Cowmanagement uk august 2017

V O LU M E 15 N O 5 AUGUST 2017

IN THIS ISSUE

F E E D IN G F O C U S

JO H N E’S C O N TRO L

BU LL P ROOFS

Tips on forward buying and balancing rations

HerdWise winner on track to minimise disease

We take a look at the latest sire rankings

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CO NTENT FEATURES

Cow Talk Overalls off: athletics coach Roger Evans CRV Avoncroft Breeding Information NMR Dairy Management News ForFarmers’ Forage Focus/ Thompsons Nutritional News 46 Events and contacts 4 10 17 21 37 41

REPORTS

12 Zero-grazing boosts grassland use and ley longevity on Norfolk-based unit 34 Grass supports Iceland’s 24,500 dairy cows, managed on 596 units FEEDING

18 Dry-cow management/ Reseeding strategies H E A LT H

30 Tough actions on Johne’s reap rewards in cow health 38 CRV’s ET centre opens its doors BREEDING

42 August bull proofs

Alex Dann “Zero-grazing is a great way to maximise grass utilisation” 12

Editor Rachael Porter Feeding frenzy

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inter seems a long way off in the summer heat of August, but it won’t be long before the girls are back inside – even if only during the night – and producers across the UK start thinking about servicing their mixer wagons, ready for a busy feeding regime.

There’s good news on the grass silage front. Early indications are that quality is particularly good this year – the result of many producers cutting earlier than usual.

We spoke to a leading nutritionist for some tips on how to make the most of your forage and how best to balance winter rations. See page 24 to find out more.

And for those watching over maize crops with an eye on the calendar, we’ve an interesting article on page 26, which highlights the benefits of sowing a cover crop of forage rye after harvest.

Not only can it serve to boost forage stocks, it’s also better for the soil. We spoke to a recent convert to find out more.

Another producer trying something new with considerable success is Norfolkbased Alex Dann.

As if a significant herd expansion and investment in new facilities wasn’t enough, he’s also begun zero-grazing for part of the season and has just started ‘compact’ feeding his milkers. Read our feature on page 12 to find out more.

The Danns are focused on improving efficiency in a bid to mitigate volatility.

And forward buying feed is something that all producer could consider as a means of stabilising costs and taking back some control.

We’ve a ‘how to’ guide on forward buying, which aims to take some of the mystery out of the process and, we hope, may give some readers the confidence to give it a go.

Holstein breeder James Tomlinson gives us his take on the sires making waves in the latest bull proof run.

And Roger Evans shares his thoughts on this summer’s dry weather conditions, and his grass shortage, on page 17.

Main article Forward buying

Special Feeding

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Planning at least a season ahead is key to optimising feed purchases

Maximise first-cut silage potential and tap into cover-crop benefits

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COW MAN AG E ME N T

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Take steps to protect early lactation performance Losing even 10% of milk output during early lactation, due to poor post-calving nutrition and management, can cut income for a 9,000-litre average herd by £126 per cow.

So says KW nutritionist Matt Witt, adding that this can amount to more than £25,000 a year for a 200-cow herd.

“And that’s also without even considering the potential losses associated with reduced fertility and increased health problems,” he adds.

“Half of a cow’s annual yield is produced during the first 100 days in milk and

cow health and performance during that time isn’t just affected by nutrition and management pre-calving. The first eight weeks post-calving are also critical.”

Minimising stress, maximising cow comfort and optimising nutrition should be the top priorities during this time, according to Dr Witt.

“Ensure that fresh feed and water are always readily accessible, housing is clean and there’s space for every cow to lie down – ideally with fresh cows and heifers in separate groups.

“Energy requirements double from pre-

to post-calving, so dry matter intake, rumen function and energy supply are also critical,” he says.

“Use feeds, like sodawheat, to provide rumen-friendly starch. And include British wheat distillers’ feed, the wheatgluten moist feed Traffordgold and high sugar liquid feeds, like Molale, to help balance energy supply and boost ration palatability.

“Also factor in a minimum of 5% refusals – don’t ever make fresh cows ‘clear up’ if you’re serious about maximising intakes.”

Milking sleeves keep forearms dry Dairy Spares has introduced a milking sleeve into the UK from New Zealand.

Dry Cuffs are made from 3-mm thick neoprene ‘wetsuit’ material, and fit closely around the wrist to keep forearms warm, dry and protected.

The neoprene cuffs are ideal for milking and also for a range of outdoor activities where forearms benefit from protective or waterproof cover. They were originally

designed to stop the arms of New Zealand’s fishermen getting scratched when removing crayfish from their pots.

They have since become popular there with dairy producers and gardeners, and even mechanics and builders.

Dry Cuffs retail at £45+VAT per pair, and are available in five sizes.

Information on sizing can be found by visiting www.dairyspares.co.uk

Project launched to eradicate Bovine Viral Diarrhoea A project to eradicate Bovine Viral Diarrhoea in Wales has been launched at the Royal Welsh Show. The ‘Animal

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Health & Welfare Wales – Eradicating Bovine Vial Diarrhoea in Wales’ is a voluntary eradication programme that will help producers to identify herds infected with BVD. It will be managed by Coleg Sir Gâr’s Agriculture Research Centre, in partnership with the Royal Veterinary College (RVC).

The project has been funded by a £9-million award from the Welsh Government’s Rural Development Programme and all cattle farms in Wales are eligible to be part of it, irrespective of size.

BVD is a viral and immunosuppressive disease, maintained by a small population of animals that become persistently infected and are a risk to the health of the rest of the herd.

This affects the herd’s productivity in terms of costs and animal health and welfare issues. It can lead to pneumonia, scours, infertility, and reproductive disorders.

The RVC’s Neil Paton played a significant

part in the project’s development and will act as the veterinary technical lead for its duration.

“BVD represents a significant drain on the UK cattle industry and is an unpleasant virus,” he says.

“This disease eradication programme is the first industry-driven initiative that aims to eradicate a disease in Wales.”

“This new voluntary disease eradication programme will be conducted alongside Wales’s annual herd TB testing regime to help identify herds infected with BVD,” adds Coleg Sir Gâr’s John Griffiths, who is also chair of Wales Animal Health and Welfare Framework’s BVD eradication sub-group.

“Support will also be available to find the PI animals from infected herds.

“The testing phase will continue during a three-year period and, when complete, we’ll hopefully be in an improved position with regards to BVD in Wales with the aim of making Wales BVD free.”

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Feed maize silage after just two weeks A silage inoculant that speeds fermentation, and enables clamped maize silage to be ready to feed just two weeks after ensiling, has been launched in the UK by Realistic Agri.

Bonsilage Speed M is made

by German manufacturer Schaumann Agri and contains a new heterofermentative lactic acid bacteria strain (Lactobacillus diolivorans).

Its metabolism and syner-

gistic effect with the homo-fermentative bacteria reduces maturing time in the clamp, with minimal losses and maximum energy retention.

It typically takes between six and eight weeks for maize silage to stabilise in the clamp after being harvested and ensiled.

But by treating maize silage with this inoculant producers only need to wait two weeks before opening the clamp to start safely feeding it out.

The silage inoculant is suitable for treating both maize and wholecrop silages.

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Free on-farm grass silage appraisals Producer can sign up for a number of free grass silage appraisals at this year’s UK Dairy Day. Available as part of Volac’s Cut to Clamp initiative, which aims to help producers make consistently better silage by focusing on best practice methods for making and feeding silage, the appraisals will take the form of on-farm consultations with a silage expert.

They will include an on-farm audit of the six key stages of silage making, including: cutting, wilting, harvesting, treating, clamping and feeding. And are aimed at identifying practical ways in which silage feed value and keeping quality can be improved.

“We conducted a survey of more than 100

dairy producers before the start of the season,” says Volac’s Jackie Bradley. “And nearly 80% of producers felt they could make better grass silage, with just 19% saying they felt completely in control of how well their grass silage turned out.

“More significantly, the results also highlighted some significant shortcomings in silage-making techniques.”

Good quality silage plays a crucial role in the sustainability of dairy farm businesses, and these are no-obligation, on-farm consultations. “We’re able to offer a limited number at the event, and producers can come to the stand to check availability throughout the day.”

Herbicide is ideal for use on young leys Avoiding growth checks in young grass and controlling a wide variety of weeds are producers’ top priorities when it comes to

spraying new sown leys with herbicide. So says an independent survey carried out on behalf of Dow AgroSciences earlier this summer.

“These worries stem from when producers were relying on products based on different chemistry. They were not as selective or safe as the newer ones used today,” says Dow AgroSciences’ Brent Gibbon.

The company’s new translocated product, Leystar, is designed to be sprayed onto new sown leys from as early as when three grass leaves have appeared. It also controls a wide range of weeds that are present at application, from chickweed and fat hen, through to seedling perennial weeds like docks.

“This product will allow more reseeds to succeed, which is important when the cost of reseeding is between £400 and £700 per hectare,” adds Mr Gibbon.

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M A I N

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Planning at least a season ahead is key to reducing risk

When is the rig ht Increasing volatility is pushing up feed prices but forward buying – with care – could help to mitigate the impact on your business.

We spoke to two market analysts and a producer to find out more. text Roly Marks

V

olatility within the feed markets has increased significantly during the past decade, with price movements now routinely exaggerated by the buying and selling of commodity contracts by investment funds looking to make a quick profit.

On top of that, there’s steadily growing worldwide demand competing for a supply that’s increasingly affected by changes in global weather patterns and politics.

Figure 1 (page eight) shows just how much the situation has changed, with pre-2006 wheat prices affected by supply shortages such as drought, but with low volatility. And while the impact of any price swing can be positive or negative for UK producers, the extent of the volatility and rapid rate of change have dramatically increased the risks associated with feed buying.

Reducing risk Feed is the biggest variable costs on most dairy units and the potential for prices to quickly rebound, by as much as between £30 and £40 per tonne, has huge implications for overall profitability, according to KW nutritionist Matt Witt. “For a 200-cow herd expecting to feed at least 200 tonnes of bought-in feed through the winter, that sort of movement has the potential to add between £6,000 and £8,000 to feed costs,” he says.

“What’s needed is a feed buying strategy that’s aimed at reducing this risk. And this requires planning much further ahead than many realise.”

While the most forward-thinking producers are routinely planning 18 months or more in advance, a good starting point is to always be thinking at least a season or season and a half ahead, advises Dr Witt.

“The key is to know what you’re likely to need well in advance and then to work closely with a supplier who can track the markets, understand the factors affecting prices and give good, honest advice on when to buy.

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cing risk and securing supplies at an optimum price

ig ht time to buy?

