7 minute read
New milking parlour for Brinsbury
COLLEGE INVESTS IN MILKING PARLOUR
As one South East agricultural college auctions off its dairy herd and parlour equipment, another has opened a new, state-of-the-art facility boasting all the latest technology.
Brinsbury College in Pulborough, West Sussex, now has a milking parlour that would be the envy of many dairy farmers around the country – and that, as farm manager Alex Hollands explained, is the point.
“The dairy industry may be going through a tough time, but the successful businesses are generally those that have modernised and are using the latest equipment. We want our students to find jobs with those dairies, so we need them to have studied the kind of technology that they will be working with when they leave Brinsbury,” he said.
The decision to install the new, British designed and manufactured, dairy is in stark contrast to the situation at Hadlow College in Kent, which has sold its dairy herd and plans to move into beef. Students there will learn about dairying through a partnership with an organic dairy farm near Edenbridge.
Brinsbury’s new facility, based around ATL dairy equipment and refrigeration by MMT Services, will not only be used to teach agricultural students but will help the self-supporting farm business continue to improve its efficiency.
The parlour uses auto identification and milk yield monitoring to allow individual cows to be fed and managed according to their stage of lactation and uses high-tech collars to store and provide live information on the cow’s health.
Mr Hollands explained that hands-on experience was important for Brinsbury’s students, particularly since 80% were from a non-farming background and would be “driving tractors and milking cattle for the first time”. He stressed that the college was not critical of Hadlow’s decision as each institution faced different pressures.
He said he felt students without access to a dairy would “miss out” on valuable skills at a time when the industry was struggling to recruit herdspeople.
“It’s taken us six months to replace an assistant herdsperson and I know of a number of businesses that are struggling to recruit. The industry may be moving towards fewer, more efficient outlets, but I believe dairy is still an important area of agriculture and we want our students to benefit from those opportunities.”
Brinsbury operates what Mr Hollands described as “an extensive New Zealand-based system based on grass and some whole crop, with the herd outside for nine months of the year”.
The farm’s philosophy focuses on quality of milk and longevity rather than on yield, with cattle normally reaching an impressive seven lactations. The “relaxed” approach has been producing 6,000 litres a year, but the technology now being used has already seen that rise to close to 7,000 – and an annual total of more than a million litres.
“It’s important for the students to see the improvements that can be made to yield using a variety of different approaches, including using technology. The farm enjoys great support from the college but runs as a commercial entity and makes a profit,” Mr Hollands explained. The herd is now stable at 150 head of cattle, having proved overstocked at 180 a few years back.
Mr Hollands added that the team was “over the moon with the new dairy and milking parlour”, which he said had dramatically improved conditions for the cows and provided “a fantastic working environment for our students and staff”.
The new dairy, which attracted a government grant towards part of the cost, replaced a manual parlour built in the 1980s, which Mr Hollands said “is not what the industry looks like any more”. He went on: “Now our students are learning in a hightech environment so that when they leave they will be able to get a job and know not just what they are doing but why they are doing it.”
NEWS DAIRY HERD AUCTIONED
Hadlow College’s dairy herd is no more, following a successful sale at Sedgemoor Auction Centre in Somerset on the last day of August.
South East Farmer revealed last month that the dairy herd was to be axed following a review of the college’s farm enterprises. Students will instead be taught about dairying at Bore Place, an organic dairy farm at Chiddingstone, near Edenbridge.
South East Farmer columnist Alan West, who lectured at the college for many years and expressed his disappointment with the decision, saw the cattle being moved while doing his sheep rounds in the early hours of the morning of the sale.
He said it was “very sad” to see Gloucestershirebased livestock hauliers heading towards the dairy unit to pick up the stock ahead of the sale at Sedgemoor. “I must admit it did bring a bit of a lump to my throat – the end of an era,” he added.
The sale itself was very successful, according to auctioneer Derek Biss, who praised the unusually high quality of the herd and said the animals had sold well, with pedigree third calvers reaching as much as 2,500 guineas and most of the milkers fetching 2,000gns a head. Calves at foot made 400gns, with yearlings up to 780gns and served heifers around the 1,480gns mark.
While there were no bids on the old dairy parlour, the 10,000 litre bulk tank made £3,000. The Hadlow herd totalled 185 Holstein Friesians and the sale attracted 30 buyers.
The college team would have enjoyed reading the auctioneers’ comments, which pointed out: “The older cows in the herd are testament to the attention to detail they have had and the quality and longevity of this very fi ne relatively small herd of Holstein Friesians, which includes some attractive red and whites.”
News that the college planned to switch to a beef herd prompted Alan West to voice concern in September’s South East Farmer at the idea of suckler cows being put in dairy cubicles that would be too large for them.
College Principal Lindsay Pamphilon has since pointed out: “We have a few straw yards available to keep cattle housed indoors (not in cubicles) which will be used as we establish the herd.
“In the mid-term, with our ambitions to grow the herd, we will remove the cubicles. We have an existing young stock shed and this will enable us to separate stock as required.”
SUPPORTING LOCAL CHARITIES
Generous donations from NFU Mutual agents and their staff at three Kent offi ces have made a big diff erence to local charities helping people facing homelessness, food poverty and mental health issues.
Teams at the Ashford, Tenterden and Whitfi eld offi ces nominated three charities – Warming Up The Homeless, Dandelion Time and The Family Food Bank – to receive donations of more than £6,450 each from a national £2million fund launched by NFU Mutual.
Doug Jackson, NFU Mutual Senior Partner, explained: “We asked our team to nominate and vote on the charities they most wanted to support. Delivering the charitable funds via the agency network means we can support charities local to us that are making a diff erence in our communities.
“The charities we selected cover mental health, homelessness and food poverty, three areas that have been particularly aff ected by the pandemic.”
The Tenterden agency donated to Warming Up The Homeless, a charity helping the homeless of Hastings, St Leonards, Bexhill and Eastbourne. Their goal is to ensure those on the street have enough food, clothing, support and essential information to survive.
NFU Mutual’s Ashford offi ce chose Dandelion Time, a charity focused on transforming the lives of vulnerable children. The charity is one of Kent’s top children’s mental health charities and helps support children with challenging > Left: Darren Smith, partner (corporate and commercial) with Trudy Hampton, CEO at Warming up the Homeless. Right: George Ashby, partner (farming) and NFU group secretary, with Emma White, warehouse shift manager at Family Food Bank
emotional issues, often brought on by trauma, violence or serious health diffi culties.
Anyès Reading, from Dandelion Time, explained that children spent time on the Dandelion Time farm “feeding and caring for the animals to overcome emotional diffi culties, grow in confi dence and begin to love and trust again”.
The Whitfi eld agency decided to donate to The Family Food Bank, which operates across Kent, because of their ongoing eff orts to feed children and families across the county.
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