Griffin Family… Kirkby British Friesians
When it comes to British Friesians, the Griffin family, are leading the way in raising the profile of the breed as well as adopting new technology on their family farms in Leicestershire.
The family business operates two farms, a rearing unit which is managed by Don and Jackie Griffin and the main farm housing the milking herd managed by son Trevor and his partner Justine. The opportunity for the family to take on the neighbouring farm meant that decisions on future stocking levels could be shared across the acreage and investment for the future was able to happen so both generations could be supported by the business.
In July 2011 they started to milk their herd of 150 Pedigree British Friesian’s, under the prefix of Kirkby, through Fullwood robots. The family see the power of valuable data that is provided on each cow from the robots as well the technology helping the family be more efficient with their time, ensuring a work-life balance for Trevor, Justine and their children.
CIS have been providing services to the Griffin family for a number of years. They use the Friesian Complete package which includes milk recording, calf registration, health and drug records, mating software and type classification. All data from analysis of milk samples, including other data captured on each cow by the robots, is uploaded onto the secure CIS YourHerd portal.
Commenting on the portal, Don says “As a family, we believe it is important that dairy producers, such as ourselves, are armed with as much information as possible to make informed decisions on the herd from feeding to breeding. The data helps people to understand breeding lines and prevent inbreeding in animals, both in herd and in the semen sales catalogues. Data is a big thing for our family which is why the CIS services and wider NBDC delivery of information is a key focus for us”.
“All our records and data for the herd are accessed via various routes the key one being the CIS Mobile Herd App available for Android and iPhone. I can walk the herd and view data via the App meaning you have real-time visibility of that cow and how she is performing overall so we can make decisions immediately, or in consultation with the vet when reviewing health status”, further adds Trevor.
In terms of breeding, the family are progressing the genetic merit of the herd by using Friesian sires on heifers, which has resulted in them having a surplus of heifers over recent years. The bottom 25% of the herd are put to beef bulls as there is a market for the finished animals – breeds British Blue and Hereford. All stock is reared, whether a pedigree female or a beef cross male, and taken through to calving/finishing, the beef heifers being snapped up by suckler herds. The calf rearing is Justine’s domain who moves the calves to the other farm at 7 -8 weeks of age, then in calf heifers returning prior to calving.
The family are very involved with the British Friesian Breeders Club with Jackie currently holding the position of President while Trevor has a role on the Club’s genetics group.