With 60 cows in milk at any one time, the herd is milked through a Lely robot, which was installed in 2013, and all milk is sold to Craig’s Farm Dairy, based just a few miles down the road.
“Our milk constituents are just what our buyer is after, at around 3.9% protein and 5.4% butterfat,” says Jane. “We are required to graze our cows during the summer months because that’s what customers demand, and that works fine for us. We have low rainfall compared to the rest of the UK, but we have plenty of forage because we work hard to maximise our production and use of spring grass.”
Robotic milking means that the cows are grazed in paddocks close to the unit, which are strip-grazed with a back fence. Cows are free to wander between grazing and the robot as they wish.
Cows are fed an 18% protein concentrate to yield through the robot and also have access to a TMR ration in the milking shed. This comprises maize and grass silage, distillers’ grains, molasses, soya hulls, plus minerals. Milk yields average around 7,700 litres per cow and heifers typically calve down and enter the all-year-round-calving herd at 22 months old.
“It was my mother’s decision to milk Jerseys because she believed that they were easier to manage compared to other breeds, due to their temperament and their size,” says Alan. “We used New Zealand genetics because they produced quiet animals, but since switching to a robotic milking system we’ve moved towards Danish or American bloodlines with more stature, to produce cows that better suit the robot and have room for the cluster to move freely beneath them.”