Norrieston takes bronze in NMR records in face of adversity

Add in the tragic death of a family member just before the March, 2020 lockdown, and it has been a horrendous year for the Blacks from Norrieston, Thornhill, Stirling.

They have however, well and truly risen to the almighty challenge of not only managing their unregistered black and white dairy herd without a beloved husband, and father, but also pulling out all the stops to be crowned Scotland's third highest yielding dairy herd.

While there has been no official announcement, Pam Black her late husband Steven and son Gregor, saw their 107 black and white cows and 27 heifers produce National Milk Record yields of 11,026litres at 3.91%BF and 3.39%P and 8980litres at 3.94%BF and 3.38%P, respectively, effectively earning them 'a bronze medal'.

With the robots allowing the cows to produce more milk and releasing the Blacks from the time-consuming milking routine Ref:RH050321554 Rob Haining / The Scottish Farmer...

These were the highest yields achieved from the 450-acre lowland unit located near Thornhill, Stirling, which includes 195 acres of ground grown for cereals, but ironically they were on back of Steven's decision to bring in the robots in 2015.

"We couldn't have done it without the robots," said Pam. "Cows are happier when they are inside all the time and with the robots, they can go and get milked when they want which means you get an extra yield from them as a result. On average our cows will produce four lactations, but because a lot of our cows have Friesian genetics in them, we have some cows milking in their seventh and eighth lactation."

Needless to say the robots were also a godsend when Steven was so ill at the end of 2019 and the early part of 2020, after being diagnosed with cancer of the duodenum.

"It was Steven's idea to bring in the robots to future proof the business in 2015, when Gregor was still at college, so it is wonderful to see his ideas bearing fruit now that Gregor is in charge, while Steven's parents, Archie and Margaret, still help out," Pam said.

Norrieston boys photographed in 2015 when the robots were being installed from left, Steven, Gregor and Archie

Initially, it was a toss up deciding between the 'red' and the 'blue' robots, with the family opting for the Fullwood Merlin M2, as a result of the service package provided by McCaskie's who also installed the two robots.

"There do a fantastic job and they service the robots every eight weeks. We've never had any problems with the machines," she said.

It was a point echoed by Gregor: "McCaskie's service is second to none and the machines are simple but effective. We very rarely have to get an engineer out," he said, adding that EID through cow pedometers linked up to the robots has enabled better individual cow health and herd fertility.

The cows have taken to the robots well too, with fresh heifers pretty much happy to access the robots themselves within five to seven days of calving.

Mastitis has more or less disappeared when cows are milked more often too, with those giving 60+litres per day able to access the robot, where they are fed an 18% protein concentrate according to yield, five or six times per day.

Hence, 60-70% of the cows are able to be selectively dried off, with those with the highest SCCs given some sort of antibiotic six to seven weeks pre-calving.

Gregor also believes lameness is less of an issue as cows are not standing as long waiting to go through the parlour.

Norrieston home to Black family and their Holstein Freisan herd Ref:RH050321583 Rob Haining / The Scottish Farmer...

It has nevertheless been a complete learning curve for the Blacks and the cows, as the herd is now housed 24/7, and Gregor does all the AI'ing, using sexed semen on 50% of the maiden heifers to calve at 24-26months and the best of the younger cows. Cows are AI'd twice, 12 hours apart, with conception rates having improved over the years to 40% holding at first service.

Genus scores the cows and provides a list of Holstein and Friesian AI sires for use with good feet, legs, milk and teat placement figures, with Pesky and Trigger, having worked a treat in recent years.

The remainder of the cows are AI'd with a 'fertility 250' triple straw of beef semen made up of one straw of British Blue and two Aberdeen-Angus, for improved conception, with an Aberdeen-Angus bull used to sweep up.

While there has been little change to the cubicle shed outwith an extension to make way for the two Merlin robots, the construction of a new dry cow barn has made a huge difference, allowing better management during the transition period. Cows are dried off six to seven weeks pre calving or when they are giving 15-20litres per day.

Instead of being kept in the one group, pre-calving cows can now be split into near and far off calving lots and fed a different feed ration, under the advice of Archie Leitch of Almins. There is also a separate penning area for calving maiden heifers.

new shed that was built to house the dry cows and some young stock at Norrieston Ref:RH050321573 Rob Haining / The Scottish Farmer...

Far off calving dry cows are fed a total mixed ration (TMR) comprising 23kg of silage, 4kg chopped straw, magnesium chloride and an acid buffer, while near calving cows receive the same feed plus 4kg of an Almins Downcalver nut. Gregor also gives the leaner cows a Kexxtone bolus at this time to reduce the incidence of ketosis which has proved a huge success.

