Dairy Farmer Digital Edition Feb 2012

DAIRY FARMERForward thinking for a profitable future February 2012

TIP OF THE MONTH: Cell wall digestibility gives maize silage that extra energy punch – p22

Squeeze out every last dropreduces acid loading and increases fibre digestibility,

which improves forage intake ensuring more milk from forage.

Why not ask BIOTAL how much extra money you can make through improved feed efficiency?

delivering forage and nutrition technologies part of the groupBiotal Ltd Tel: 02920 475550 www.biotal.co.uk

Inside this issue…

Maize specialPages 22-34

Compass FarmPages 6-8

New productsPage 36

Win your Musto! See insert

Milk pricesPage 38

**DF Feb Cover 26/1/12 16:04

Cogent WP DF 26/1/12 12:11 Page 1

CONTENTS

1DAIRY FARMER FEBRUARY 2012

Vol 59 No 2 February 2012

News and commentNews review 2 Cowmen comment 4Compass Farm 6Potter’s View 10Conference 12Breeding 14

Maize specialCell wall digestibility 22Lessons learned 24Under plastic 26 High maize diet 28Dual cropping 30Grain maize 32

RegularsMarketplace 36Milk prices 38Workshop tips 40Good Evans 44

NEXT MONTH

Grassland & Renewables

In this issue…Behind the curve...

Well, the Muller-Wiseman dealcaught most of uson the hop, butseems to be

receiving cautious acceptancepartly because of the greaterclout it may engender withretailers and partly, onesuspects, that any continentaltie-up seems to lift producers’heads as a possible escape routefrom the domestic stranglehold.

Which leads us on to twopoints. First the comment ofanalyst Willem Koops speakingat the Semex conference (p12)on why our prices lag those ofmainland Europe. “Farmers herehad a weak position in themarket; our dairies were notinternationally orientated; wehad contracts directly withsupermarkets; some contractswere based on cost ofproduction; and processors andfarmers had not invested

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Editor

enough in the supply chain.”Which just about encomp-

asses all the ingredients whichmake up the structure of ourmalfunctioning industry, andperhaps, as he implies, whatfundamentally we have lacked isthe power and drive of thecontinental co-ops to countersuch shortcomings.

The second point is to seehow the milk table (p38), whichranks buyers on their producerprice, increases over the lastthree years and throws NI’sUnited Dairy Farmers up in poleposition. It may well be thatthey had the biggest potentialto score but what it does illust-rate is how much manufacturingmilk prices have powered aheadin relation to liquid.

Admittedly it’s not a directcomparison but it neatly showsthe AMPE price over that periodup 11p against a 2.6p rise inproducer prices, and can only

give strength to the NFUS’ priceformula based on AMPE andMCVE.

Which all leaves one funda-mental question hanging – inthe light of this are liquid pricesnow in fact holding us back?

**DF Feb p1 Contents 27/1/12 12:22 Page 1

In a breathtakingly fast move,German yoghurt giant Mulleris taking over Robert WisemanDairies for £280m. News of theoffer broke on January 13, and

the following Monday the dealhad been effectively signed,sealed and delivered.

Both companies said the dealmade ‘strong commercial sense’,although the immediatesynergies between the twocompanies are not as obvious asif Dairy Crest had teamed upwith the Glasgow-basedprocessor. In fact some observersexpressed disappointment thatthe industry would not bestrengthened by consolidationamong the three liquid milkprocessors with The Grocermagazine quoting one unnamedprocessor source as saying “I amsure they (the retailers) arerubbing their hands”.

Nevertheless, Muller’s retailoffering will undoubtedly bestrengthened, especially if it canlever savings on transport. How-ever, both the yogurt marketand the liquid milk market are

currently in turmoil due to fiercecompetition between rivals andmilk price wars which havesavaged margins in bothcommodities.

Analysts are already viewingthe move as being the first ofmany more mergers andacquisitions that will come aboutin the UK dairy sector, and thedeal has already led to specu-lation Dairy Crest would be next.

It also brought First Milk awindfall £28m from the sale of itsWiseman shares. But the co-op’schief executive Kate Allum isgiving nothing away as to how sheis likely to spend the money. Whenasked at the Semex conference ifshe knew she simply said ‘yes’, butrefused to be drawn.