Philip Cooke: “It’s a balance between price, risk and securing supplies”

“So in addition to finalising ration plans for this winter, based on what’s currently in the clamp and expected cow performance, producers also need to be working out rough estimates for next year’s grazing season and maybe even next winter.”

Previous turnout dates, grazing areas and grass growth will provide a starting point for calculations, combined with expected post-winter silage stocks and any changes to cow numbers and yields. The area set aside for silaging will give an indication of volumes for next winter and this should be compared to current figures to indicate how much feed requirements might change.

“Then update the figures every few months as actual silage use or grass growth becomes known,” Dr Witt adds. “Be proactive, work out what’s needed and when, and then set about securing those feeds as the price comes right.”

Monitoring markets And this doesn’t automatically mean buying everything in advance on forward contract. Not only is it important to leave room to adjust final feed volumes when rations are finalised, but sometimes the price trend is downwards, so ‘holding off’ is the right thing to do.

“There’s no doubt that it’s getting increasingly difficult to always buy feeds ‘right’, with each type of feed and even individual products affected differently by the factors affecting prices,” says KW senior trader Chris Davidson. “For example, covering soya bean meal forward through the first part of this summer wasn’t the right thing to do, but covering wheat was. And rape meal meal has very much been a spot buy for a long time now.”

Figure 2 shows that there have been regular points during the past five years when taking forward cover on soya bean meal, for between two and six months, was the best move. But the overall trend has largely been downwards. What is just as

COW MAN AG E ME N T

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1,200

1000 900

525 CBOT soya bean meal futures price (US$/ton)

CBOT wheat futures price (US cent/bushel)

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‘perfect storm’: • poor harvests • export restrictions • low stocks • low import tariffs

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drought in US & FSU

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poor US crop

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droughts in Australia and US

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Russian export ban

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500 475 450 425 400 375 350 325 300 275

200 1999

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2007 year

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2012

Buying options The options available for managing feed buying are also no longer limited to just forward contracts on bulk commodity feeds.

It’s now possible to buy a blend in advance if prices are low, for example, then effectively exchange it for an alternative if specification requirements change, while still maintaining the original savings.

More sophisticated still is the option to forward buy individual blend ingredients, building up a portfolio of feeds over time that will form the core of the final blend needed.

It’s a relatively recent development, but one that’s generating a lot of interest.

“There’s already a strong trend for those feeding TMRs to buy all the concentrates as a single custom blend. It eases the pressure on storage and cashflow, and reduces the errors in mixing,” says Mr Davidson. “Being able to flexibly secure the main blend ingredients as the price comes right makes it even more attractive.”

He says that the key is to consider each basket of feeds – such as proteins, fibres, starches – as a unit. “This makes it easier to ‘lock in’ portions of what’s required to spread risk and secure potential cost savings without having to split cover for every single feed.”

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2015

2016

2017

Figure 2: Chicago soya bean meal prices (in US dollars) since 2013 (source: Reuters)

important, however, is how low recent prices have been compared to historic highs.

“It’s easy to see that if poor weather, short supply and high demand were to line up at some point, soya bean meal prices really could jump by between £100 and £150 per tonne,” Mr Davidson continues. “Weighed against a potential downside, limited to between £10 and £30 per tonne, that’s a considerable risk.

“Constant monitoring of the markets is, therefore, essential. But it’s also timeconsuming, so many customers are now placing feed buying in our hands. We keep them updated on market trends and feeds contracted, but are able to react quickly to secure feeds when the price is right.”

C OWM ANAGEMENT

2014 year

Figure 1: Chicago wheat prices (in US dollars) since 1999 (source: Reuters)

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For Philip and Andrew Cooke, based at Sutton Barton Farm near Honiton, extended forward plans have formed a routine part of feed purchasing for several years. Key changes to management, nutrition and feed buying five years ago saw yield increases of around 4,000 litres per cow go hand-in-hand with reduced feed costs.

Close contact Annual milk sales per cow currently stand at 11,800 litres, using a feeding system that’s focused on simplicity and good feed buying.

The 560-strong Holstein Friesians herd is averaging 38.8 litres per cow per day and achieved an income over feed costs (IOFC) for the month of July of £7.11 per cow.

“Keeping things simple and easy to manage is extremely important to us, so apart from some rape meal, soda wheat and the dry cow blend, we have all the straights delivered as a single KW custom blend,” explains Philip Cooke.

Feed buying involves close contact with KW’s Al Harris, who keeps the Cookes regularly updated regarding market trends and any factors that could potentially affect prices and availability going forward.

The custom blend is produced to a fixed specification (13.2MJ ME/kg DM, 22.6% crude protein, 18% starch), allowing some flexibility in composition depending on market fluctuations and which feeds represent the best value.

“We try to keep the blend as consistent as possible to avoid upsetting yields,” Mr Cooke continues. “It’s another advantage of planning well ahead. As well as monitoring prices and being able to secure the feeds we want, we also know in advance if the mix is going to change and can introduce those changes gradually.

“I keep in contact with Al to make sure we can lock in chunks of what we need at good points in the market, and so we can achieve the balance between price, risk and securing supply that we’re looking for.” l

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B E D R I J F S R E P O RTA G E

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Name: Location: Occupation: Hobby:

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Bill Foster Loughborough, Leicestershire Sire analyst Athletics coach

Bill Foster: “It’s good to be able to put something back into the sport”

Going the extra mile text Rachael Porter

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ire analyst Bill Foster is good at spotting potential – and not just in dairy genetics. His other passion sees him spending several hours each week at Loughborough University’s athletics track where he coaches young athletes. So, how did he get there?

Bill was, himself, a top athlete and was a member of the GB team in the 1980s and 1990s. His distance was 1,500 metres – he ran alongside Sebastian Coe and Steve Cram in competitions – with a best time of three minutes and 44 seconds.

And he also ran marathons, competing in both the European and World Cup championships in 1994 and 1995. He had a best time of two hours 15 minutes and ran five marathons for the GB team, including: Athens, Helsinki, Beijing, Istanbul and Crete.

He’s also run marathons in London, New York, and Chicago.

Bill also began coaching in the 1990s: “I was still training hard myself, but my time spent coaching gradually increased. In 2001 I became one of the head coaches at Loughborough,” he says.

He trains athletes from the women’s team for middle and long distances – 800 and 1,500 metres to 5,000 metres and marathons.

“I coach a group of 40 athletes and, so far, I’ve seen 26 go on to compete at international level. It’s rewarding to help young people to achieve their ambitions. And it’s good to put something back into the sport that I’ve enjoyed for many years,” says Bill.

One former student who he still coaches is Lauren Deadman, who came fourth in the 2016 Olympic trials in both the 5,000 and 10,000 metres. Sophie Tarver, pictured with Bill, is currently one of the best young athletes in the country. She was second in the England Schools 1500-metre championships in 2016 and ran for England (under 20s) in Spain in February 2017.

Bill says he’s lucky that he’s able to arrange his work around athletics coaching – and vice versa. “I work 20 hours a week for Genus and spend the rest of the working week coaching.”

He was still competing up until five years ago: “I won the over 40s and the over 50s World championship titles for 3,000 metres indoors. And I also ran the great North Run in 2010 in just 73 minutes. I completed the 13-mile course in 63 minutes when I was younger.”

Bill, who grew up on a dairy farm near Harrogate, says that he feels lucky. “In 2016 I became president of the club I used to run for – Blackheath & Bromley AC. I’ve been a member of the club for more than 40 years and it was such an honour to take that role in an Olympic year. And it’s also a privilege to work at the university. It’s a big job – a lot of responsibility. It keeps me busy and fit.”

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H E R D

R E P O RT

Zero-grazing boosts grassland use and ley longevity

Cut-and-carry approach increases utilisation

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Carting cut grass to the feed passage during mid to late summer is helping to maximise grass utilisation and extend ley life on one recently expanded Norfolk-based unit. We visited the herd during ‘cutting season’ to find out more. text Rachael Porter

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t’s been a busy couple of years for Norfolk-based producers Simon and Alex Dann. The father-and-son partnership have just finished building a new cow house and facilities for their recently expanded herd, which is based near Dereham.

Back in 2012 cows numbered just 80 head. Today, after purchasing 200 cows plus followers from a neighbouring producer who was selling up, numbers have reached 400 head, plus 250 followers. And most of the predominantly autumn-calving herd are housed all year round and fed using a mixture of zerograzed grass and TMR. Alex, who manages the herd, says that zero grazing begins after second-cut silage has been taken. “We think it’s a great way to maximise grass utilisation, particularly in an area of the country where growth can slow significantly during the summer months, due to the drier weather conditions,” he says.

“Figures often quoted say that it’s possible to take 2.4 times more grass from a ley by cutting and feeding it to the cows, compared to grazing it. I’d agree with that and it significantly reduces the amount of waste. These

factors may really help extend the life of leys on our unit. Cutting, even after rain, causes significantly less damage to the sward than a herd of cows stomping all over it.”

The unit has 56 hectares of grassland.

First-cut silage is taken from the whole area, a second cut is taken from 32 hectares and then 22 hectares are cut for zero grazing until the end of the grassgrowing season.

A total of 90 hectares of maize is grown, as well as 25 hectares of wheat for wholecrop. Some land is also set aside for grass seed production, for Limagrain.

Alex also grows 12 hectares of fodder beet, which is sown in April and ready for harvesting from September through to December. “We just harvest what we need when we need it. There’s no way to store it and it can just sit in the ground until we want to feed it.”

Seed mixture The leys that are zero grazed are sown with Limagrain’s Monarch Maxicut – a grass-seed mixture that’s ideal for this purpose. Once zero grazing begins, four tonnes of fresh grass are cut and fed each day to the herd, which is currently

Field fresh: four tonnes of grass are cut and fed to the herd each day

Alex Dann Recent investment in new housing and dairy facilities has focused attention on maximising grass utilisation and production efficiency.

Herd size: Average yield: Somatic cell count: Zero grazing:

Dereham

400 cows plus followers 9,000 litres 100,000 cells/ml Four tonnes per day

averaging 9,000 litres at 4.09% butterfat and 3.37% protein with a somatic cell count of 100,000 cells/ml. Around 4% of the milk produced – between 30,000 and 40,000 litres – is processed by the business’ ice-cream making enterprise each year. The remainder is sold to Arla.

During the zero-grazing window, either Alex or one of the unit’s stockmen take a 3.2-metre front-mounted mower and tractor out each morning and, using a Krone forage harvesting trailer with a built-in weigh scale, take just as much grass as is needed.

This is then fed, along the feed fence, to the mid- and late-lactation cows in the herd. “And they love it,” says Alex, adding that spreading the grass along the fence is a complicated affair using a loader with a bucket attachment. “But eventually we plan to invest in an elevator that attaches to the trailer, which will ‘feed out’ the grass, much like a mixer wagon delivers TMR along the feed fence. But, at £12,000, we’ll have to wait a year or two.”

