|
Lancashire Jersey herd
strikes gold
Finalists for the past three
years, Ian and Sally Macalpine from Clitheroe, in Lancashire, have risen to the
top spot this year and won the UK dairy industry’s most prestigious award –
the NMR/RABDF Gold Cup. A finalist for the second year running Peter Jack from
Blandford Forum, in Dorset, is this year’s runner-up and wins the NMR Silver
Salver.
Ian and Sally Macalpine run the 200-cow pedigree Ribblesdale herd at Laneside
Farm, Waddington, near Clitheroe. They restocked their 68-hectare grass farm
with Jersey cows, switching from Holsteins, five years ago after the FMD
outbreak in 2001.
The move to Jerseys was driven
by Ian Macalpine’s determination to produce a value-added milk rather than
continue to sell milk into a commodity market. Five years on, production has
exceeded the Macalpine’s expectations. NMR yield averages are 6,200kg per cow
at 6% butterfat and 4% protein. Cell counts are running at 165,000/ml and herd
longevity is high with 30% of cows in at least their fifth lactation. Helping
the Macalpines achieve high performance is herdsman Les Helliwell and apprentice
Sam Wearden, as well as occasional part-time staff.
Making the best use of
available land is important to the Macalpine’s business and the Jersey breed
fits in well. “Jerseys are very efficient producers of milk solids out of dry
matter,” says Ian Macalpine. “They can be up to 30% more efficient than a
Holstein cow. We can keep 200 Jersey milkers where we could only have 150 black
and whites.”
Since the outset, when a herd
of Danish imported cows was purchased in the UK, milk has been supplied to J and
E Dickinson’s Longley Farm Dairy at Holmfirth, near Huddersfield, where the
price is based on butterfat and protein content.
A review of the herd’s diet
last year led to the introduction of a more energy dense TMR based on grass
silage, molasses, grain beet, concentrate and some fat, and fed at a flat rate
all year round. In just six months the new diet increased herd margins by 23%
with no increase in cow numbers.
All herd replacements are home
bred by Danish and American sires with the intention of building herd numbers up
to a maximum of 220 with an average yield of 6,500kg. Heifers leave the farm at
six months old and are reared on contract, during which time they are served,
and returning a month before calving at 24 months old. Their calving index is
currently running at between 365 and 370 days.
Ian and Sally Macalpine also
won the Lilyhill Cup for the third year running, awarded to the highest placed
Jersey herd in the Gold Cup competition.
|