2 DAIRY FARMER FEBRUARY 2012

NEWS

Feed enzymes� Animal Health companyElanco has signed an agreementto acquire ChemGen Corp, aprivately-owned biosciencecompany specialising in feedenzymes to improve feedutilisation in egg and meatproduction. ChemGen has atrack record of 25 years work inthis field and acquisitionformalities are expected to becomplete by late spring.

Badger panel� The chair of the independ-ent panel of experts to over-see the badger culling trialswill be professor ChristopherWathes, a professor of animalwelfare at the RoyalVeterinary College and thecurrent chair of the FarmAnimal Welfare Committee.

Arla’s advert award� Arla Foods’ Cravendale iscelebrating after scooping the‘Ad of the Year’ with its ‘Catswith Thumbs’ advert. It beatoff competition from otherwell know brands such asBritish Airways, Volkswagenand Aldi to claim first place inthe top 20 countdown, asvoted by 8000 ITV viewers.

UK production� UK milk production inDecember was 1094 millionlitres, some 59m more thanlast month and 23m higherthan in 2010. Cumulatively10,117m litres have beenproduced so far this quotayear, which is 72m litres morethan last year and nearly440m more than 2009.

Global prices � After two weeks of decline,the latest GDT auction in mid-January saw prices rise 1.5%overall. WMP rose $8 to$3562, with SMP increasinglyby $82 to $3351. AMF was up$102 to £4084, while cheddarrose $178 to $3776 – thehighest since mid-October.As far as the UK market isconcerned, it is the cream priceand currency which is the maindanger area. The spot creammarket has been trading for aslow as £1.20 per litre sinceChristmas, compared to beingin the £1.40s a few weeks ago.

NEWS IN BRIEF Muller grabsWiseman in£280m deal

MSD ANIMAL Health has justsigned a contract with the medicaland veterinary departments of theUniversity of Utrecht to explorethe possibilities of developing avaccine against mastitis in cattle.

It will be specifically targeted atdifficult to treat bacteriaparticularly staph aureus, strepuberis and E coli, and is part ofa wider strategy of developingalternatives to antibiotics.

Progress with such vaccines hasbeen thwarted to date by the factmastitis pathogens can generatewhat are called ‘immune evasionmolecules’. These can block ordiminish the natural immuneresponse of the cow and alsointerfere with the immuneresponse stimulated by vaccines,and it is this which has been theinherent stumbling block to date.

However, now the evasionmolecules have been identified,it is believed when theirrecombinant versions are addedto vaccines they will raiseantibodies against these evasionmolecules, thereby impairingthem and allowing theantibodies the opportunity toaccess the mastitis pathogens andneutralise them.

Work is already in progress, butaccording to a spokesperson thecommercial product will be atleast 5 years away.

Work getsunder way onmastitis vaccine

Who’s making the margins in dairy?DAIRYCO has issued an updatedDairy Supply Chain marginsreport which illustrates howmargins in the supply chain havechanged in the last six-monthperiod.

The average retail price formilk increased to 56.6pplbetween April and September2011, up from 56.0ppl. This was

due to a reduction in multi-buypromotions.

Average processor selling pricesfell over the half-year period froman average of 37.3ppl in thesecond half of 2010/11 to 37.0pplfor the following first half. Thedrop in selling price, plus higherfarmgate prices, resulted in a fallin processor gross margins from an

average of 30% in the second halfof 2010/11 to 27% in the first sixmonths of 2011/12.

In the first half of 2010/11wholesale gross margins were40%. Retail gross marginsrecorded a slight increase in thefirst half of the 2011/12 milkyear, up 2% on the second halfto 35%.

Table 1: Comparisons of liquid milk gross marginsH1 2010/11 H2 2010/11 H1 2011/12

ppl Margin ppl Margin ppl MarginFarmgate milk price 24.2 26.1 27.0Processor gross margin 16.1 40% 11.2 30% 10.0 27%Processor selling price 40.3 37.3 37.0Retail gross margin 21.4 35% 18.7 33% 19.6 35%Retail price 61.7 56.0 56.6

THE world famous sire PicstonShottle EX96 has become thefirst UK bred sire to produce andsell over one million doses ofsemen in his lifetime. Twelveyear old Shottle is part of theGenus ABS stud.

