RHS preview - Nothing better than the Highland....

In recent years, the family has triumphed at top dairy events with several different females but it is the privately purchased Ayrshire, Changue Martha 49, an Ex95 classified fifth calver that they hope will be up to the mark for next week’s Highland Show.
No stranger to the limelight, this Changue Stadium daughter acquired in 2014, boasts numerous accolades to include the breed championship at the UK Dairy Expo in March and reserve at AgriScot and Ayr Show.
It’s not just this big, brown milky cow that has made her presence felt, though. The Brysons, who have been buying in a few top females over the past 10 years in a bid to improve the quality of the herd and to breed home-bred bulls, have also enjoyed success with the Holstein cow, Cardi Goldfish Jeanie and the red and white, Whiteflat Anita Red, and their progeny. 
Jeanie also starred in the West of Scotland herds' competition last year, winning the award for first prize individual while also being included in the second best overall group. 
And as the quality and the management of their dairy cattle has improved, so too have milk yields.

Until 2005, Whiteflat, which comprises 377acres, was home to 100 milking cows which were milked in a 12 x 12 Alfa Laval parlour to produce average yields of 6500 litres at 4.0% BF. 
Now, with the expansion of cubicle sheds, the introduction of a few bought-in females and retention of increased numbers of home-bred heifers, cow numbers have increased to nearer 200. 
Key to the success of this larger herd has been the installation of a 22 x 22 Westfalia parlour in 2006, which reduced the actual milking time in half – from three hours to nearer 1.5 – making the step up to three times daily milking a lot more manageable. Consequently, milk yields have increased to 9500 litres at 4.1% BF and 3.2% P.
“Stress is the dairy cow’s biggest enemy and one of the main reasons why we introduced three times daily milking and since we did, our cows are not only giving more milk, they’re also lasting longer,” said Mungo.
“We’re now looking to have a herd of cows achieving four lactations with 40 tonnes of milk and we’re definitely getting there,” he added, pointing out that the herd now boasts 77 VG or Ex-classified cows and its first 100-tonne cow.

During the winter, cows are split between high and low yielders, but all are fed a TMR comprising home-grown crimped wheat and barley, silage, soya, distillers protein blend and minerals, for maintenance plus 28 litres. High yielders are, however, topped up in the parlour according to yield to a maximum of 8-9 kg.
Cow health has also improved over the past 18 months by relying more on a moist TMR. This has been achieved by soaking the concentrates in seven litres of water per head overnight, which breaks down the hard feeding with the result, cows are unable to ‘sort’ out the best bits, thereby reducing the amount of bullying within the herd, which has proved a huge advantage when there is not the space for a heifer group. Furthermore, there has been no displaced abomasums since this wet feed was introduced.
While feeding is important, it’s improved breeding that has made the biggest difference on this Ayrshire-based unit which comprises mostly Holsteins.
Mungo added: “Milk yields are 70% feeding and 30% genetics but a good cow is a never a bad colour. 
“There’s not really a lot of difference in our red and whites and Ayrshires as they have been built up from our small herd of Ayrshires by crossing them to red and white Holsteins. But, to get the best out of them, they all have to be treated like thoroughbreds – none of them last if you treat them like Clydesdales.” 
The Brysons have also been flushing their top cows in a bid to improve the future quality of the herd, while also relying on semen from leading Canadian and American type sires. These include Elude, Solomon, Butler Brady, Absolute, Diamondback, Valley Saloon, Atwood, O’Connors Classic, Toc Farm Fitz and of course Picston Shottle. 
Sexed semen is used on the best of heifers and the top cows when the family has been looking to increase herd numbers, with conventional Holstein semen used on the remainder.
And in using such semen, the Brysons aim to further develop their Anita, Lola, Martha, Denise, Miss Ella, Honey, May, Painted Ladies, Elite Roxy, Dellias, Margos, Squaw, Ellegance, Hope, Lila Z, Amanda and Bonheur cow families.
It’s a policy which is bearing fruit too as not only are milk yields on the up, but herd size and quality has increased, which in turn should point to higher margins when Whiteflat eventually stage their first production sale of females.
“As a boy, working with my late father, Mungo Bryson senior, developed a herd from 40 Ayrshires in byres, to 100 Holstein Friesians cubicle housed, we used to see the odd cow with average milk yields of 30 litres per day, but now the whole herd is averaging 30 litres plus. 
“Our highest yielding cow, Whiteflat Fever Honey Ex93, a six-year-old, has already produced 50 tonnes of milk and is still giving 52 litres at day 138 of her fourth lactation,” Mungo added.
Add to that more reliance on home-grown feeds and overall margins are improving.
“I do think farms will have to be more self sufficient in future when anaerobic digesters are taking so much of the cereals and by products produced on farms now, which only makes overall feed costs so much dearer for everyone.”
Consequently, the family has been growing roughly 35 acres of winter wheat and 30 acres of spring barley for crimp feeding, while also growing 10 acres of Italian ryegrass to feed as haylage to the dry cows and young calves.
However, while home-grown feeds are used as much as possible, dried colostrum is fed to all young calves within the first hour of being born, to avoid Johne s.
“We’ve never had to cull any cows due to Johne s in the past 10 years, therefore, we don’t draw any colostrum from the cows to feed to the calves,” Mungo added pointing out that calves are weaned at three months with the intention to calve at just over two.
It’s a far cry from the days when Mungo looked forward to showing Blackface sheep with his grand-father, the late Willie Bryson. 
And, with young Callum working at home on the farm and winning the national senior YFC cattle clipping competition and both Alistair, an accountant to trade and Lauren, a early years’ practitioner, both keen on showing, you can be rest assured the Brysons will be up for competing for a good few years to come.
Let’s just hope they can continue, at the very least, until 2020, when Mungo and Callum, the sixth and seventh generation of Brysons to farm at Whiteflat, will be celebrating 200 years in the same unit.