Low and medium yielders receive 55kg of fresh grass each day, plus 25kg of fresh TMR. The high yielding group are fed 58kg of TMR – comprising citrus pulp, an 18% crude protein blend, and caustic-treated barley. This provides maintenance plus 45 litres.

Compact feeding There have been changes to the ration, with a recent switch to ‘compact’ feeding. This involves soaking all the dry ingredients in the TMR in water overnight which adds approximately

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home, with cows either eating at the feed fence or resting in their strawbedded cubicles. “Straw bedding is a temporary measure,” explains Alex.

Green bedding

‘Compact’ ration: Alex adds water and makes a pre-mix ‘porridge’ to help reduce sorting

eight litres of water per cow. “It creates a kind of porridge and, when mixed with the forage proportion of the TMR, it makes it very difficult for the cows to ‘sort’.

This concept was adopted in early July, after discussion with Kite consultant Ben Watts, so Alex says that it’s too early to say what impact it’s had on yield and cow health. “But I can already see a difference at the feed fence. Sorting is no longer an issue and the cows are enjoying this new ‘recipe’. There seems to be less waste too. And what is left over is a consistent mix.”

The Danns have invested a considerable amount on a new single-span building,

with a high roof pitch and low sides to optimise ventilation. There are no sky lights – it has a black roof – but its open design means that it’s well lit and cool in the summer. “It’s an open and airy building and we’re really pleased with it,” says Alex, adding that it was based on a design put forward by Tim McKendrick, from The Dairy Group.

Employees Phil Howard and Jenny Osler milk the herd twice a day through the unit’s new 25:50 Fullwood swing-over parlour. It takes, on average, 3.5 hours per milking.

CowManagement visited just six weeks after the cows moved to their new cubicle house and they were already at

Cow comfort: straw will be replaced by green bedding once the separator system is installed

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“We wanted to bed the cubicles with sand, but sand was just too expensive.

We looked at green bedding – we did our homework and visited other producers who are using it. And now we are in the process of converting to green bedding,” says Alex, pointing to the area where the slurry separator that will process the material will soon be installed. “We’ll be saving around £40,000 each year on the cost of bedding material by using a recycled material instead.”

And the organic matter that’s removed during the drying process will then be fed into an AD plant, which is scheduled for construction within the next 18 months, and a 5.5 million litre irrigation lagoon. “That’s going to be a huge help with our grassland. It can be difficult to keep grass growing in the east.

“And we’re taking steps to keep the environmental impact of the herd to a minimum, by installing a recycling system that will add to the sustainability of the business,” says Alex.

“We should also be able to cut down on our nitrogen use, as well as reducing out energy bills be generating our own electricity.”

Autumn calving Other future plans include a gradual move towards a totally autumn calving herd. Between 65% and 70% of cows and heifers currently calve between August and December. Alex would like to tighten this further.

“We’re on track. But I’m not being too strict about cows that fall outside that pattern at the moment. We need the milk sales after investing so heavily. But it will happen gradually.”

And his main focus, now the freshly expanded herd is finally being managed in one place with new facilities, is to consolidate his position.

“We need to add the finishing touches to what’s been a huge project for us and then focus on getting our system running as smoothly as possible. And we also need to iron out any teething problems – not that we’ve had any so far.

“It’s been a tough and extra-busy couple of years. So I’m looking forward to seeing how things work out now we’ve finally completed these expansion projects.” l

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Shropshire-based producer and award-winning columnist Roger Evans has been zero-grazing this summer, to mitigate a grass shortage, but at least he’s not had to mow the lawn for a month.

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ver since Christmas, one of my friends in the pub has been predicting a dry summer ‘worse than ‘76’. Of course there is no way that he could know, but for those of us who milked cows in 1976 it was just a bit scary.

I think that we went three months without rain until the heavens finally opened on September 15 – a date that sticks in my mind even after nearly 40 years.

I had a consultant, who had around 25 clients, and we were the last to get some rain. If anyone asks me what is the most optimistic thing I have ever seen it would have to be my cows in 1976.

Every morning, after milking, I would open the gate and off they would all rush, with a spring in their step and in a cloud of dust, probably thinking there would be some grass at the end of their journey.

Turns out there wasn’t and they would all be back on the yard within an hour, bawling for some silage. But just to scare you, and to test your resolve, we have had two very hot dry spells this year. And each time there’s been a little part of me that has said: “Here comes the drought.

Here comes another 1976.”

In 1976 we used to say: “The farm is burnt off.” Today we go around with a plate meter and say: “We have no grass cover.” Both descriptions mean the same thing and both recent dry spells burnt the farm off and took all the grass cover. But this year we didn’t start on the silage, we looked for a different solution.

We had plenty of grass two miles away on our rented land. We thought we would try zero grazing. We didn’t have the proper kit, but we have a decent mower and we have a neighbour/friend who has a forage wagon.

For a week the cows went around the grazing area as usual, but we topped them up with the load of fresh grass he brought for them.

After a week he had to harvest his winter barley, so we got a secondhand wagon on trial.

The perceived wisdom on zero grazing is that the less you give the grass ‘a hard time’ the better the feed value.

The conditioner on the mower is out of action and we have folded the knives on the wagon back so they don’t touch the grass. It’s doing the same job as a ‘proper’ zero grazing machine. It’s not quite as handy but it’s cheaper.

We don’t have grazing platforms at the moment – we just have a platform. We are letting the cows onto just one field to get them off the yard and carting all the grass they can eat.

It’s one thing to talk about a herd’s dry matter needs in fresh grass, but if you have to cut and cart it all it’s a lot more real.

It’s not all bad news. If you have a ‘brown’ farm you are also likely to have a ‘brown’ lawn. The lawn mower is playing up so it’s had a month’s rest. The worst thing that can happen to a ride on lawn mower is a grandson.

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Reseeding and multi-cut silage should increase quality and quantity

Switching back to grass Increasing milk from forage is the key focus for one Somersetbased producer, who made the bold decision to stop growing maize this year and is revamping his grassland management. text James Marshall

T

he increasing cost and workload was the reason Clevedon-based producer Rob Cole decided to stop growing forage maize. Instead, in autumn 2016, he decided to redouble efforts to produce more high quality grass silage.

Rob runs a 320-strong Friesian herd at Treble House Farm with help from his three sons: Sam, Robert and Andrew.

The unit comprises 1,976 hectares – a mixture of owned and rented land – and the herd, which calves all-year-round, is currently yielding an average of 8,000 litres per cow. Milk is sold to Tesco.

Growing costs “Maize silage has been a key part of the herd’s diet for many years,” explains

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Rob. “But we were finding that the cost of growing maize was going up and, due to poor weather conditions preventing us from harvesting early enough, we were also having to harvest maize and grass silage at the same time. We make all our own silage, so this meant that we had an extremely heavy workload at certain times of the year.”

ForFarmers’ Matthew Green helps to formulate the herd’s ration. Cows were fed a mixture of grass and maize silage in a 40:60 ratio, as well as home-grown fodder beet and a high protein bespoke ForFarmers blend. Individual cows were then ‘topped up’ to yield with Maxima Milk 16, which is a high energy and high starch feed, in the parlour.

“During the winter we aim to feed high yielders 5.3kg of blend, in the ration, and 3.3kg of concentrate in parlour. This provides maintenance plus 30 litres,” says Sam. “We turn out the low yielders and firstlactation cows as soon as we can in April to make the most of grazing and then buffer feed these cows at a starting rate of 5kg of maize silage, 5kg grass silage and 5kg fodder beet. Again these cows are topped up with concentrate through the parlour.

“The ration will change this year. Maize silage will be replaced by adding more high quality grass silage to the mix. We hope that grass will become the new cornerstone of the herd’s ration.”

Increase productivity When the Coles decided to move away from forage maize, they knew that they had to increase the productivity of their existing grass leys in order to ensure they could produce enough good quality grass.

“We were aware that we needed to get

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nutrient dry matter (g/kg) D value crude protein (g/kg) sugar (g/kg)

old ley

new ley

252 73.7 186 219

202 78.6 202 220

Table 1: Fresh cut grass analysis at Treble House Farm.

the maximum performance out of our existing leys if we were going to increase our reliance on grass silage,” says Rob. The Coles consulted ForFarmers’ forage specialist Lisa Hambly and together they drew up a reseeding strategy for the unit.

“We are investing in reseeding old leys with a new, high-performance grass seed mixture,” adds Rob. The first step was to carrying out extensive soil sampling so the Coles knew the mineral status, pH and condition of the soil that they were working with. This allowed them to formulate an input plan accordingly.

Lisa also recommended the company’s TOPGRASS Silogen seed mixture for reseeding. This is a fast growing, shortterm grass ley mixture. “And one that would produce the quality and quantity of grass that the Coles were looking for,” she says, “We are developing a planned programme of reseeding that will cover

a third of the unit’s grass leys every year.

While this represents a significant investment, it will enable the Coles to meet their goal of producing more milk from forage.”

Multi-cut silage The family has also decided to try a multi-cut approach to their silaging, in a bid to increase the overall quality and quantity of silage yields.

“We always looked to take three cuts,” says Rob. “And some years we would take a fourth cut, but it could be very wet. In 2017, we are hoping to get at least four cuts and push for a fifth from the new leys.”

First-cut silage was taken much earlier than usual this year and the plan is to take a fresh cut from the reseeded leys every four weeks, if conditions and grass covers allow.

“We took the first cut from the newly reseeded leys in the first week of May, which is far earlier than we usually do.

But grass growth was good,” explains Rob. “The reseeded leys have responded really well to nitrogen inputs – much more than our older pastures. And our clamps are already full of with early cut grass.”

Sam is also pleased with the results so far: “While we won’t know whether our decision has paid off until we are feeding

Sam Cole: “I hope that grass will become the cornerstone of the herd’s ration”

Rob Cole: “We have been working hard to improve the performance of grass leys”

the grass silage in the winter, things look promising.

“We want to get as much milk from grass and forage as we can. The more we can rely on grass, the less we have to rely on inputs and the better we will be able to handle volatility in the future.” l

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BREEDING INFORMATION

Dutch cows take the top spot in lifetime-production ranking production is also quite high with around 26,000kg of milk per cow.

Australian cows last a little longer and produce about 6,600kg of milk

CRV Avoncroft on tour CRV Avoncroft will be present at two local shows this autumn.

We’d like to invite you to come to our stand on the Westmorland County Show, on Thursday September 14.

We’ll also have a stand at the Welsh Dairy Show on Tuesday October 24.