Shottle record breaker

**DF Feb p2 3 News 27/1/12 11:45 Page 1

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Win Musto jacket� Win one of 10 fabulousMusto jackets worth £120 inour National Mastitis Survey.Just spend a few minutes totell us how your herd isperforming, how you measuremastitis, set targets and workwith your vet, and you couldbe in the running to win oneof these great jackets.

Dairy Farmer supported lastyear’s survey and around 1300of you took the time andtrouble to provide inform-ation which is analysed by avet to give an invaluableinsight into what happens on-farm on a day-to-day basis.

Sharing information willhelp to understand theproblems and challengeswhich herds face, and helprecognise the improvementsbeing made.

Look out for your entrycard to the National MastitisSurvey in this month’s issue –or visit www.farmersguardian.com/mastitis2012.Closing date for entries isMarch 30, 2012.

WIN, WIN, WIN…Minister in favourof voluntary codeT

he EU’s recently announ-ced Dairy Package shouldbe adopted in February,with Commissionlegislation completed

soon after. But do not expectany major changes in the UK,was the clear message fromFarming Minister Jim Paice, whowas the keynote speaker at thisyear’s Semex conference inGlasgow. (See p12).

“Overall we support the pack-age, even though we recognise itdoesn’t do everything as we’dhave liked,” he said.

One of the flagship policies is to

allow farmers to form producerorganisations which couldnegotiate prices for 33% of amember state’s milk volume.However this may only apply tothe milk they broker, rather thanuse themselves, and our co-ops are‘miles away’ from that.

ConsultationThe package also allows memberstates to make contractsmandatory, and which includeprice, duration, volume, andtiming of deliveries. However, MrPaice said Defra did not want tolegislate on contracts, although

it will consult on the issue.There were also some

potential negatives: “Thepackage will not allow us toembellish or strengthencontracts, and it might threatensome beneficial arrangementsthat exist today,” he warned.

“And we could not requirethem to address other issuessuch as exclusivity,” he said.

Instead Defra is pushing hardfor a code of practice about whatshould be in voluntary contracts,and thinks this would deliverbroader and quicker results thanthe EU dairy package.

Scottish dairy investmentAFTER two years of waiting forTesco to decide whether to buildon First Milk’s Campbeltowncreamery, the retailer decided notto go ahead with the purchase ofthe site, meaning the co-op willnow reinvest in the currentcreamery on the Mull of Kintyre.

This secures the future of 38 FirstMilk farmers and 100 jobs on thepeninsula. The new facility will befunded by up to £2m from the

Scottish Government and fundsfrom First Milk. However, unlikebefore, First Milk will not haveadditional funds from the site fromTesco, so will have to source theinvestment from general funds.

It is not known how much FirstMilk will invest, but if it match-funds the Scottish Executive’sinvestment, the £4m will representan investment of £105,263 foreach of the 38 farmers.

Defra announcespilot cull regionsTHE two pilot areas for thebadger cull have been officiallyannounced – one in westGloucestershire and the other inwest Somerset.

Farmers and landowners inthese areas are now able to applyto Natural England as a group fora licence to take part. Individualstaking part will need to demon-strate marksmanship ability.

Natural England will assessapplications against a set of strictcriteria, and if these are not metlicences will not be granted. Thepilots will allow for the carefulexamination of how safe,humane and effective controlledshooting is.

Keep costs under control – reportANALYSIS of 350 Milkbench+records, summarised in a newreport available from the DairyCowebsite, has shown cost ofproduction is the most significantfactor in determining profit.

“Through robust data andstatistical analysis we see therelationship between cost ofproduction and margin is strong,”said analyst Karolina Klaskova.

She said while the findings showhow difficult it can be to make aprofit from milk production, thereis an opportunity for producers toimprove because when there is agood handle on costs of productionany extra increase in milk price willgo straight onto the net margin.

The relationship between milkprice and margin is ‘not thatstrong’, says the report. “Milk price

is an aspect of milk productionthat is largely outside the controlof producers, although it can beinfluenced to a degree by milkquality, level of milk componentsand degree of seasonality.”

