A new youngstock rearing unit to help increase fertility and reduce costs of production has been installed by the Lawrie family of Myremill, Maybole, who are already reaping the benefits nine months after completion.
Son Kevin has already noticed a difference in the amount of time saved when previously heifer calves were reared off farm which required time away to go and keep an eye on them.
“Heifers produce no income until they reach first lactation and, often, no profit until their second lactation. However, with the best management, they will repay the investment in rearing costs with higher milk production and a longer productive life," he said.
"But you need to prioritise them from day one – if you cannot look after them at a young age and give them a good start to life, they are never going to be anything,” said Kevin
“The key to calf rearing is giving the calf the best chance of survival and a good start with colostrum management,” he added, pointing out that calves are fed a precise amount in buckets in individual pens for the first six to eight weeks of life through an Urban milkshuttle milk taxi. This mixes the milk powder to the right temperature into the correct doses for each calf and has reduced the time to feed the calves from one hour to 15 minutes twice a day.
Starting on a 15% protein Harbro milk powder and starter pellets, calves are weaned at 12 weeks of age, before going on to the Harbro rearer nut at 16-18 weeks. At six months of age, they are moved up to a new youngstock shed and a straw diet before going on to cubicles and the main farm ration of 3.5kg of barley, 4kg wheat, 4kg protein blend, 24kg silage and 1kg molasses.
“We adapt the feed intake to the silage analysis however we do find that the silage is pretty consistent throughout the year,” said Kevin, who has just taken a first cut with another two cuts to go this summer. In addition to silage, Kevin has also decided to grow 60 acres of maize this year to feed the cows in winter.
A quarter of the shed is straw bedded courts with hard standing and the other three-quarters is cubicles with the far side of the shed being slatted with a Pollock rope scraping system to keep the youngstock clean as well as encouraging more lie down time. The shed is complimented by a foot bath at the top of each section to keep on top of foot problems from a young age.
“The shed really is exactly what we wanted, it means we can be on farm the majority of the time and have more time to spend with the cows and spot any problems. Having them at home means we are probably seeing a problem two days before we would rearing them off farm,” said Kevin, who was most complimentary about Smith Contracts Ltd, who built the shed.
“Reducing that travel time has helped the optimum calving period and fertility rates with heifers now calving at 24months of age which we could not do off farm,” he said.
Calving interval is 395 days and cows are dried off 50 days prior to calving. Kevin does all AI work himself which again allows for a wider fertility programme when heifers are bulling.
The best of cows and heifers are given two straws of sexed semen with the remainder AI'd with beef semen. All dairy heifer calves are retained to help increase herd numbers with surplus being sold. Beef calves are sold privately to Kevin’s uncle, Jim Lawrie, for finishing
“We find if we can get the beef calves away at a few weeks old and keep the best of the dairy heifers for our top end herd it is the most efficient way forward when rearing heifer calves is expensive and time consuming. We want to focus on rearing the best of stock for retaining,” said Kevin, who is currently milking 280 cows, a mixture of Ayrshire and Holsteins.
Milking takes place three times a day through a 30:30 Global 90i rapid exit parlour which was installed when Kevin moved to Myremill eight years ago along with the cow shed. The cows average 36litres a day producing 10,900litres a year at 4.3%BP and 3.6%P.
“We pushed the cows to three times a day milking in March last year and have seen an increase of 6litres per cow since,” said Kevin.
All milk is sold on a Nestlé contract through First Milk and used in the production of chocolate crump, an essential ingredient in the production of Nestles chocolate in the UK and Ireland.
There are just 65 farmers on this contract when the site is in Girvan, thereby reducing road miles. Farmers suppling the plant have also been pushed to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 5.7%, which is why cows are grazing 120 days of the year at a minimum of six hours a day.
Although grazed throughout the day for those four months, the herd is housed for the remaining eight months on a fully suspended shed with 300 cubicles lined with Wilson mattresses and a dusting of sawdust.
“Cow comfort is a real concern of ours. If they are not happy, they will not produce the milk at the quality we want, and cow health is also an important indicator in this,” added Kevin, adding that having a closed herd reduces the risk of disease and the vet is on farm every fortnight.
“The only way to improve your herd is through recording data and benchmarking performance. To move forward you need to realise the progress you are making or see the mistakes you are making,” he said.
“We have no notion of milking any more than 300 cows as we are at a maximum for the staff we have. We wouldn’t be any better off upping numbers – you have got to enjoy life especially now we have a family,” said Kevin, who’s wife, Alison works full time with Semex UK although is currently on maternity leave due to the birth of their baby girl, Lottie, just last month. Alison lends a hand where possible on the farm.
Outwith the busy day to day running of the farm, the team enjoy exhibiting a few animals at the Royal Highland, Ayr, AgriScot, Dairy Expo and Dairy Day. This year however, Kevin’s father, Gilmour will be judging at Ingliston, so the team has not entered for the Highland.
No strangers to the show ring, the Brieryside Ayrshires and Arranview Holsteins herd won both the super cow and super heifer award in 2012 at AgriScot, with the family having produced no fewer than four super heifers and one super cow since they started showing there.
Kevin's biggest achievement to date however, has been winning Stockman of the Year at the Highland Show in 2016, having also bagged best dairy individual and dairy pairs the same year.
“Although showing is a great shop window and it does help engage with public perspective of farming, we have to focus on our bread and butter and that is producing the milk.
“Milk price is strong at the moment, but I do think it will drop slightly in the foreseeable, future. It needs to be at least 40p per litre for dairy farmers to make a go at it. An increase in price has been a long time coming and it is welcomed by the industry.
“The cost of production is also rising but the price increase equates to this. For the feed and fertiliser prices this year they have added 7p per litre onto the cost of production, but we have witnessed a larger increase in price per litre than this to cover the cost.
“If we continue to keep going as we are and the milk prices stays steady, we should be better off in the long run. The biggest issue in the future is going to be staff. People do not want to commit to the unsociable hours involved in dairy farming.
“We have invested heavily in the farm so there is not going to be any real changes in the pipeline for a wee while. We are excited to see the investments hopefully pay off in the near future and help improve our herd,” concluded Kevin.
Farm Facts
History: Father and son duo, Gilmour and Kevin Lawrie have been tenants at Myremill since 2012, having had the opportunity to purchase the farm just two years ago.
Livestock: 280 milking herd – 50:50 Ayrshire and Holsteins along with 10-12 Jerseys, and 320 followers.
Milk herd: Yields averaging 36litres per cow with 4.3%BP and 3.6%P. On a Nestle contract through First Milk.
Involvement: Kevin along with two full time employees and casual milkers.
Acreage: 330 owned acres at Myremill, which is run alongside 450 acres at Sandyford Farm.
On the spot questions
Best investment: Buying the farm and making the alterations we have, we thought it was expensive at the time, but it would be even dearer if we were to start again now. Also, the Urban milkshuttle milk taxi for feeding the calves, it mixes the milk powder at the right temperature into the correct doses. The milk taxi has reduced the time to feed the calves from one hour to 15 minutes.
Best advice: Only make the same mistake once.
If you could do anything different in your career, what would it be? Put in sand cubicles in the cow shed for cow comfort. Although there are issues with it the cows don’t seem to get sore bits at the few places, I have now seen it in practice.
Where do you see yourself in 2032? Still doing what I am doing as long as the milk price stays where it is.
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