Figure 1: Lifetime production of dairy cows per country (source: IFCN) 30,000 25,000 lifetime milk production (kg)

20,000 15,000 10,000

Australia

New Zealand

Argentina

Poland

United States

Ireland

France

Denmark

0

Germany

5,000

The Netherlands

With an average lifetime production of 29,000kg of milk, Dutch cows are top of the world ranking compared to cows from the largest dairy countries.

Figures from the International Farm Comparison Network (IFCN) compared Dutch cows’ life production with cows from countries including Germany, France, Denmark, Ireland, Poland, the US, Argentina, Australia and New Zealand.

Although the annual milk production per cow in countries, such as Denmark and the US, is 1,500kg milk per cow higher than the annual production of cows in the Netherlands, the lifetime production in those countries is approximately 4,000kg per cow lower.

This is an indication that Dutch cows remain in the herd for longer and produce more milk throughout their lives.

In France and Australia, lifetime

annually. French cows, with a production level of 8,500kg of milk a year, have slightly lower longevity.

In countries where cows produce around 5,000kg of milk a year – for example in Ireland, Poland, Argentina and New Zealand – there are major differences in lifetime production.

Impressive daughter group of Stellando at NRM On the first day of the NRM (All Holland Dairy Show), CRV paraded six daughter groups and one ‘theme’ group to a full house. One of the groups displayed was by Batenburg G Stellando. Redfactor bull Stellando already has 11,000 daughters in milk and more than 500 classified daughters. The daughter group at the NRM produce, on average, 11,288kg of milk at 4.26% fat and 3.56% protein. They also scored 86 for udders, 85 for feet and legs, and 86 for overall conformation.

Stellando’s score of 104 for fertility, high milk components and high leg score – combined with great longevity – forms the foundation of his popularity.

He breeds cows with modest stature, a wide chest width and good length in the frame. They have enough power to perform well in the herd. Stellando breeds efficient and fertile cows, with high components and who can achieve production with ease.

CRV also showed a group of the highest ranking bull for NVI – Delta Bookem Danno. Danno progeny are ‘stayers’ and prolific producers of milk. They also offer plenty of fat and protein, and are remarkable for their ability to realise high production with ease.

For red-and-white enthusiasts, CRV showed six daughters by Delta Colorado.

He scores +6% for Better Life Health,

Stellando combines high leg score with great longevity

making him currently one of the most all-round, daughter-proven, red-andwhite bulls. Colorado scores sky-high when it comes to important financial traits, such as fertility, udder health, claw health and longevity.

CRV also presented a ‘theme’ group of outstanding bull dams.

“This group shows that the CRV breeding programme pays a lot of attention to good cow families,” says CRV’s Joost Klein Herenbrink. “And with these cows we bring the breeding programme closer to producers.”

For more information and the latest CRV Avoncroft Dairy Guide call, for free, on 0800 7831880.

CRV presented a group of outstanding bull dams

COW MAN AG E ME N T

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Forage analyses: how to maximise the feed potential of promising first-cut silage. Page 24 Cover crop: financial and environmental benefits of ‘filling the gap’. Page 26

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Analysis indicates that first-cut silage quality has improved this year

Earlier cuts pay dividends The results of first-cut grass silage analyses are coming through. The figures look promising and could spell a productive winter on many UK dairy units, if rations are balanced well. We spoke to two nutritionists to find out how to maximise performance from the forage available. text Phil Eades

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ith more than 2,000 firstcut grass silage samples analysed so far at its Derbyshirebased laboratory, Trouw Nutrition GB believes that many producers are seeing the benefits of following advice to cut earlier to improve forage quality.

Technical director John Allen says that despite starting with a raw material with an ME content of more than 12MJ/kg DM, typical first-

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cut grass silage had stubbornly remained around 10.8ME. “But this year a different – and encouraging – picture is emerging.

“Our initial results show that, on average, grass silage quality has improved and this is principally as a result of cutting dates being brought forward,” he says. “Grass growth was also slower this spring, which meant that crops were less mature at harvest.

Producers have some superior quality forage in the clamp.”

All the traditional measures of quality have improved compared to 2016. Dry matter content is higher, at 33.4%, while crude protein has risen from 14.5% to 15.0%. D value is 69.61%, up from 67.6% in 2016 and helping ME to rise from 10.8MJ to 11.1MJ. “And intake potential has also risen to 102.75, which suggests that cows can be expected to eat reasonable quantities and that first-cut grass silage will provide an excellent foundation for diets,” adds Dr Allen.

Real potential “A cow consuming 10kg DM of this year’s average silage could be expected to produce maintenance plus 6.2 litres per day – a figure that’s up from 5.6 litres per day in 2016.

“Across a 200-day winter this would be an extra 120 litres from forage per cow.

Although this is great news, it actually under-estimates the real potential in the forage.”

Dr Allen explains that while traditional

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John Allen: “Producers have some superior quality silage in the clamp”

Bruce Forshaw: “Better quality silage could have a significant impact on margins”

terms such as dry matter, crude protein and even ME may describe the silage in the clamp, they do not describe how it will behave once the cow has eaten it.

“It is important to understand that the energy and protein actually used by the cow is not the same as the feed they eat, but what that feed becomes after it has been broken down into the end products of digestion.”

Using new parameters, produced as part of the NutriOpt Dairy system, he says that producers can now ensure that their cows get the most from their grass silage. Dynamic energy (DyNE) is the new term used to describe energy. It is the sum of the end products of digestion and gives the most accurate assessment of the energy actually available for use by the cow.

Using DyNE, a cow eating 10kg DM of the average first-cut silage will be expected to cover maintenance and produce 7.7 litres per day – that’s an additional 300 litres per cow from forage during a 200-day winter, compared to the ME prediction. Rationing based on silage ME

could result in unnecessarily higher production costs, according to Dr Allen.

In addition to better defining nutrient supply, the new analysis parameters will help to improve rumen pH and rumen health by more precisely predicting the rate and extent of fermentation in the rumen. He explains that this year’s silages have less NDF. This is reflected in a lower level of slowly fermentable carbohydrate, although the level of rapidly fermentable carbohydrate has increased.

Digestive efficiency “At the same time the levels of rumen fermentable proteins have changed with more rapidly and total fermented protein. This is good news. For optimum digestive efficiency, the supply of carbohydrate and protein in the rumen must be in balance. It will pay to consider the types of supplementary feeds used.”

Harpers Feeds’ nutritionist Bruce Forshaw says that better quality silage could have a significant impact on margins.

Table 1: Comparison of initial first cut analysis 2016 and 2017

dry matter (%) crude protein (%) D value (%) ME (MJ/kg DM) pH sugar (%) NDF (%) intake potential (g/kg ML)

2016 first-cut average

2017 first-cut average

31.2 14.5 67.6 10.8 4.1 2.7 50.0 98.5

33.4 215.0 69.1 11.1 4.3 2.9 45.1 102.7

Table 2: NutriOpt analysis parameters

2017 first-cut average dynamic energy (MJ/kg DM) rapidly fermentable carbohydrate (g/kg) total fermentable carbohydrate (g/kg) rapidly fermentable protein (g/kg) total fermentable protein (g/kg) acid load fibre index

6.1 198.9 441.5 92.9 108.3 49.8 182.2

“Many first cuts may be lighter. This should be made up for by heavier and better quality second cuts. The overall energy in conserved forage should be higher. The extra 300 litres per cow produced during the winter months, which should be possible when the Dynamic Energy levels are considered, will be worth £84 per cow at 28ppl, or £8,400 per 100 cows. But to achieve this, diets will need to be carefully balanced to exploit the potential of the forage.

Rumen balance “The key will be ensuring that the rumen is well balanced. This winter it looks like we will be looking for more slowly fermentable carbohydrate sources, as there is plenty of rapidly fermentable carbohydrate in the forage.

“With strong prices for wheat off the combine, many producers who usually feed wheat are taking the opportunity to boost their cash position by selling it and replacing it in dairy rations with energy sources that are trading for less, such as barley, soya hulls and sugar beet.

This is a good move, because they will supply the necessary slowly fermentable carbohydrate, unlike wheat.”

Mr Forshaw adds that the combination of a high acid load and low fibre index suggest that rumen health may be an issue. “This reflects the higher levels of rapidly fermentable carbohydrate and lower level of digestible fibre. Again sugar beet or soya hulls will help to supply digestible fibre, which will support rumen health and the protein:energy balance.”

He says that the metabolisable protein used by the cow is also increased, due to the higher microbial protein yield resulting from the balanced rumen nitrogen and carbohydrate supply. “This will give producers the opportunity to save on the use of bypass protein.”

Dr Allen believes that carefully balanced first-cut silage will support more costeffective production. “However, as usual, there is tremendous range around the average analysis, so the starting point must be to get clamps analysed regularly to ensure diets are formulated based on the forage actually being fed.

And there’s a note of caution: “While first-cut fermentation quality looks good, the 4.3 pH is above the target of 4.0 for optimum clamp stability. So producers must take extra care with clamp management and, particularly, ensure that face management minimises exposure to air to avoid wastage of this year’s high quality first cuts.” l

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Cover crop can improve soil condition and bolster forage stocks

Bridging the maize gap Maize is only in the ground for five or six months, typically leaving the land fallow during the winter. This is neither environmentally friendly or profitable. But sowing a cover crop is good for the soil and can boost forage stocks, as one Staffordshire-based producer found out.

Rob Moore: “It is a valuable dry-cow and store-cattle forage”

text Karen Wright

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ith land prices so high, leaving the ground fallow for six months of the year doesn’t make sense.

So says Staffordshire-based producer Andrew Moore, who farms and runs a contracting business in partnership with his son Rob. “Neither does it help with potential nutrient leaching,” he adds.

The Moores are also keen to maximise feed from home-grown forages for their livestock – an autumn-calving suckler herd of 120 Simmental cows, which are crossed with Belgian Blue or Simmental

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sires, at Benbrook Farm near Rugeley.

They were encouraged to grow a cover crop after maize by Limagrain’s Brian Copestake. “It seemed like a good idea,” says Rob. “And other producers in the area were keen too – either opting for forage rye or an early growing Italian ryegrass.

Good germination “It meant that we had to drill the crop as soon as the maize was harvested to ensure good germination. And we grew the early maturing maize varieties

Glory and Ambition, which also helped.”

Maize was harvested on October 20 and, keeping to tight time schedules, the land was ploughed, harrowed and drilled with Humbolt forage rye at a rate of 185kg/ha within three days, before being Cambridge rolled.

Germination was good and a warm spring prompted early growth, helped along by a 125kg/ha dressing of nitrogen fertiliser in early March.

Rob harvested the forage rye in May. “It had headed by then and the crop was thick, and really consistent. We

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Looking at the costs verses yield, Brian Copestake estimates that a value of £20/t fresh weight can be attached to Humbolt forage rye, so yields above 22t/ha would represent a profit.

