Accolade for farming pair
A Shropshire dairy farming couple have been judged regional finalists in a major farming competition. David and Rachel Lee, of Winnington Green Farm near Welshpool, have made it through to the national stages of the National Grassland Management Competition,
run annually by the British Grassland Society, and sponsored by DLF Trifolium and Kemira GrowHow.
The competition sets out to find the farmer who best demonstrates excellence in the management of grass and forage, leading to profitable livestock production and care of the land.
Seven years ago the Lees ran a high yielding 140-cow Holstein herd on their 74 ha (180 acre) grass farm, and relied heavily on conserved forage to produce milk. Since then they have done a complete 'U' turn - with 250 cross-bred cows, and 110 followers, on a 'milk from grazed grass', spring block calving system.
Their grassland management policy is to grow high yields of grass, which is utilised as much as possible. To achieve this, the farm is set up into paddocks which are rotationally grazed from mid February to December. Cows go into a paddock when there is 2800kg DM/ha growth, and leave it once they have grazed it down to 1400kg DM/ha. This regime maintains all the swards in top quality throughout the grazing season.
As cow size has diminished, stocking rate has risen to 3.36 cows/ha, and the amount of pasture consumed is a high 13.67t DM/ha/year. This year the cows have produced an average of 6,000 litres of milk, off 800kg of supplement.
A fall in fertiliser usage to 150 units N/year, applied in small 20-unit doses, has encouraged clover growth. Dirty water collected in a lagoon is applied in dry periods after grazing - and the small amount of solid muck produced in the short time the cows are housed, is spread after final grazing.
Grass silage is cut to take surplus growth out of the grazing rotation in the spring. A small acreage of triticale and maize is also grown for silage, and there is 6.5 ha (16 acres) of stubble turnips for outwintering.
"David and Rachel are deserved winners in this region," says Nigel Young, who is BGS president this year. "Implementing a completely new way of working is never easy, yet the Lees have done it very successfully in a comparatively short time.
"They clearly enjoy their farming now, are very much on top of the job, and are running a profitable operation, despite the low milk price. They have no regrets about making the change, and are confident they now have a system in place that will cope with whatever the future throws at them."
Three finalists will be short listed from the six regional winners to go forward to the national round. The finalists will then meet in November to make a short presentation about their farms and farming practice, before the winner is announced.
The winner will receive a cheque for £500 and the coveted crystal Kemira Trophy.
By Heather Jones - hjones@shropshirestar.co.uk
