Meet the exhibitors - Ian Mallinson

In existence since 1978 the Carhall prefix is probably best known for Carhall Lyster Elizabeth, an EX93 cow, which put the herd on the map winning the National Holstein Show in 2007.

This year Lyster Elizabeth is not at the right stage in lactation for the National All Breeds show. Instead her owners, the Mallinson family – Ian and Joyce and son, Mark and wife Ellen, will be making the trip down to Stoneleigh from Armathwaite in Cumbria with three milkers, which have never been shown before.

“It really is an unknown quantity this year but the show just came too early for Lyster Elizabeth. We want to try and get her right for next year’s national instead,” says Ian.

Showing is something the Mallinsons have always been keen on and Ian says while it’s hard work it’s almost become a hobby and provides a good marketing tool for Carhall stock.

“We’ve always shown at the national ever since it started out as the British Holstein Society show, missing only a couple of years in the late 90s when we moved farms. It’s a great shop window for what we’ve got back at home.”

Pleasure

Although showing is a pleasure for the family they are also keen to stress the level of work involved both beforehand and during the show back at home.

It’s not decided yet who will go down to Stoneleigh with the show team in a fortnight’s time but someone will have to stay back to milk the 90-cows currently run on the family’s 250-acre rented Low Northsceugh Farm just outside of Carlisle.

“Manpower is the biggest problem we have with showing right now; it seems to be a problem for everyone and this year we’ve also been hampered by the weather,” says Ian.

Preparation starts around 12-months before the event with Ian and Mark deciding what will be fit for the show and then usually around eight to nine weeks before the actual event it steps up a gear to include clipping and a couple of washes.

“That’s not really happened this year due to the weather; the icy conditions meant it wasn’t safe to move cows around and we had to cope with the extra workload the cold weather led to,” says Ian.

It’s a great shop window for what we’ve got back at home

Ian Mallinson

The Mallinsons moved their herd from a farm in Cartmel at the other end of Cumbria in 1999 and a new cubicle house was built to the family’s own design and desire for a light and airy shed.

This original herd was then lost early on in the 2001 foot-and-mouth outbreak, and new bloodlines bought in included purchases from David Jones’ Wiltor herd in Monmouthshire.

Now a closed herd for the last four or five years the current average yield is 9,800kg with butterfat at 4.13per cent and protein at 3.43 per cent and a recent change in ration designed to make the most of milk constituent levels.

The cows are fed once a day at the feed fence with no additional parlour feed and the TMR comprises first and second cut grass silage, soda wheat, grains, molasses and minerals. Last year maize was grown for the first time and as it was only harvested in November the clamp will be opened up shortly to add to the ration.

Housing

For the last few summers cattle have been grazed during the day and been housed at night but Ian says this could change in the future. “We would like to be able to have more control over feed intakes and also the cows don’t seem too keen on walking up the hills,” he says.

Much of the sandy land at Low Northsceugh is steep with contractors coming in to harvest most of the silage and maize crops.

Looking ahead Ian says the family will continue to attend the ‘big shows’ and says the national event will always be a priority for them.

“We also want to try and keep where we are in terms of stock numbers but we are going to try and put the vast majority back to the black and white bull.

“At the moment we are putting around 25 per cent of the herd to the British Blue and these calves have been sold through Carlisle as a good cash crop.”

This, however, has meant the Mallinsons have been short of replacement heifers and have had little surplus stock to sell following their successful marketing at the shows.

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