Cost benefits

Extra cut: mowing forage rye in May, which was sown immediately after maize in October

could see yields were good and it had the potential to boost our feed stocks for the following winter.

“I could have grazed this variety of forage rye, or cut it, a lot earlier – in late March or April. This would have given us a bigger window, if we’d needed it, before drilling this year’s maize crop.”

Growing costs, after the maize, worked out about £425/ha, made up of £178 for seed and fertiliser, £100 to plough and drill, and £147 to harvest and clamp.

“And there are some hidden savings too,” adds Rob. “These come from less soil run off and reduced nutrient leaching.”

Hefty crop The Moores sell home-bred stores at between 15 and 18 months old from this closed herd, through Bakewell Market.

They aim to get steers to 420kg and heifers to 380kg. And they rely, as much as possible, on home-grown forage. They

feed maize and grass silage, wholecrop, and they are now incorporating the forage rye silage in the ration.

And they will reap the benefit of a hefty forage rye crop. Harvesting it relatively late has yielded 40t/ha fresh weight and fermentation was good. Crude protein content was 92g/kg.

“The ME in this crop was only 7.2 – a little low because we cut it too late. But next year we will cut the crop before it heads and we would then expect an energy value far closer to 10,” says Rob. Despite having lower energy and crude protein levels than grass silage, typically around 10 ME/kg DM and between 11% and 12% CP, forage rye is an ideal feed for young stock and dry cows.

“For us, it will be a perfect dry-cow and store-cattle forage. Our store cattle are put on to a TMR from eight months old and we don’t feed any cereals, so this will be a really valuable extra forage.”

Store cattle: the forage rye silage forms part of their TMR

“With a yield of 40t/ha, the value of the forage rye crop in feed value is £800/ha – nearly double Rob’s growing and harvesting costs of £425/ha,” says Brian.

“And if the crop was grazed – forage rye is ideal for early turnout grazing in the spring – the growing costs would drop to £278/ha on the Moore’s farm, making it even more attractive.

“The environmental advantages are an additional benefit,” he adds. “It makes real financial sense. There are 170,000 hectares of maize grown in the UK each year, and so potentially there is wasted opportunity.

“It’s also interesting that in other countries, including Denmark, legislation means that growers have to have ‘green fields’ with catch crops before a spring crop to avoid nutrient leaching and to support soil structure.”

Brian is seeing a growing trend among producers who are sowing cover crops that sit neatly between maize crops.

“I’ve seen good crops of forage rye, and of the high yielding annual ryegrass Westerwold, in these situations. The choice of cover crop depends on the site, its soil type and the micro climate.

“Forage rye is robust,” he adds. “It will grow on a wide variety of soils and tends to resist pests and diseases. Humbolt has been bred for its winter hardiness and for producing an early bite, which can be up to three weeks earlier than Italian ryegrass. I think this is why we saw such high yields on the Moore’s unit.”

Mixture option Another option for producers looking at cover crops is the mixture of forage rye and vetch, which is used in Lift ‘n Fix seeds mixture. This mixture meets the EFA greening scheme requirements and the higher protein value of the vetch increases its feed value.

Based on his success in growing forage rye, the Moores are set to follow this year’s maize harvest with another crop of Humbolt. “It makes sense to put our maize in a rotation and grow three crops in 18 months. We’re making the land pay and we’re also putting something back in to help the soil. But the icing on the cake is the additional quality forage for the cattle.” l

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U K

D A I RY

D A Y

One-day event offers workshops, seminars and practical demonstrations

Sharing dairy knowledge UK Dairy Day returns to the International Centre in Telford on Wednesday September 13. Trade stand space is sold out and more than 300 dairy related businesses from across the UK, Europe and further afield are waiting to greet you. text Rachael Porter

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he theme of the 2017 exhibition is ‘sharing knowledge’. The event will feature a dedicated zone, in partnership with AHDB Dairy, on the first floor with seminars and practical demonstrations to engage inspire and educate.

There will be two seminar areas with 18 15-minute presentations taking place with leading speakers covering key dairy industry subjects that inform the audience and create topical discussion.

UK Dairy Day is an accredited event with Dairy Pro and an upgrade for 2017 means it qualifies for three points; Livestock Production Systems (LP), Business Management (BM) and Personal Development (PD). In addition, a CPD Knowledge Trail will be available at the event for visitors to gain a maximum 12 Dairy Pro points. To participate, visit the Dairy Pro stand.

Demonstration areas There will also be plenty of action outside in the external demonstration areas, including practical pointers on calf rearing and calf anatomy painting, as well as foot trimming and knife sharpening workshops by a qualified team of independent foot trimmers, Tim Carter, David Rowe, Ema Glaze and Andrew Tyler.

The team know that the key to the success of any task is having the right tools for the job. The trimming and

sharpening demonstrations will be streamed to a large TV screen with commentary so visitors are able to see first-hand the detail of the trimming and knife sharpening.

Calf anatomy painting has attracted a lot of interest at shows this year and Scarsdale Vets return to offer skeletal insight. The presentation gives participants the opportunity to visualise and understand a calf’s anatomy using paint.

Carolyn Baguley from Scarsdale Vets will focus on the musculoskeletal/nervous system and internal organs to assist the understanding of calf health and welfare.

What’s new?

The 2017 event will feature new areas including the ‘making more from milk’ zone and the ‘calf rearing’ zone.

Visitors can find out more about farm diversification in the former and seek advice on how to add value to milk through a number of initiatives like vending machines, making ice cream or yoghurts, or creating a new supply chain. This zone aims to share real producer stories about diversification and offer inspiration to others looking to add value.

The ‘calf rearing’ zone will be located in the external trade stand area. Tips on calving, growth, health, hygiene, feeding and husbandry will form part of this practical area.

According to AHDB Dairy, rearing calves is the second largest contributor to a dairy business’s production costs after feed. So it’s well worth a visit to see if you can pick up any tips or information to make sure you’re maximising their potential.

Doors open at 10.00am and entry is free. l

CowManagement competition Make time to come and say ‘hello’ to the CowManagement team on stand number F4.

We’re running a competition and have several dairy prizes to give away, including a Dairy Spares cow brush.

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Just fill out the entry card in this issue, or pick one up from our stand on the day. And make sure you also collect your very own free ‘personalised’ CowManagement fridge magnet.

Good luck!

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TOPGRASS Only the best varieties from leading plant breeding programs are used in TOPGRASS seed mixtures Latest high sugar grasses Maximum fibre digestibility

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0845 070 6280

info.forage@forfarmers.eu

www.forfarmers.co.uk

15-08-17 15:34

H E A LT H

Tough actions on Johne’s reap rewards in cow health – and prizes – for dairy herds

Top herds rise to the Johne’s challenge Around 40% of NMR-recorded herds are now screened for Johne’s disease. The results enable accurate control plans and on-farm protocols to be implemented to minimise further infection. The winner and runner-up of this year’s HerdWise competition are top examples of what can be achieved. text Karen Wright

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ightening on up calving protocols as part of their Johne’s disease control plans has helped to nudge Tim and Louise Downes into top place in this year’s NMR HerdWise competition. Two years ago they were runners-up.

The competition looks for best practice when it comes to controlling Johne’s in dairy herds and the Downes’ new heifer calving area impressed the competition judges.

“This spring we created a new calving area just for heifers so we can calve them away from the rest of the cows,” says Tim. “They are unknown quantities at this stage, as far as Johne’s is concerned.

Once they join the milking herd and start their quarterly HerdWise milk tests we will build up a picture and have a good idea of their status.”

Tim Downes, Nathan Loewenstein and Louise Downes

their current Johne’s status, having recorded good progress since they started testing each cow quarterly through HerdWise in 2012. They implemented careful control protocols with the help of their vet Nathan Loewenstein, from Shropshire Farm Vets. The number of cows at high risk and classified as ‘red’ cows in their herd has fallen from 10% to 1%.

“We’ve taken a tough line on Johne’s control during the past five years and the whole dairy team here is committed to our control protocols,” adds Tim, who

recognises Louise and her team’s scrupulous efforts with calf care and colostrum management. “We record the source and recipient of each batch of colostrum. Everything is fully traceable.”

But Tim acknowledges that Johne’s control starts with the breeding plans and calving management. “We avoid breeding from any ‘red’ cows and look to remove them from the herd fairly quickly,” he adds, agreeing that this is particularly gruelling with young cows or heifers. “And if a heifer has consecutive high test results we will not keep her

New cows in the Downes’s herd will be individually screened to bring all cows to the same level

More cows And there’s no room for complacency for this organic dairy business, which is also stepping up in terms of cow numbers and scale. The 250-cow Norwegian cross Friesian herd has been joined by a second herd on a new site made up of 95 Holsteins and 50 Shorthorn cows – both from organic systems – during the past 12 months.

“Both new groups of cows had Johne’s herd test records, but they have not been individually screened until joining us,” says Tim. “We need to bring them up to our level and know just where we are.”

Tim and Louise are keen to maintain

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Andrew Harrison and Vicky Harrison-King

progeny as a herd replacement. We take a hit here, but we consider it worth it.

One day I hope we can say that we’re a Johne’s-free herd. But we’re also thrilled to see our efforts to date rewarded through the HerdWise competition.”

HerdWise competition runners up Vicky Harrison-King and husband Andrew Harrison also view their success as a great reflection of their efforts to reduce Johne’s disease in ACF Drax Farm Dorset’s 270-cow Holstein herd.

Vet involvement “We’ve worked closely with our vet Emily Gascoigne, from Synergy Farm Health, to develop our Johne’s management plan,” says Vicky. “The whole team here looked at the areas that could pose a risk of infection, particularly to our replacement heifers, and we’ve got a clear plan to follow.”

Recognising that Johne’s positive animals can infect their calves via colostrum and also via the uterus, the ACF Drax team at Millers Farm, in Wareham, manage both daughters and granddaughters of high- or medium-risk Johne’s cows as Johne’s positive. They

Two sets of calving equipment at Drax Farm

are identified with a blue tag, are only bred to a beef bull and are calved away from the rest of the herd.

“Colostrum from these animals is never used in the pooled colostrum supply,” adds Vicky. In essence the ‘red’ (high risk) and ‘amber’ (medium risk) animals and all their daughters are considered high risk and are prioritised for culling.”

Heifers classified ‘green’ based on their quarterly HerdWise screening results, so low risk, are the herd’s source of replacements and are preferentially served with sexed semen to maximise the opportunity for breeding high genetic merit, Johne’s free animals.

Also runner-up in 2016, Drax Farms has continued to review its Johne’s management and made changes.

