Practical farm ideas magazine has done a couple of articles on smaller dairy farms in the last couple of years one with I think 20cows was a flying herd and the other think we're milking 70but pre mow most of the grass then strip graze it both were good articles.anyone no if there were any others in previous magazines?
Small dairy herds
- Thread starter Comptonfarmer
- Start date
The pre-mow chap is interesting for sure. Mows the grass and strip grazes but moves the fence a couple times between feeds. Spring block. His production from forage is incredible and supports himself, son and daughter from the farm. I don't know anyone else that does the same. I visited him for my Honours project.
Cows 'n grass
Member
- Location
- Modbury, South Devon
Out of interest what kind of herds do people on here have with smaller herds or(spring/autumn) block calving or all year round?were all year round here but trying to tighten it up a bit to miss a couple of months in winter when were short of room always fancied going all spring calving but would this work as well with only having a small herd?
celtis man
Member
Quite a few farmers around us keep south devon suckler cows ...we think that is gentleman farming?
perhaps we are tight
perhaps we are tight
Yeah that's him
That's the chap.
Could consider a split block? It's usually a decent place to start dabbling into block calving.
Whitewalker
Member
Whitewalker
Member
50 to 60 cows calving mainly dec and jan . Heifers feb and a few cow stragglers after . Mostly running off grass soon as they go out .
one thing i see many milk farmers here doing now is selling the calves, when they are well reared, basically have similar profit but for less time, meal, silage and vet costs. They then seem to focus more on replacements and have a more relaxed approach to grassland and possibly actually making better use of it and having less stress over slurry storage. might even have a life.
most own majority of thier ground so land cost and lower efficency requirement might allow this.
most own majority of thier ground so land cost and lower efficency requirement might allow this.
happycows
Member
- Location
- North Devon Cornwall border
Hi Bill....... I’m sure he’s lurking in the background. Nothing will get past him.
Learning from him certainly made me want to use more grass when he was doing 30 litres off of just grass and I was feeding cake at £300 a ton. That was when I started zero-grazing and I am very grateful to him for what I learnt.
Whitewalker
Member
Less beef here also . Every bit as well Off
- Location
- Northumberland
Whitewalker
Member
When we were small 25 years ago and the breed was different that's all we used to milk!Quite a few farmers around us keep south devon suckler cows ...we think that is gentleman farming?
perhaps we are tight
Whitewalker
Member
What was your vision as you started out and how do you view where you are today?
- Location
- Northumberland
Send you a PM later when I have time to make some notes
We are a small herd (1 robot 60/70 cows). Have finished all our black & white bulls for the past couple of years as we find it gives us another income stream especially when milk is bad.
Whitewalker
Member
Much appreciated thanks