Farmer Focus: AA Winstanley & Partners, Highfields Farm, Cheshire
The Rowmar Herd at Highfields Farm, Audlem, Cheshire began when Rowland and Margaret established the herd with just 130 cows. In 1995, their late daughter, Tanya, and son-in-law, Alan, formed AA Winstanley and Partners and continued to expand and modernise the business. One major milestone came in 2009 with the installation of a state-of-the-art 50-point GEA rotary parlour, which helped support the farm’s growing herd and improved efficiency.
Highfields Farm is now home to around 1,150 milking pedigree Holstein cows and approximately 1,000 youngstock. With just over 1,000 cows passing through the parlour three times a day, there is a strong focus placed on cow comfort, health, and welfare. The herd is producing an average milk yield of 13,200kg, Butterfat 4.34% and Protein 3.22%, with a calving interval of 377 days, and a pregnancy rate of 28%.
Milk recording six weekly, the Winstanleys have been customers of CIS for nearly 20 years and are supported by CIS Area Manager Amanda Wilkes. They utilise the CIS Pedigree Complete service and quarterly Johne's health tests. CIS Complete Pedigree Package offers a full milk recording service, female pedigree registrations and type classification visits for a single monthly fee.
Type classification scores are used as another tool when deciding which cows to breed with sexed semen; the rest of the herd is served to Aberdeen Angus. Since reaching the stocking levels they aimed for, a priority has been to raise the herd's profile, with nearly 50% now scored VG or above. Genomic testing has been carried out for the past 18 months with the hope of speeding this development up.
Cell count results from milk recordings are closely monitored with the vet to look for any trends, and culling where necessary. The herd is also tested for Johne's disease quarterly through CIS’s health testing service.
The cows are housed in sand-bed cubicles with rubber matting fitted along feed passages to improve comfort and reduce stress on feet and legs. Every shed has had fans installed to reduce heat stress. Foot bathing takes place three times every day, while feed is continually pushed up to ensure cows always have access to fresh feed. CattleEye technology has been installed to monitor mobility scores daily and aid in foot management.
Continuous investment has played a key role in helping the business evolve. Recent innovations include the introduction of robotic teat preparation systems in the parlour, which automatically clean and pre-stimulate cows before milking. This technology has improved consistency and efficiency while reducing the labour demands within the milking team. Whereas the Mi Pulse technology installed monitors the pulsation on the parlour for every cow at every milking, so faults can be picked up quickly.
Another major development was the completion of an impressive cow maternity unit two years ago, designed to enhance cow welfare and calf health during the calving period. Calving occurs year-round, and careful management of transition cows remains a priority for the team.
The business is continuing to expand its facilities, with an additional 300 cubicles currently under construction to ease stocking pressure. Looking ahead, the farm is also exploring the introduction of robotic scrapers to further improve cleanliness and labour efficiency. Lighting systems operate on sensors and remain active for 18 hours a day to support cow performance while reducing unnecessary energy use.
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