Louise Downes ensures scrupulous calf care from birth

“We have added a second set of equipment solely for our Johne’s cows and colour-coded feeders to avoid crosscontamination,” explains Vicky. “And we have improved our labelling of pens and introduced a new ‘Johne’s’ board in the office so we can all keep up to date with progress, including our relief milkers,” she adds. “Accurate communication and records are vital.”

Enforced biosecurity The herd is closed with the exception of the biannual introduction of a bull that is sourced from herds with known Johne’s status. If this isn’t possible, then the bull is isolated and tested. Strict biosecurity controls are enforced. Bulls do not come into contact with neonatal calves or the Johne’s free calving boxes and equipment. They would only have contact with bulling heifers when the risk for infection has reduced.

And biosecurity at Drax Farms extends to land work too. “All the slurry used on pasture is from the home farm and used exclusively on non-grazing, arable land and we insist that contractor equipment is impeccably clean on arrival.”

These protocols have contributed to progress in this all-year-round calving herd with a reduction in ‘red’ cows of 75% since they started using HerdWise in 2012. In July 2017 just 4% of cows were classified as high risk.

“We believe that our early warning system – managing progeny from Johne’s cows as high risk – is having a major impact on our success here. And our whole business approach means that we hope the future is ‘green’, as far as Johne’s is concerned, at Millers Farm.” l

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• Very confident cows as the surface is 50% concrete and 50% rubber.

• Up to 20% more cow activity on ECO floor over concrete floors.

• More natural behaviour, better heat observation and overall herd health.

• Increased feed intakes , milk production and improved fertility.

• Life span of cows can increase by 6 months or more.

• Payback time 3 to 5 years • Slat scan be supplied with a smell (ammonia) reducing seal system.

Type Classification is provided by The National Bovine Data Centre

ADVICE-DESIGN-SUPPLY The ECO-floor is particular well used in area in front of milk robots or collecting yards or in the feed standing areas, where cows will stand for longer periods or where she might take sharp turns.

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Enquiries; call office telephone number: 01208 816773 Rypke de Boer 07785 288257 or Sebastian Dudley 07773 060627 E-mail: info@deboerhousing.com Website: www.deboerhousing.com

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To enquire about clasifying your herd, call our team on:

01923 695 208

www.holstein-uk.org

info@holstein-uk.org

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ENTER OUR COMPETITION and win one of dairy prizes!

on and ti ti e p m o c y a D y ir Enter our UK Da ! h s u r b w o c a in w ld you cou

e l i p g n i d a e r y m s p o t t n e m e ............. g .. a .. .. n .. a .. .. ..

M ..

Cow se .................................... ....................... becau .......................................... ................... ................ ................ .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ............ ..................

Fill in the attached card – and complete the slogan – for a chance to win one of our top prizes!

Please bring your completed entry card to th e CowManageme nt stand at the UK DAIRY DAY (Stand F4)

PRIZES 1

Motorised Dairy Spares cow brush

2

One of 12 Cosy Calf calf jackets

As a ‘thank you’ for entering our caption competition, we’re giving away personalised fridge magnets! Just visit our photo booth and we’ll take a picture of you (with the background on the right) and then create a CowManagement fridge magnet for you to take home.

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Two bags of LGAN grass seed

greetin g from s

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H E R D

R E P O RT

Viking legacy stands Iceland’s dairy industry in strong stead

Land of ice and fire – and milk Automated systems and strong domestic demand are seeing many Iceland-based producers thrive in an otherwise tough dairying environment. CowManagement joined the AB Vista and Celtic Sea Minerals study tour of the island to find out more. text Rachael Porter

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t’s hard to believe that Iceland has a dairy industry when you see the rocky, mossy landscape surrounding Reykjavik – the country’s capital city and the area inhabited by two thirds of the 338,000 head population.

But travel north and south east and there’s grass. It’s not grass as UK producers know it, looking somewhat out of place in what is still a somewhat volcanic environment, but it’s grass non the less. And it’s this grass, as well as other home-grown crops and bought-in feed, that supports Iceland’s 24,500 dairy cows, managed on 596 dairy units, most which are situated in the southern and south eastern regions.

This island’s industry produced 150 million litres of milk in 2016. Average yield stood at 6,000 litres, with 4.8% butterfat and 5.44% protein. A large proportion of its milk is processed to make Icelandic skyr – a high protein

(11%), low fat (0.2%) whey-based product that’s been consumed by Icelandic people since Viking times. The same traditional cultures are still used to make it today.

Replacement heifers: Runar thinks that the gene pool is limiting milk-yield progress

Viking breed: Icelandic dairy cattle were brought from Norway in the 10th century

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‘Viking’ breed Another legacy of the Viking invaders are the Icelandic dairy cattle – the only breed of cattle on the island. Producer Runar Bjarnason has a 65-cow herd of them, all milked and managed through a Lely robotic milking system, near Selfoss in southern Iceland. They are small cattle, brought from Norway during the settlement of Iceland in the 10th century.

The breed is typically polled and colourful, with six basic colours and more than 100 different schemes. The most common are red or red pied, brindle, brown and black, or black pied.

Runar’s herd has all these colours and more. None are bigger than a typical Jersey.

Runar Bjarnason: “Automation will allow me to continue dairying”

They’re sturdy, hardy cows, according to Runar, who runs his unit in partnership with his wife.

His family has been farming here since 1798 and he’s determined to continue that tradition for the foreseeable future.

Despite being in his 60s, and the fact that none of his children want to take on the business, he has just invested in a new automated cubicle housing system.

“It’s the automation that’s going to allow me to continue farming for the next 20 years,” he says, adding that he’s not sorry to see the back of his old eight-stall milking parlour. Not only does the new set up comply with the latest cow housing regulations that are forcing many producers out of the industry, but it also lightens Runar’s physical workload and frees up more time for individual cow management.

Limited grazing His herd produces 420,000 litres each year – an average of 6,500 litres per cow – and is run on a 162-hectare unit, which comprises 40 hectares of ‘productive’ grassland. The remainder is ‘rough’ land and grazed by sheep and horses. This grassland comprises ryegrass varieties and is cut for haylage and is also grazed for just four months in the summer, for no more than four hours a day. Even then, if the weather is wet or cold, the cows stay indoors.

New system: recent investment means that cows are now milked automatically

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Water wonder: Selfoss Waterfall is just a short distance from Runar’s dairy unit

Runar takes just two cuts of haylage each year to feed the all-year-round calving herd. This is given on an ad-lib basis with concentrates fed to yield through the milking robot. And they are also fed additional concentrates through an outof-parlour feeder. “How much we feed also depends on the milk price and the strength of the krone. Because so much of what’s fed is imported, I have to take extra care to ensure that I make money,” he explains.

A tonne of 20% CP concentrate costs Runar 90,000 Icelandic króna (£ 662) per tonne and currently milk price is 63ppl.

“So I have to keep a close eye on milk price and cost of production.”

Cows are fed a maximum of 10kg of concentrate per day and each cow is being milked, on average, 2.8 times a

day. The robotic system was installed in 2015 and Runar is happy with how both it – and the cows – are performing. He adds that robots are now extremely commonplace on Icelandic dairy units, with 42% of producers milking and managing their cows through automated systems.

Replacement rate “Iceland’s climate suits this way of dairying. It’s too cold for cows to be outside in the winter and only really warm enough for grazing from mid-May to mid-September at best,” he says. So most cows are, predominantly, housed for much of the year.

Runar rears his own replacements using AI and says that the most cows last in the herd for at least six lactations – some as

many as 10. “It’s yield that’s the decider.

We have very little disease – production or infectious – and fertility is extremely good so these factors are rarely reasons for culling. Anything giving less than 4,000 litres is usually sent off.”

Increasing yields, from a genetic perspective, is proving tricky: “It is illegal to import any cattle or cattle semen, so our gene pool is limited.

“I think that, if it could be done in a controlled way to protect the traditional breed and prevent the introduction of disease, we could have access to imported genetics that would enable us to increase yields.

“But I’d still be wary – I know how lucky we are to have such a low level of disease in our herd and I’d want to protect that.”l

Icelandic dairy facts • Herd numbers are falling in Iceland, with smaller producers leaving the industry and those herds that remain are increasing in size. It’s a similar trend to that seen in the UK, but in Iceland consolidation is being driven by cow housing legislation. Producers either invest in free-stall barn systems or sell their cows and quota and exit the industry.

• Milk price is 85 Icelandic króna per litre – or 63ppl. But the cost of production is considerably higher than the UK because feed, fertiliser and other inputs have to be imported. The

Icelandic government removed quotas in 2013 to encourage production but re-introduced them in 2016 after production increased to control the amount of milk. The national quota pool for 2017 is 144 million litres.

• Milk price has increased by 3.56% during the past 12 months. MS Dairies, a cooperative owned by 700 dairy producers (90% of Iceland’s producers), process 98% of Iceland’s milk production.

• The company has four plants on the island, each one producing either cheese, skyr, butter or liquid milk.

Around 10% of Iceland’s dairy products are exported – 90% is for the domestic market.

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DAIRY MANAGEMENT NEWS

Tag audit comes up trumps Nordic Star, part of the NMR group, has come up trumps in a random service and product audit by the Ear Tag Authorisation Service, which is part of BCMS. UK tag suppliers must have approval from BCMS to sell ear tags in the UK and any supplier is subject to a random audit.

The audit surveyed a random selection of 10 customers, all who had bought Nordic Star ear tags for dairy and beef cattle during the past 18 months.

“We didn’t drop a mark,” says Nordic’s manager Justin Frankfort. “Those customers surveyed gave full marks for delivery, customer service and application instructions and valuable feedback on excellent retention rates

New post for Morven

Nordic Star ear tags – five star feedback

and competitive pricing.” Another ‘plus’ for Nordic was its reporting through the NMR web based Herd Companion software, where customers benefit from having their results back quickly – usually within five days of testing.

Johne’s videos

Karen and Tom Halton

September dates The NMR website now has four short videos to help producers with Johne’s control plans. Filmed on 2016 HerdWise competition winner Tom and Karen Halton’s Cheshire farm, they look at Johne’s control protocols in this 500-cow cross-bred herd, showing the use of HerdWise screening results in developing daily routines, particularly in the calving yards, with high risk cows and in calf feeding and colostrum management.

There’s input too from NMR vet Eamon Watson and the farm’s vet Mark Higson, from Lambert Leonard and May. Visit www.nmr.co.uk/disease/johnesvideos

TB advantage Interest in genomically testing heifers is growing, particularly among producers affected by TB who appreciate the ‘TB Advantage’ result.

“Many producers are unaware that they can select bulls for their TB Advantage and that they can also get a genome test for heifer calves through GeneTracker with the same information,” says NMR’s genetics business manager Laurence Loxam.

