long days to get going, but also cost your own hours.”
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