**DF Feb p2 3 News 27/1/12 11:46 Page 2


COWMEN COMMENT

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The building industry iswarning it faces the worstdownturn for 35 years.One of the foundationblocks for the Celtic Tiger

was the amazingly generous EUgrants for agricultural buildingsand milking parlours, whichhelped fuel their building boom.Now these have finished,building has virtually finishedtoo, with a large knock on effecton the Irish economy.

In England, with Governmenthelp, farming could similarlyboost our building industry.While we were delighted to getour single farm payment onDecember 1, we were lessdelighted that a whopping17.88% was taken away formodulation. If this could berecycled as farm improvementgrants for English farmers, think

of the impact on our buildingindustry. As it is we are no longerencouraged to do any workwhich will improve profitability,but grants can be given foranimal welfare. If these grantswere based on what needs doingon an individual farm they wouldbe really helpful. Surely it wouldimprove a herd’s welfare to livein nice new conditions ratherthan being milked in ancientparlours and hopping round onsub-standard concrete?

The Farm Animal WelfareCouncil is asking for animalwelfare payments, similar to theenvironmental ELS scheme, andsimilarly funded from modulation.They suggest these could belinked to cutting down onmutilations in pigs, poultry andsheep, and targeting lameness indairy cows. I hope these payments

will reward those farmers whohave little lameness, that is thosewho are the best get the highestpayment, rather than those whoare worst and can thereforereduce lameness most easily.

In the past,these kinds ofpaymentsalwaysrewarded themostirresponsiblefarmers. If theytook theirhedges out, they got a grant.Then a few years later, whenideas had changed, there wasanother grant to put hedgesback in again.

We have always lagged behindhere at Hill End Farm, then takena massive leap forwards whichlasts us for many years until weare seriously lagging behindagain. Our new herringbonemilking parlour, replacing a 52row tie-up cowshed, was bang upto date in 1974 – thirty-eight yearslater it’s not so up to date, andthat massive leap forward isbeckoning. It just needs pumppriming from some of that17.88%, or alternatively the nextgeneration or maybe a sharefarmer, to take on the mantle. Ihave to say the parlour fittingshave, however, been renewedover the years and the trafficcones adapted to feeding chutesare widely admired.

This year, we have accidentallytaken a leap forward on thefeeding front. Our spring visit toIreland had the effect ofpushing us further down thegrass route and we haveincreased our milk from forageby a huge percentage.

Due to untypically dry weather,we made an unusually smallamount of silage but we havebeen very fortunate that this wasaugmented by good quality grassso late in the year. We were about

to get the cows in onNovember 30 whenour contractorpointed out it wouldbe good to say thecows were still out inDecember. In the end,they were in day andnight on December

15, a record on this wet farm. Lack of silage prompted us to

buy in maize for the first time,and we have been very pleasedwith the effect so far, havingpreviously relied on just brewers’grains and silage.

As I write the weather haschanged to torrential rain andgales. Usually, I have somethingquite rude to say to my husband ifour Rayburn is completely coveredwith wet, dirty clothes, but today Iam adding to it, having gotcompletely soaked through twicebefore the day has hardly started.

What we want now is a nicedry February and March so thatthe cows can go out and grazethe whole farm. We can alldream. It’s what we farmers dobest!

We have always laggedbehind here at Hill EndFarm, then taken amassive leap forwards.

**DF Feb p4 Cowmen 27/1/12 11:30 Page 1

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LEPTO WP DF 26/1/12 15:38 Page 1


COMPASS FARMS

Step 2: Laying the foundaIn the second of our series on KW’s Compass Farm, Crosby Grange in North Yorkshire, Peter Hollinsheadtalks to vet Jonathan Statham about how he took on the health challenges at the farm to improve margins.

When JonathanStatham took overthe veterinary reinsat Crosby Grange inJuly 2009, he

recognised the need to take the350-cow herd up a gear to fulfilthe KW promise of lifting yieldsand margins.

But where do you start whenvirtually all the elements are sointerrelated? Or rather where doyou put the emphasis to get themaximum benefit in the short-term and yet establish a firmfoundation which will also paydividends in the longer term?