Morven Watson has been promoted to NMR’s field business manager for Northern Ireland and Scotland. She is responsible for NMR’s management services and the field teams. Morven joined NMR in 2011.

“This can be a useful tool in determining heifer replacements and future breeding stock.”

In collaboration with AHDB Dairy, the TB Advantage figure on the GeneTracker genomic report for a heifer is expressed as a PTA. As with males, the index indicates the degree of resistance to bTB and is on a scale of –3 to +3 with the positive value being desirable.

NMR is hosting two farm walks to look at the advantages of real time health monitoring; on September 6 near Dorchester and on September 27 near Ashbourne.

Producers are also welcome to visit NMR and Uniform-Agri at UK Dairy Day, Telford on September 13 and enter their prize draw of a year’s free use of the PRO-Gold management system.

Latest high fliers NMR’s top three 100 tonne production cows ranked on lifetime daily yield (LDY) during May and June are: • Saddlers Bluey from Lambert and Partners herd in Hampshire gave 110,627kg of milk in eight lactations and has an LDY of 31.32kg/day.

• Cleave Mascol Mandy from the Tillier’s herd in Devon gave 107,303kg of milk in seven lactations and has an LDY of 30.66kg/day.

• Grosvenor Maestro Sandy from Grosvenor Farm in Cheshire gave 109,894kg of milk in seven lactations with an LDY of 29.94kg/day.

For more information on NMR products and services contact customer services, 03330 043 043, NMR web address: www.nmr.co.uk, NMR email address: customerservices@nmr.co.uk COW MAN AG E ME N T

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B R E E D I N G

We take a look inside of the world’s leading breeding centres

CRV centre opens its doors CRV’s new Dairy Breeding Center, based at Wirdum in the Netherlands, is home to the country’s best female animals who produce embryos for the organisation’s world-leading breeding programme. text Inge van Drie

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o increase embryo production from today’s 10,000 per year to 20,000 in the future. That’s the driver behind

the investment in CRV’s Dairy Breeding Center, based just outside Leeuwarden.

And it’s an ambitious but achievable

target shared by all the staff who work at the complex, including head of embryo production Jakomien Noordman.

“We have chosen to concentrate all our embryo-production-related activities in a central location here,” she says, adding that CRV has closed its other ET-work sites, including one at Terwispel.

CRV can accommodate between 300 and 400 genetically high value animals – the Delta nucleus – at the new centre, ranging in age from just a few weeks to 27 months old. And they’re looked after by 20 staff.

Disease control: concrete walls prevent contact between groups User friendly: adjustable plates ensure optimal working heights for ET technicians

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New centre: centre has accommodation for 400 breeding animals

As well as providing office space, the main building also houses a spacious laboratory and a reception area. “We can welcome groups of visitors here and give them a look behind the scenes.” The exterior of the building was designed with great thought. Wood cladding on the gables and wide use of glass gives the building an open and transparent feel.

The building is heated and cooled using geothermal energy and equipped with LED lighting.

Breeding programme But it’s what goes on inside the building that visitors are most interested in. They want to know how CRV achieves its breeding goal – to produce healthy cows with great lifetime production – and how its breeding programme works.

“It begins with quarantine,” explains Mrs Noordman. “All the animals that arrive at the centre are placed in quarantine. And we have three separate quarantine holding zones that are mechanically ventilated to minimise the risk of introducing animal diseases.

“Two quarantine zones have also been provided for animals leaving the complex. These animals are destined for our nine test farms, including two in Flanders. As the health status in Flanders is higher than in the Netherlands, the animals must be placed in quarantine before they leave the site.’

Once they’ve ‘done their time’, cattle are moved to one of two barns: one for animals less than 15 months and the other for older stock. These have rubber slatted flooring, cow brushes and comfortable cow mattresses, which all contribute to producing a high animal welfare environment.

Strict hygiene protocols remain in place to prevent the introduction of animal diseases. For example, employees hose

Low stress: the facilities help to create a calm environment

down their boots each time they leave a pen and shower before entering the barns.

Visitors are denied access to the barns, but they can look at the animals from behind a window in a viewing sky box.

The new barns are divided into compartments, again depending on the age of the animals, and each one houses up to 16 cattle. Concrete walls, which are 1.5m thick, ensure that there is no contact between the individual groups.

“Many viruses are transmitted through the air,” says Mrs Noordman. “So even a wall like this won’t stop them. But it does make it more difficult for certain bacteria to spread from one group to another.”

Large fans, the insulated roof and a weather station that controls the ventilation curtains, all work together to ensure that the barn climate is as cool as possible. “A cool climate is important for all animals, but particularly for this group. If heat stress occurs, we notice a dip in embryo production after a couple of months. Light is also an important factor in good embryo production.”

Low-stress environment To further reduce stress – for both cattle and staff – the facilities have been designed so that halters are no longer required. Clever use of gates and narrow driving passageways means that stockmen can easily guide animals into the flushing area.

A weighing system installed in the passageways monitors the donors’ weights. In the two flushing areas, the animals are held in specially designed individual cubicles. An adjustable plate, which young animals place all four legs on and older animals just their front legs, ensures an optimal working height for the ET technicians.

State-of-the-art facilities aside, CRV’s selection index remains the same and focuses on breeding healthy and efficient cows. Balance is key, so weighting is: 40% for production (milk, fat, protein, feed intake); 40% for health and longevity, which include udder health, female fertility, longevity, hoof health, milking speed, calving traits and ketosis; and 20% type, which incorporates udder, feet and legs, body condition and rump angle.

Donor heifers Using the Delta nucleus herd’s 10,000 embryos and 1,500 embryos purchased from other high-genetic cattle in Europe, the programme aims to produce 2,500 heifer calves and 2,500 bull calves, as well as 1,000 breeder bull calves. And from these, 150 Delta donor heifers and 2,350 ‘satellite’ heifer calves are selected, as well as 50 elite ‘InSire’ bulls.

The Delta nucleus programme selects, out of 2,500 ET heifer calves, 150 of the best following genomic testing. It also purchases 20 breeder-owned heifers each year. These 170 donor heifers enter the ET programme and produce around 60 embyros, before moving to CRV test herds. Between 15 and 20 – the very best – will remain at CRV as donor cows for further ET work.

“We’re working with the best genetics and trying to improve their breeding potential even further. So excellent housing, feeding, handling and overall management facilities are vital,” says Mrs Noordman. “Any factors that prevent an animal from achieving and diplaying her potential will undermine what we’re trying to do here. So cow comfort, nutrition and health have to be maximised and stress has to be kept to a minimum. These new facilities help us to do all that – and more.” l

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FORAGE FOCUS

Make an informed ‘additive’ choice Producers needs to be able to see a return on their investment in using a silage additive – and understand the costs and benefits.

According to ForFarmers’ Robert Goodhead, a key advantage of using an additive for maize silage is reduced heating and waste after opening, also known as aerobic stability.

“Untreated silages lose between 6% and 12% of energy after clamp opening and higher dry matter silages, such as forage maize, lose the most,” he says.

“But treating with an inoculant can reduce losses by up to 50%.

“Dry matter losses can also occur

during fermentation, with untreated silages losing between 6% and 10% DM. But the level of loss depends on the crop and its dry matter percentage, because losses are the result of either effluent run-off in wetter silages or inefficient fermentation in dryer silages. Again, inoculant treatment can reduce losses by up to 50%.

“So choose a maize additive that can offer both better fermentation and improved aerobic stability,” he says.

“Using an additive can improve milk yield by between 0.8 and 1.5 litres per cow per day, or increase live weight gain in beef cattle by between 7% and 15%.”

Reseed leys with varieties from recommended list Utilising grass-seed mixtures, which include the top varieties on the Grass and Clover Recommended List (RGCL) from leading plant breeding programmes, guarantees higher yielding and better quality leys that can offer more efficient fertiliser use and boost both grassland productivity and animal output. So says ForFarmer’s Mel Digger.

“The cost of reseeding with these mixtures can be quickly re-couped through increased grass production, as well as improved milk output and animal performance,” she says.

The top-quality grasses in these mixtures offer value to producers through: yield performance, dry matter and energy; field performance, disease resistance and persistence; and feed performance, which includes grass fibre (NDF), cell wall digestibility, water soluble carbohydrate, and protein.

A new ley comprising the best

performing grass varieties will produce an extra 2,470kg of dry matter per hectare in a year when compared to swards that are between eight and 10 years old.

“Other benefits include superior D values and average ME is typically 0.8MJ/kg DM higher than older leys.

This equates to an extra 30,000MJ/ hectare, which is worth more than 2,500 litres of milk per year,” she adds.

For more information email ForFarmers at info.forage@forfarmers.eu.

Forage efficiency More milk or meat from forage, through improved feed efficiency, is vital to ensure farm profitability and is a key focus when formulating ForFarmers’ TOPGRASS grass seed mixtures.

As well as good yield, persistency and disease resistance, these mixtures include many varieties with exceptional cell wall digestibility (DNDF) and high sugar (WSC). ForFarmers’ TOPGRASS leys are higher yielding, NIABlisted varieties that offer improved grassland productivity.

The range includes the latest high-sugar grasses, with maximum fibre digestibility and good intake potential, to support extra milk production or improved liveweight gains.

The benefits of using grasses with high DNDF range from improved milk yield and live weight gains to better rumen health and reduced nitrogen emissions – by up to 4.9%. Feeding high DNDF forage will help to stabilise rumen pH, increase dry matter intakes and, therefore, increase production from home- grown forage. Every 1% increase in cell wall digestibility results in around 0.25 litres more milk per cow per day.

Water soluble carbohydrates are the sugars found inside the plant cells, rather than more complex carbohydrates that make up cell walls. They quickly fuel the rumen microbes to process more of the protein into milk and meat.

At grazing, high-sugar grass is efficiently utilised and this leads to higher intakes. Dry matter intakes can increase by up to 25%, thanks to its improved palatability, and liveweight gains can be up to 20% higher.

COW MAN AG E ME N T

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Consistency, improved reliability and record PLIs all count in latest rankings

Reliability and stability Lancashire-based Holstein breeder James Tomlinson digs down into the detail behind the top bulls that are vying for top position in the latest daughter-proven and genomic sire rankings. text Rachael Porter

J

ames Tomlinson is among the many Holstein breeders who like to see the consistency and improved reliability in daughter-proven bulls. And there’s a new reassurance in the August 2017 AHDB Dairy proven sire rankings where Gen-I-Beq Lavaman has regained his position as the number-one sire ranked on Profitable Lifetime Index (£PLI). This Man-O-Man son returns to the position he has held on several occasions, with a PLI of £668 and a total of 942 UK daughters contributing to his index.