With sexed semen used on the bulk of the maiden heifers, there is little if any bother at calving, with each calf receiving up 2litres of it's mother's colostrum, which is tested for quality, ideally within the first six hours of birth.

Calves receive their mother's milk for another three of four days before switching to powdered milk fed in individual buckets. Pam and Margaret are in charge of the calves which are kept in individual pens for the first couple of weeks before moving into straw-bedded pens in groups of six until they are weaned at nine to 10 weeks of age.

A calf starter creep feed and water is provided from four days of age and calves are fed the whole time in buckets until weaning.

Beef calves are fed exactly the same way and are reared through to 13-14months and sold either privately or through United Auctions.

from day one new born calves are put in cosy calf jacket for the better conversion of energy to growth rather than warmth Ref:RH050321543 Rob Haining / The Scottish Farmer...

Fresh calved cows on the other hand join the main herd where there is access to the one ad-lib TMR ration, devised by Greg Leishman of Advanced Nutrition with a high protein blend from Mole Valley Feeds. This comprises 34kg of a high quality home-grown silage, 2.7kg of home-grown bruised barley; 0.3kg of advanced optimax minerals; 7kg of supergrains; 0.4kg of minerals and 1.8kg of a protein blend, with an 18% protein cake fed in the robot according to yield.

However, instead of feeding the cows once a day, they are fed twice, when it is a smaller feed wagon they have, which in turn ensures a fresher feed at all times and is pushed up five or six times daily.

Outwith the new dry cow shed, the Blacks have also installed a bigger slurry store allowing six months capacity, with a contractor brought in to spread the manure using an umbilical cord.

currently under construction, a view from the inside of the bigger slurry store allowing six months capacity Ref:RH050321577 Rob Haining / The Scottish Farmer...

Add to that regular soil analysis and reseeding every four to five years relying more on italian ryegrasses and red clover, and Gregor has been able to reduce the amount of artificial nitrogen fertilser used.

The family also looks to multi-cut, and last year saw their first silage taken on May 25 and then every four weeks after, thereby producing a more consistent quality silage even when relying on baled crop.

With just one pit, all cuts are able to be pitted, with the remainder chopped and baled for use in the feed wagon,with a 2nd pit planned to be in place for 2021 season. Last year's analysis has been pretty similar throughout the four cuts too, with the second cut producing a 30% dry matter analysis with an ME and crude protein figures of 11.7Mj and 17.3 per kg of dry matter respectively and a D Value of 73.

"Our silage was of better quality throughout, that we have been able to cut back on our protein blend by 1kg per head per day," added Gregor, who is a past chairman of Callander YFC.

While Gregor cuts all the grass, contractors are brought in for the actual forage harvesting for the pit silage while we do our own bale silage.

the old Massy 35 used to push the silage up to keep the cows with food close to them Ref:RH050321553 Rob Haining / The Scottish Farmer...

The past year has been huge struggle for everyone, but there is no doubt it has been so much worse for all at Norrieston. But from adversity comes strength and you only have to link onto Neil MacLaren – a dear friend of Steven's – facebook page to see the colossal amount of money that has been made to raise awareness of cancer of the duodenum and for the Beatson in Glasgow.

Since April of 2020, Neil has taken upon himself to run 10km every day until April 1, 2021, which has already raised thousands of pounds on the top of the funeral last February which pulled in over £4000 for the charities.

In addition, Claire who is pursuing a career as a chemical engineer with Ineos, and Emily Black who has taken a keen interest in the farm since lockdown and has changed her university course to Rural Business Management at Edinburgh, to start in September, have raised a similar amount, through running and the power of social media.

Have a look, dig deep because we all know of someone somewhere struggling with the big C.

FARM facts

Family farm: Pam Black, son Gregor (24) and daughters Claire (27) and Emily (18) alongside Steven's parents' Archie and Margaret Black.

Farm size: 410acres of which 195acres grown for feed and malting barley and oats for milling.

Herd: Unregistered 107 black and white Holstein and Friesian cows and 30 heifers all year round calving and housed 24/7 for milking through Merlin Fullwood robots.

Calving interval: 404 days with 40% holding to first service.

Calving: All year round with all calves receiving their mothers' milk for first 3-4 days. All cow's colostrum is tested for quality.

ONTHE spot:

Best investment? Installation of robots

Biggest achievement? To get thorough 2020 through resilience and come out stronger than ever

Where do you want to be in 2030? To continue to run an efficient, sustainable family dairy unit

Biggest challenge in dairy industry? To get accurate information over to the consumer about dairy products and animal welfare giving the true facts

Secret to being a good dairy farmer? – Hard work, passion and taking pride in doing a good job

g their mothers' milk for first 3-4 days. All cow's colostrum is tested for quality.