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In the 'Bridge Farm Diary' we are aiming to give you an insight into the running of Bridge Farm, what we are doing and the reasoning behind our ideasInput will be from the Technical Team, Peter Shipton, Tom Bell, Lucy Carling and Jenny Ashton, along with some input from David Cotton and the farm staff. |
18th April 2012
Mastitis can prove costly to the dairy herd, and many dairy farmers would like to reduce the incidence of this disease. Through the winter here at Bridge Farm, the milking routine has included using a pre milking teat spray followed by paper towel to clean and dry the teats prior to milking. This has improved udder health and somatic cell counts and mastitis incidence reduced gradually throughout the winter – the average bulk milk cell count for March was 136 and there were just 3 cases of mastitis in the month (average cows in milk for March ’1 2 was 165). Even small reductions in mastitis cases can improve profits! Lucy Carling |
5th April 2012This week I carried out mobility scoring of the dairy herd. I do this every month as the cows come out of the parlour, as this is an area of good concrete which they are confident in walking on. It is important to score the herd in the same place from month to month as they will walk differently on different surfaces – they will be sounder on grass, and worse on slippery, uneven concrete. The routine mobility scoring has allowed us to track how well we are doing in improving foot health and keeping on top of routine foot trimming. This month only 11% of the cows were score 2 (impaired mobility), with no cows at score 3. If the cows which are score 2 have not yet had their feet picked up, this will be done in the next week.
Lucy Carling |
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26th January 2012Bridge Farm is still busy calving with the second flourish of heifers entering the herd, 11 have calved within the last week providing Steve with some excitement during milking! Unfortunately feed space for the herd is below optimum due to demolition of the outside feed trough to enable its reconstruction and improvement. This will no doubt improve dry matter (DM) Intakes long term but unfortunately reduce DM Intakes for the lower ranked cows while it's finished. The winter period marks a busy time not just for calving but also serving, early results suggested issues with cows holding to 1st service. Therefore it was decided to increase the amount of maize fed in the ration to improve energy supply. The M + of the diet has increased from M+24 to M+28, which is helping reduce the C.S loss of the fresh calvers in early lactation. Latest reports show this tweak to the ration is working, as cow condition is improving across the herd and the latest P.D results suggest a radicle improvement.
The farm has historically seen excess B.C.S in late lactation, therefore a careful eye will need to be paid throughout the remaining winter to ensure the protein in the ration is correct to minimise this for the August/September calvers while the herd remains as one group on a M+28 diet.
Milk yield across the herd is now just below 32 litres with a few stale milkers to be dried off this next week or so, this figure will no doubt increase. Monthly forage stocks will need to be conducted to ensure there is enough maize left in stock to supplement the high yielding cows during early spring at turnout. Tom Bell |
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23rd December 2011The Round House is now full with approximately 80 animals. There are currently 20 dry cows and 60 beef animals in 8 pens, each holding around 10 animals. Steve the herdsman said “It was good for handling animals, due to the handling system located in the centre of the building. At this moment in time, we are experimenting with the number of animals to a pen and if the building suits the dry cows”. Steve said to ask him in a months time, to see whether he is happy with the dry cows which have calved in from the round house. |
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17th November 2011David Cotton has increasingly focussed on the value of forage from the 160 cow autumn/winter calving herd. We are well suited to growing grass, with an annual rainfall of 30" on a clay loam soil.
Milk from grazed grass has increased from 1,046 to 2,455 litres per cow in the last 12 months, a 135% increase. The herd is now producing 4,548 litres from forage per cow, 54% of overall production. We have moved ‘West’ on the
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Kingshay Milk Map; producing a similar milk yield per cow from 26% less purchased feed. This has resulted in a saving of £27,900 for the herd. Much of this is due to Bridge Farm is now ahead of the top 25% of producers in its comparative yield Milk from Forage Special Interest Group. To see Bridge Farm's monthly Dairy Manager Costings click here. Peter Shipton |
Soil Type: Clay Loam |
20th October 2011Today the maize crop was harvested, including the Kingshay trial plots. In total 52 acres was harvested, producing over 1000 tonnes. Despite a difficult start to the growing season, the end result was a good crop, averaging a fresh yield of over 20t/acre. Average results are as follows: Dry matter 30%, Starch 33% and 11 ME.
Although the rain held off it was inevitable that the roads got muddy so David spent much of the afternoon washing them down with the slurry tanker. Jenny Ashton |
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14th October 2011The first phase of the new round house has been completed. The main structure is finished we are now waiting for the gates which we expect in a few weeks time. |
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