“I knew the Smith family hadinvested in a new parlour andcubicle housing some years agoand were setting out their stall forfuture milk production,” says MrStatham. “But what oftenhappens in such major develop-ments is that, in going from the100 cows in their father’s day upto 200, then to 350, the pressuregoes up, especially with higheryields. And I think there was a lossof tightness in control in some keyareas, which is something youoften see on farms undergoingsuch expansion,” he says.

Mr Statham and his colleagueAndrew Crutchley, from BishoptonVets, brought in the practice’sHerd Health Scheme, and for thatthey needed to establish a herdmanagement team who couldimplement it and bring about thatprescribed tighter control.

After all, although there wouldbe one regular vet visit a week,

unless someone was responsibledaily for meeting standards,following protocols and recordingdata, any veterinary attempt to lifthealth and production would belargely futile.

Three months after JonathanStatham started, LKL’s Mick Spearswas appointed as herd managerto fulfil that very role and, as amatter of good fortune, Mick’swife Bridget was also an exper-ienced calf rearer and took onresponsibility for that sector.

Suddenly the team was shapingup, with KW looking afternutrition, Bishopton the veterinarymatters, and Mick Spears taking afirm grip on herd performance,ensuring standards and protocolswere being implemented.

With the foundation stonesnow in place, it was up to MrStatham to show what he coulddo as the veterinary control hubfor driving things forward, andhe decided on a three-prongedapproach to tackle mastitis,infectious diseases and fertility.

PerformanceBut to make headway on thehealth front he first neededfurther records, so the farm signedup to the Interherd programme toallow individual cow performanceto be monitored and the target-ting of those animals which wouldlead to the biggest improvements.

“There was a fair bit of mastitis– mostly environmental – at CrosbyGrange and one of the first thingswe did was to profile the causative

bacteria. It turned out to bepredominantly strep uberis, whichis a difficult one to beat, with lotsof repeat cases, so we used therecords to target cows for bespoketreatment,” he explains.

But he was working against twoother, not uncommon, pressures –one to ensure effective treatmentwhile trying to keep as much milkin the tank as possible, andsecondly not having the luxury ofculling high cell count cows untilthe heifer pipeline was betterestablished.

The strep uberis demandedaggressive treatment, often forlong duration, and sometimes acombination therapy withintramammary and injection totry to bring the elusive pathogento heel. This was backed up by astrict parlour regime andthorough dipping of all cows postmilking.

“There’s no doubt that finan-cially the real biggie was the milkquality penalties, which had had abig effect on the bottom line,”says Jonathan.

In the first six months of 2009,prior to implementing a controlstrategy, he says these werecosting the farm bottom line £30k.Now, following the concertedefforts, the mastitis incidence has

dropped by half, cell countsplummeted from 270 to 120 andmilk quality penalties become athing of the past. (See graph 1).

So what was the root cause ofthe strep uberis? Possibly aninconsistency of parlourmanagement and treatmentroutines coupled with a highstocking rate in transition cowstraw yards.

As part of the solution, theSmiths cleared machinery fromanother building which wasrapidly pressed into service foradditional loose housing.

Now for the second battle front– infectious diseases. To be able totackle these, Mr Statham had toidentify the enemy. He started aroutine programme of bulk milksampling for the cows to replacethe previous ad hoc approach, andblood testing for the youngstock.

He was looking for such thingsas BVD, IBR and Lepto and admitsthat once a herd size gets above180 or so, it gets more difficult,whatever the farm, to controlthese endemic diseases.

“Above 180 animals in a herdthere’s enough opportunity tokeep these diseases circulating –in smaller herds they can dieout,” he says. “Our testingshowed the cattle had beenexposed to both IBR and BVD,and although the herd had notbeen vaccinated against IBR, aBVD vaccination programme hadalready been started.

“At the end of the first summer

Graph 1: Change in somatic cell counts

� Mastitis� Infectious diseases� Fertility

Three pronged attack

300

280

260

240

220

200

180

160

140

120

1002007 2008 2009 2010 2011

Som

atic

cel

l cou

nt (‘

000)

Jonathan Statham (right) enjoys a joke with herd manager Mick Spearsbefore getting down to the serious work of farm protocols.

