Rich pickings from the right nutrition

The Daws have prioritised breeding from the maternal family lines, with some of their cows descended directly from a herd that was started by Jenny’s parents in 1947. “Our aim is to breed cows with a good frame, strong and straight legs, and well-proportioned udders,” says Jenny. 

“This gives them longevity in the milking herd and allows them to produce top-quality milk, efficiently, within our system. Our cows average between five and six lactations, but our oldest cow is about to calve for the thirteenth time.”

In 2013, the couple’s daughter Claire came home to join the family business. A short time later she started to make ice-cream from the herd’s high constituent milk and ‘Dawlicious Dairy’ was born. 

Claire began by supplying a few local restaurants and shops and now sells directly to the public, from a small shed located at the farm entrance. To date, she has created more than 62 flavours of ice cream and has expanded the business to include two raw milk vending machines and fresh eggs, selling more than 1,000 litres of milk per week. “Selling from the farm is the best decision we ever made,” says Claire. 

“It has allowed us to build a strong relationship with the public and we’ve evolved into a bit of a community hub. Our customers from the city enjoy coming out here for some fresh air and seeing the animals, and they thank us for the work we do because they can see where the produce they’re buying comes from.”

From August, the cows are fed a winter ration containing grass and maize silage, up to 3kg of ForFarmers blend, and brewers’ grains or fodder beet. 

“We work closely with ForFarmers’ nutritionist Alison Ewing and account manager Julian Mills to ensure that our cows are being fed exactly what they need throughout the year,” says Barry. “We make small tweaks to the diet as required. Their knowledge of Jerseys’ specific needs has been invaluable to us.” Alison adds that, when feeding Jerseys, is it vital to be realistic in terms of dry matter intake (DMI) expectations. “These will be relatively low compared to other breeds and, as such, the ration will need to be more nutrient dense,” she explains.

“The high milk butterfat concentration also means that they require higher levels of milk fat pre-cursors in their diet. So it is crucial to have a balanced ration with sufficient effective fibre to encourage fibre digestion.”

The Bluegrass herd has high dry matter intakes for the breed, with a forage DMI of up to 12 kg/head/day and a total DMI of 20kg/head/day. This fuels high performance and is indicative of their genetics and the exceptional care the cows receive.