Steve Toop is herdman for the Rawstar herd and oversees the day-to-day management of the cows. Maintaining a simple feeding system, that makes the most of grass leys, is the cornerstone of his efforts on farm.
"When i started working with James 18 years ago, we restructured the farm's grass leys, splitting them into six night paddocks and eight day paddocks", Steve explains. "We aim to turn cows out in February and, as long as conditions hold, they won't come back indoors full-time until November.
"In order to maintain energy intakes later in the season when grass growth and quality starts to drop off, we turn the cows out to graze forage crops through to mid-November. This year we have used kale, but we have grown turnips in the past."
During the grazing period, cows go out onto a fresh paddock every day, and night paddocks - which are kept as permanent pasture - are located close to the cow housing and parlour for easy access. The night paddocks are strip-grazed during the early spring and Georgie thinks this system works well.
"We want to get the most out of every bit of grass and strip-grazing the night paddocks helps us achieve this", states Georgie."While it is extra work, by strip grazing we don't have any waste and cows graze grass right down before moving on to fresh pasture."