8. Tony Renwick, Arches Farm, Framfield, Uckfield, East Sussex

His herd consists of 250 Jersey, Ayrshire and New Zealand Friesian crosses and, unlike many of our other Profit from Grass farmers, he block calves in autumn.

The entire herd has been out in the daytime since January 25, but only for four or five hours a day, as the grass is ‘definitely’ behind compared to other years.

Mr Renwick said he lost a lot of grass in the winter because of the frost and snow, but what has survived has ‘jumped back to life’, although covers are still low. His land is heavy clay, but he says things have dried up ‘surprisingly quickly’ and he does not mind a bit of frost, given the mess the cows can make in very wet conditions.

The 80ha (200-acre) farm is split into 42 paddocks, which supports a 21-day rotation at the peak of the season. His first rotation has been set at 90 days. Half the grass was sown more than seven years ago, but rejuvenation work done on the other half is paying off.

“We will continue doing that because we have noticed the amount of grass grown on the new leys has over-shot the old leys quite considerably,” he says.

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