Shropshire dairy businesses in running for prestigious award
Six dairy businesses have made the final line up in the 2024 NMR RABDF Gold Cup, including three from Shropshire.
Among them is PJ & PE Ashley & Son, Condover, Shrewsbury.
Husband-and-wife team Stephen and Ruth Ashley run the 162-hectare dairy unit with Stephen’s parents, Pat and Peter.
For the past eight years, their Holstein herd has been milked through robots. Two full-time employees work with Ruth and Stephen, as well as two part-time staff for weekends and maintenance.
The all-year-round calving herd is fully housed and fed a partial mixed ration, and a 16 per cent protein concentrate according to yield.
The ration and management system supports the high-yielding herd, which ranked third in NMR’s top 1% nationally for the year ending September 2023.
Sexed semen has been used on the best heifers and cows and the Ashleys are now genomically testing to improve the accuracy of selecting animals for replacements.
Harper Adams University Future Farm, Newport is also in the running.
Kate Robinson and her team manage the 400-cow Holstein herd, which is part of the University’s Future Farm.
The dairy operates on 227 hectares and is run by five full-time staff.
Although the dairy unit is not a ‘typical’ farm, and is involved in research and teaching activities, it is expected to perform commercially and achieve exceptional industry-based standards, and also to demonstrate good practice.
The team of staff is a vital ingredient in helping to achieve this and efforts are made to create a good working environment.
The all-year-round calving herd is fully housed and fed a TMR. Cows are milked through a 40-point internal rotary parlour, three times a day.
A small proportion of the herd has been bred with sexed Montbeliarde and Viking Red semen to help to breed a more grazing type cow.
And G.E Oakley & Sons, Whitchurch is also in the running for the honour.
Father-and-son team John and Ben Oakley manage a herd of 195 mainly Holstein cows, plus a few crossbreds, and 115 followers, with the help of one full-time staff member.
The unit comprises 100 hectares, which supports summer grazing and forage production for the autumn-calving herd.
Beginning in August, more than 80% of cows calve by the end of October. The herd is housed during the winter and fed a partial mixed ration.
Milk from forage, which is now at 51%, has increased by almost 1,000 litres in the 12 months to March 2024, while concentrate use per cow has reduced by 15% and is currently 0.26kg per litre.
They have recently taken on a neighbouring block of land that will allow them to increase cow numbers to 240 and rear youngstock – both dairy and beef calves – on site.
E A Lovatt & Son, Broughton Astley, Leicester is also shortlisted.
Mark Lovatt, with his father Edwin and wife Saffron, run the 268-hectare unit, which supports their 220-cow herd, plus 140 followers, and around 230 head of beef from the dairy herd.
There’s a firm focus on feed efficiency in this all-year-round calving Holstein herd and Mark keeps routines consistent, particularly with feeding and rations. Similar quality grass silages, across multiple cuts, are clamped together to improve the consistency of the diet for longer periods.”
Cows are fed once a day, with feed pushed up automatically every two hours. Four Lely A5 robots have been successfully introduced.
Herd efficiency and longevity start from birth with calves reared in a dedicated room for newborns, which is covered by the strictest biosecurity.
Calf mortality is extremely low with more than 99% surviving to six months old.
Health and fertility are key in the quest for improved herd efficiency and sustainability.
The other two Gold Cup finalists are Andrew Rowe, Liskeard, Cornwall and Newley Farm, Taunton.
Judges, RABDF Chairman Robert Craig and vice Chairman Tim Downes, NMR veterinary officer Karen Bond and Gold Cup winner 2022 Alistair Logan, have visited each farm.
The Gold Cup 2024 winner will be announced along with other breed specific and lifetime yield award winners selected from Gold Cup entries on the NMR stand at 4pm, at DairyTech, Stoneleigh, Warwickshire on February 5, 2025.