“He’s been around for a while now and this shows that he’s a consistent sire,” says James. “I’ve not used him on my herd, but I may try him now. I have used a lot of Goldwyn, so I tended to shy away

from him. But I think I can find a place for him now.”

Sire stack

James Tomlinson: “The sires in the genomic ranking all have phenomenal PLIs”

De-Su Rookie, who led the field in the April proof run, has been edged into second place with a PLI of £647. “But he looks like a decent sire too. I particularly like his sire stack,” says James. Rookie is a high fat transmitter (35.2kg) and also passes on low cell counts (SCC Index –25), good mastitis resistance (Mastitis Index –4) and longevity (Lifespan +0.6) to his daughters. “My only concern is his rump angle and that’s why I’ve shied away from him before. But with this staying power and these figures, I think he’s on my ‘may be’ list.”

Moving up to third place is the exceptional daughter fertility improver (Fertility Index +21.2), VH Cole Clark with a PLI of £641. And in fourth place sits S-S-I Shamrock Mystic, with a PLI of £621), a fertility index of +17.6) and +0.5 for longevity. His paternal half-brother, Teemar Shamrock Alphabet (both by Shamrock) shares these characteristics with +17.5 FI and +0.7 LS and has a PLI of £612. “These are both good bulls – how else would they make it on the list – but they’re both too low on type for me. They

Table 1: Top 9 genomic and top 9 daughter-proven sires available in the UK ranked on PLI (source: AHDB Dairy and Holstein UK)

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prot. kg

fat%

£PLI

maint.

SCC

lifespan

fertility

dCE

F&L

udder

TM

genomic sires Mr Rubi-Agronaut 73287 Peak Alta Depot VH Balisto Brook Progenesis Padawan Westcoast Perseus Westcoast Guarantee VH Balisto Brixton Prehen Lancaster ABS Achiever

Rubicon Hotshot Balisto Jedi Penmanship Boastful Balisto Penmanship Yoder

Shotglass Montross Denim Enforcer Doorman Tango Mandel Shamrock Embassy

King Street Sires Alta/Global Genetics Viking Semex Semex Semex Viking UK Sires Direct Genus

67 +437 +34.9 67 +672 +29.8 69 +507 +40.4 67 +985 +25.8 67 +675 +33.9 67 +1045 +38.9 68 +80 +29.3 67 +635 +29.6 67 +592 +48.7

+21.7 +22.3 +24.4 +32.5 +30.7 +35.5 +19.3 +22.9 +23.2

+0.21 +0.04 +0.24 –0.15 +0.09 –0.03 +0.33 +0.05 +0.30

+0.09 +0.01 +0.10 +0.01 +0.10 +0.02 +0.21 +0.03 +0.05

819 818 791 779 779 774 756 751 743

3 8 4 21 15 8 –15 –3 –3

–24 –36 –36 –22 –25 –30 –23 –13 –17

0.7 0.9 0.7 0.7 0.6 0.6 0.6 0.7 0.6

13.4 0.1 17.5 0.7 8.8 1.1 16.2 –0.4 10.3 0.9 8.9 0.5 8.5 1.4 17.1 1.0 6.8 0.2

2.51 1.32 0.81 1.94 1.10 0.43 0.42 0.98 1.67

1.95 1.39 0.94 2.08 1.97 1.26 1.64 1.52 1.54

2.47 1.66 1.04 2.43 2.05 1.24 1.52 1.69 1.83

proven sires Gen-I-Beq Lavaman Man-O-Man De-Su Rookie 11057 Bookem VH Cole Clark D Cole S-S-I Shamrock Mystic Shamrock Teemar Shamrock Alphabet Shamrock De-Su 11236 Balisto Bookem Har-Dale-Acres-Jp Alta CR Mogul Co-Op Robust Cabriolet Robust EDG Rubicon Mogul

Goldwyn Bronco Lambada Shottle Ramos Watson Trigger Planet Robust

Semex WWS Viking WWS Genus Genus Alta/Global Genetics Bullsemen.com/AIS King Street/Western Farm

99 82 80 82 83 96 83 91 82

+25.6 +23.2 +17.1 +20.1 +17.2 +28.8 +16.3 +22.8 +20.8

+0.07 +0.11 –0.18 +0.01 –0.06 +0.13 +0.19 +0.09 +0.17

+0.17 +0.02 +0.02 +0.00 +0.00 +0.16 +0.04 +0.02 +0.00

668 647 641 621 612 606 601 596 595

–8 7 –22 1 –22 13 –9 –17 15

–4 –25 –5 –20 –4 –18 –10 –7 –7

0.2 0.6 0.8 0.5 0.7 0.4 0.4 0.5 0.5

14.3 1.0 6.8 0.2 21.2 2.5 17.6 –0.7 17.5 2.4 1.6 0.4 9.2 –0.8 5.9 1.4 8.5 –0.1

1.14 0.86 1.06 0.89 1.65 1.55 1.09 –0.36 0.23 0.12 0.53 0.41 0.68 –0.40 –0.10 0.90 1.02 1.06 1.84 2.31 2.44 0.72 0.84 0.82 2.30 1.66 2.18

+352 +656 +493 +610 +528 +467 +412 +655 +632

+20.0 +35.2 +3.8 +24.7 +15.4 +29.4 +32.1 +33.8 +39.2

protein

mat. grandsire supplier

milk

sire

reliabil

name

fat kg

%

conformation ind.

functional traits

ity

production

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both have minus scores and I can afford to be picky with so many other good sires, across two rankings, to choose from.”

The sixth sire in the ranking – new to the top 10 and moving up from 26th position – is De-Su 11236 Balisto. This heavily used sire of sons has really caught James’ eye.

Balisto’s 109 UK milking daughters confirm his genomic expectations and rank him high for protein (28.8kg and +0.17%) and maternal calving ease (+2.1).

His PLI is £606. “And I’m definitely going to order some straws and have a dabble.

He comes from a good cow family and has an interesting sire stack. And he’s been used as a sire of sons,” says James.

Skipping to 10th place sees the highestranking UK-bred sire re-appearing in the top 10. And James is pleased to see Prehen Omen there. He has a PLI of £588 and is strengthening his position as daughters are added – he now has 268 UK daughters contributing to his index.

“He’s one I said to keep an eye on because I knew he had more to prove. His milk yield has dropped a little, but I think he’s an all-round good sire and he definitely has a place in UK herds. I’m going to use him – probably as a ‘sweeper’.”

Genomic sires The sky high PLIs of all the young sires is the first thing that strikes James in this proof run: “They’re all above £800, which really is phenomenal,” he says.

The front runner Mr Rubi-Agronaut retains the number-one position and breaks the £800 Profitable Lifetime Index (£PLI) barrier with a PLI of £819. He also transmits solid production, marked by a Predicted Transmitting Ability (PTA) for fat of +0.21%. “He’s got it all – type, low SCC and fertility. He also has a good sire Gen-I-Beq Lavaman

stack and he’s from the Apple cow family – one of the best there is. So I’ll be making some enquiries about price.”

New in second place is Peak Alta Depot (Hotshot x Montross) with a similarly impressive PLI of £818. And James agrees.

“His figures are almost unbelievable really – they’re so good. I’m not overly happy about his dam’s classification, but you can’t ignore the numbers in this proof. Again I’ll be looking to buy a few straws.”

This bull is an exceptional fitness transmitter – he’s one of the very best for Somatic Cell Count at –36 with a Lifespan Index of +0.9 and a daughter Fertility Index of +17.5.

Climbing to third spot is VH Balisto Brook (PLI £791), another remarkable bull for udder health. With the top ratings for SCC and Mastitis (–36 and –6 respectively), Westcoast Perseus (Penmanship x Doorman) now ranks in equal fourth place with a PLI of £779. He shares this position with non-mover, Progenesis Padawan (Jedi x Enforcer).

Padawan is a transmitter of solid protein, high lifespan, fertility and high type (+2.43 Type Merit).

“Again, these are excellent bulls, but I can’t use them all. And these latter two are both –2 for straight legs and I’m avoiding sires that are too straight in the leg.

“Other than that, I can’t fault them.

And I think that Perseus’ modern sire stack will be particularly appealing for breeders looking for something special to parade in the showring.”

In sixth position is Westcoast Guarantee.

This Boastful x Tango, a useful cross according to James, shows genomic figures of 1,045kg milk, 38.9kg fat and 35.5kg protein and combines these with

outstanding SCC and Mastitis Indexes, giving him a PLI of £774.

“He’s definitely one to look out for. I’m certainly going to keep an eye on him.”

The eighth ranked young sire already has James’ full attention. Prehen Lancaster is the highest ranked UK-bred bull, weighing in with a PLI of £751 and the PLI of this Penmanship x Shamrock is underpinned by tremendous daughter Fertility Index of +17.1 alongside a high Lifespan Index (+0.7).

Genetic gain “Making it to the top 10 is such an achievement and I like UK-bred sires anyway,” says James, adding that this bull is also from an exceptional cow family – Laurie Sheik. “I’m definitely going to use him on my herd – without a doubt.”

More than two thirds of all Holstein inseminations in the UK are carried out using genomic young sires and James says that the same ratio that he’s using on his herd.

“I’m now milking daughters by the first genomic young sires that I used and I’m very happy with them.”

It’s a similar picture across the industry and AHDB Dairy’s Marco Winters says that producer confidence in the genomic predictions is clear.

“This is a remarkable rate of adoption of a relatively new technology, which AHDB introduced as part of its genetic evaluation service just five years ago.

“We estimate that the additional genetic gain achieved on UK farms, as a result of producers choosing to use these superior genomic young sires, is approaching nearly double the annual gain we were achieving prior to the availability of genomic indexes in 2011.” l

Mr Rubi-Agronaut 73287

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C O N TA C T S

SHOWS AND EVENTS September 13: October 3-7: October 4: October 27: November 3-12: November 15: November 15: December 14:

UK Dairy Day, Telford International Centre, Shropshire World Dairy Expo, Madison (United States) The Dairy Show, Shepton Mallet, Somerset Welsh Dairy Show, Nantyci Showground, Carmarthen Royal Winter Fair, Toronto (Canada) British Mastitis Conference, Sixways Stadium, Warriors Way, Worcester AgriScot, Royal Highland Centre, Ingliston, Edinburgh, Scotland Royal Ulster Winter Fair, Eikon Exhibition Centre, Balmoral Park, Lisburn (Northern Ireland)

2018 January 22-24: May 10: May 16-19:

Dinner is served: a cow enjoys some fresh cut-and-carry grass.

Picture: Harrie van Leeuwen

British Cattle Conference, Telford Hotel and Golf Resort, Telford, Shropshire Grassland UK, Shepton Mallet, Somerset Balmoral Show, Balmoral Park, Lisburn

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