Farmer Focus: Brian and Judith Moorhouse, Skipton, N Yorkshire
Brian and Judith use the CIS Complete Pedigree Package Service with the support of CIS Area Manager Sally Hall, milk recording on a six-weekly for the Aireburn herd that was established near Glusburn in 1969 by Brian’s late father George.
Farming with son Sam and valued full-time employee Josh Prell, they operate a simple system on the 130ha (320-acre) farm that makes full use of its ability to grow grass. It has always been a grass-based herd, grazed in summer with supplementary buffer feeding. The cows are cubicle-housed and trough-fed a total mixed ration in what can often be a long winter. The soft bed cubicles, with sawdust-over-sand composition, are tractor-scraped and slurry is stored in a lagoon for umbilical spreading.
The sale of fresh heifers and young cows always have been an important part of the business, the focus has been on breeding animals which will not only catch the eye of potential buyers but, importantly, perform well in whatever management system they are incorporated.
In the 1980s, Brian’s father had the opportunity to go and look at herds in Canada. When he came back, he just said: ‘We are not going to use a Friesian bull here again.’ And they didn’t. From then on, all Holstein sires have been used. At that time, Hilltopper Warden was the bull that really changed the type of cow in the herd, and he did us a lot of good. A similar significant improvement came later with Shottle and Mogul.
They were cautious about going to extremes with the Holstein, and this is still the case, not wanting the big, frail cows. They want cows with legs that are a little bit shorter, but also cows capable of carrying some condition and with quality, wearing udders. Milking ability and temperament are also important, and both are so much better now.
Brian has been using CIS since 2005, milk recording on a six-weekly basis. This has provided a huge benefit in terms of the data gathered. In addition to the annual yield, they use their milk records to keep an eye on butterfat and protein, somatic cell count and their calving index. “I always look at the yields first to see how the herd are doing. We use the MobileHerd app all the time as it is beneficial to have everything to hand, it is such a useful tool”, comments Brian. The herd averages are 10,048 litres at 4.03% fat, 3.24% protein.
The development of the Aireburn herd did suffer a big setback during the foot and mouth outbreak in 2001 when all the adult cows were taken in a contiguous cull. Fortunately, some 40 heifers on a different holding were not contiguous to a farm with a confirmed case, and so some, though not all, of the good cow families were retained and form the basis of the herd as it is now, some 20 years on.
40 to 50 heifers and young cows are usually sold each year, however, with their Premier Herd Open Day now on the agenda for the summer, the family’s focus is now on which animals to include in ‘The Select Sale’ they are holding with 30 head up for sale from the best cow families in the herd.
The herd calves all year round, but with some autumn bias. Heifers, which are wintered away from Hesper Farm, are served to calve at 24 to 27 months. Judith oversees the calf rearing, with one large building housing all the calves from single to group pens.
The largest cow families in the Aireburn herd are the Honeys, Bevins, Dellias, and Rillas, all of which say Brian and Judith, are consistent and regularly breed the type of animal they want. All have bred Excellent’s within the herd and also many with lifetime yields in excess of 60 tonnes.
The Aireburn herd are on the CIS Pedigree Complete service, which provides three key services, milk recording, heifer calf registrations and type classification. They classify twice a year to keep pedigrees going and develop the cow families. To get the best out of classifying they know that you need to keep doing it. Brian’s aim is to breed a complete cow – the full package, keeping an eye on the functional traits. The herd currently stands at 52 EX with many multiples, 101 VG and 40 GP.
As to the future, the Moorhouses say they have no reason to change from their current breeding policy. In terms of investment, grant aid has been applied for to improve and roof the slurry lagoon, and auto-identification of cows is under consideration to help streamline management and recording.
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