As one Defra agency appears to be finally learning the painful lessons of IT rollouts gone wrong, another seems to have walked into the same trap. Dairy Farmer of the Future 2009
Sensible approach pays off when growing your herd and business
Last week we announced the winner of our 2009 Dairy Farmer of the Future competition. This week, Joanne Pugh profiles our runner-up, Jonathan Crickmore, and highly commended finalist, Richard Knowles.
FOR Jonathan Crickmore there is no limit to how many cows he might one day milk - but there is a limit to how fast he will grow his herd.
“Part of me wants to expand and be the biggest and best dairy, but some of me thinks that’s mad,” he says.
“You see people doubling their herd and then having to sell up and I don’t want to be one of them. There’s no point getting more cows unless the cows here already are doing well - otherwise more cows means more problems.
“It’s about looking at the problems you have and the areas where you can improve and keeping working on them. As soon as you think that’s better, moving on to the next one.”
Since he left school at 16 to join the family business at Fen Farm, Bungay, Suffolk, Jonathan has steadily built up numbers from under 100 to 220, gradually increasing and improving cow accommodation and solving issues as they arise.
For example, investing in calf hutches has improved calf health, a new dry cow programme is keeping on top of a strep.ubris-related mastitis issue, and a close relationship with his vet has improved conception rates.
The latest challenge is an NVZ one, so Jonathan is busy putting roofs over everything, including outside feeding areas, so no slurry is generated, only farmyard manure. This is one of the advantages of having plenty of straw locally available for bedding, especially if quality is high and does not exacerbate the strep.ubris situation.
Some straw is home-grown as the 325-hectare (800-acre) farm, over half of which is rented ground, grows wheat (for home use) in rotation with ryegrass (for silage), fodder beet (mostly for the beef herd) and maize (mostly for the dairy herd).
The 220-250 head beef enterprise comprises dairy bull/dairy cross beef calves from the dairy herd plus bought-in store animals. These graze on marshland slightly further from the farm, while closer marshland is used for late lactation dairy cows.
The poor quality of the grass is not ideal for milk production, so recently the herd has been split, with the low group grazed and offered a lower-energy ration than that given to the highs, which are housed all year round.
Jonathan says this is saving him money as the lows were getting too much good quality feed before and are eating more grass now. However, it is frustrating to see high yielding cows drop milk production when they move from one group to the other, as there is only room for 80 cows in the high group.
Jonathan is a dab hand at building and welding - knocking up new buildings and adapting existing ones is something he has been doing for years, so he always has plenty of ideas of how many more cows can be accommodated. He plans to extend the 20:20 parlour if many more cows are milked.
Milk has recently been going to Marybelle Dairy, a local business sourcing from four farms in the area. It is currently offering 26ppl, but Jonathan says the move was not price-orientated and he has to appreciate Marybelle is a small company working hard to increase sales, but always has to sell some milk on the spot market.
“It’s wonderful to sell local and Marybelle is honest and open, so they are nicer to sell to,” he says, explaining there is regular communication about milk quality and solids, but no formal requirements for either.
“They’re trying really hard to sell more milk and I’d quite like to get involved in that - but it’s a full-time job here and you’ve got to do one job well before taking on another one.”
