Increasing milk from forage and tightening the calving pattern are amongst Tom and Ruth Clapham’s priorities after taking up a full joint venture contract farming agreement to manage a 400-cow autumn block calving herd based at Bolton Hall Home Farm, Leyburn, North Yorkshire.
“We believe in sustainable farming, and to progress our exciting venture we began in 2023, we’ve introduced new herd performance targets,” Tom explains. “We’re running a Montbéliard cross Holstein herd which we believe has real yield potential; we’ve stepped up yield from an average 6,500 litres to almost hit our 7,500 litre target from a mix of grass silage, wholecrop, a blend containing Alkagrain 30 and distillers. While we’ve yet to reach our 4,000 litre target taken from quality silage, the cheapest form of forage, we’ve so far made it to 3,304 litres. Milk quality has also been excellent with SCC 135 and milk solids over 2kg until mid-June.
“During the last 18 months we’ve tightened the calving pattern from six months with the 400 head now calving between 20 August and end of November; that’s enabling us to get the cows in calf, turnout in February and subsequently reduce costs which is also amongst our priorities.”
Tom and Ruth are new entrants to the industry, both hail from non-farming backgrounds. After meeting whilst studying at Bishop Burton College of Agriculture, they eventually went on to manage a Cheshire based 150-cow unit for four years before starting their next journey in Wensleydale. “Whilst we’ve spent time upskilling ourselves, every day remains a school day; we take advice and support from specialists when required,” Ruth explains.
“For example, when we arrived the cows were averaging just 18 litres and we felt yield could be a lot better so we introduced nutritional support from Dugdale Nutrition’s Rob Cockcroft who advised on finely tuning the PMR comprising grass silage, wholecrop, caustic wheat, fodder beet and distillers mix which in turn led to lifting yield by a significant 25% to 23-24 litres.
“Unfortunately, six weeks later we ran out of caustic wheat but replacing it with Alkagrain 30 led to a further yield increase to 25.5 litres and solids lifted by 0.2kg to 4.4% butterfat and 3.36% protein.” Introducing Alkagrain, a cost-effective high starch feed material with 17% CP content, also allowed the Claphams to reduce the rate of distillers in the diet by 0.5kg a head.
Ruth adds: “We’re targeting an average 30 litre peak yield while maintaining a healthy, fertile herd. Introducing an alkaline feed material to support rumen function is providing us with confidence we’ll be able to achieve our immediate goals, before moving on to the next.”
Features & Benefits of using Alkagrain
- Beneficial alternative to soda grain
- Simple production method
- No drying required
- Maximum crop utilisation
- Alkaline pH helps to buffer the rumen
- Improved rumen function
- Increased dry matter intakes
- Increased crop protein level
- Higher animal performance
- Reduced total feed costs
- Reduce the risk of Sub Acute Ruminal Acidosis (SARA)
For further help and advice please call the Alkaline on +44(0)1200 613118