7. Mat Senior, Eastfield Farm, Perrot, Crewkerne, Somerset.

He is currently milking 150 freshly-calved cows, with the rest of the 260-cow herd set hard on their heels. Most of those cows are Jerseys, with Guernseys making up one-fifth of the herd.

Milk is sold to Longman Cheese, so butterfat and protein are the priority, with the herd averaging 5.4 per cent butterfat, 3.6-3.7 per cent protein and 4,500 litres per cow.

Mr Senior says he runs a ‘simple system’, offering cows rolls in the field in the morning, with a little bit of maize silage.

The grass is not growing much at the moment, so cows come in for afternoon milking to access a buffer, offering the rest of their concentrate allocation plus maize and grass silage, and do not return to grass until the next day. No feed is offered in the parlour and all cows are fed on a flat rate.

This is not the first year Mr Senior will be analysing fresh grass. “I find it interesting and it’s a valuable tool to help monitor grass and bridge the gap with buffer feeding,” he says.

Have your say

Please do not complete the following form field for security reasons.

Name

E-mail

Comment

Post as

Anonymously

Display name