At Walford College Farm, the cows are currently yielding 16 litres a day with 5.5% butterfat and 4.5% protein. They’ve now moved to once-a-day milking in preparation for drying off, helping to ease workload and reduce milk flow naturally. All this performance is coming from grass and less than 1kg of concentrates per cow, which is great news for cost control.
The first cut of silage is in the clamp – around 500 to 600 tonnes of high-quality forage. A key change this year was tedding within 10 minutes of mowing, part of a new focus to improve forage quality.
The final pregnancy check showed 91% of the milking herd in-calf for autumn. Strong six-week conception rates mean an extra 7% of cows were able to get in-calf within this time frame. This provides the chance to review and refine the breeding strategy.
Unfortunately, recent TB testing returned a few positives. This, along with Johne’s control, was the main topic at our latest meeting with Nathan from Shropshire Farm Vets. A plan to break the cycle of Johne’s infection is now in place. Cows testing positive will go to beef sires, along with those previously flagged but now reading under 30. Heifers and cows from positive dams will also be bred to beef to reduce risk.
Looking ahead
As we wrap up the milking season, we’ll rank cow performance to assess the impact of these exclusions on breeding decisions and herd improvement. If needed, we’ll adjust the Johne’s control plan to ensure our best cows are still contributing to future replacements.