**DF Feb p6,7,8 Compass 26/1/12 12:24 Page 1

COMPASS FARMS


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ations for a healthy herdwe saw our first signs of clinicalIBR, and suspected that IBR hadbeen playing a major role in theperformance of the herd, sub-clinically impacting on fertility,production and the general healthof the cows.”

He introduced a six-monthlyprogramme of IBR vaccinationusing live vaccine given intra-nasally. “Annual vaccination maynot be frequent enough tocontrol the disease, and thisproactive combination can reallymake a difference in achievingcontrol of what I believe is anunderestimated problem in UKdairy herds.”

He believes IBR is more wide-spread than thought and that 90%of Bishopton’s herds could beinfected without necessarilyshowing clinical signs, with thesub-clinical effects suppressing milkyield by several litres a cow a dayand causing early embryonic loss.

“Animals will carry the IBR viruslife-long and shed it when stressed

in some way, and although erad-ication is difficult, you can managethe disease with vaccination,” headds.

On the BVD front, they initiallyused bulk milk tests for cows andblood tests for heifers over eightmonths.

“Although a vaccination prog-ramme was under way, there isalways a time lag before control isachieved and around a year laterwe found persistently infected (PI)animals in the adult herd and inthe calves,” he says.

Blood testingThe Bishopton team instigatedcomprehensive PI screening andblood tested the whole herd andyoungstock. Over the next 12months they found more PIs.

“We culled confirmed PIs asthey were lowering the defencesof the other cattle, and the calveswere more prone to gettingpneumonia or scours,” he says.

One tangible note that the

rigorous policy was working wasthat Bridget, now in charge ofcalf rearing, commented on howmuch healthier the calves seemed.

In addition to the adult scrutiny,all calves were tested in the firstweeks of life and any positives –around 2-3% – culled as carriers.

“The youngstock are the futureof the herd and we need to makesure there are no carriers comingthrough the pipeline,” says MrStatham.

Last, but not least, in the three-pronged attack was thereproductive performance of thecows, admittedly not totallydivorced from the previous

� Milk yield increased by 30%� Stopped £30k milk penalties� Dropped mastitis cases by half� Controlled BVD and IBR� Cut calving to conception by 70days.

Resultsdiseases, but where action wasneeded in its own right.

“The big part of this for us wascalving to conception – this hadslipped over the previous fewyears for one reason or another,”declares Mr Statham.

A major part of the weekly vetvisit was spent ensuring cowswere ‘clean’ after calving so theywere capable of holding toservice, which meant checking formetritis, retained membranes andthe like.

“Cows were only being served60 days post-calving and webrought this to nearer 40 days.For that to work, we needed thecows to be ‘clean’ and cycling,” he says.

The routine was to examineeverything, not just problemcows, at three to four weeks post-calving and to pregnancyscan 28 days post service.

When tackled on the problemof poorer conception rates fromearlier inseminations, he accepts



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conception rates are often betternearer 80 days and that startingany earlier than 40 days canindeed compromise rates, but thecost benefits are there.

“We are interested in howmany pregnancies we achieveevery three weeks and areprepared to accept a slightlylower conception rate with someof these earlier services. Andremember every three weeks wemiss is costing the herd around£80 in lost production, especially ifthis goes beyond a 365 daycalving interval,” he explains.

Another crucial element tosuccessful early insemination wasminimising the negative energybalance gap post-calving. This isbeing achieved by drying cows offin the right body condition andmaximising rumen size in the dryperiod by feeding a KW highintake low-density, straw-basedration with the correct balance ofproteins, energy, vitamins andminerals.

“If you can achieve this, the cowwon’t mobilise too much fat aftercalving and that is what drivesintakes from day one,” he says.

In addition to the close veterin-ary checks on cow reproductivehealth, the day-to-day oestrusdetection is done by Genus RMS,

Graph 2: Milk yield and calving to conception

who are present every day toobserve everything that is tail-paint rubbed and inseminatecows in oestrus.

Mr Statham admits heatdetection has become far trickierwith today’s high yieldingHolsteins – “some 40% of today’shigh yielding cows may not showstanding heat,” he says.

“Anything not seen bulling byday 40 we examine again, and ifshe doesn’t then express oestrusnaturally we will either synchro-

nise using a CIDR and Receptal orwith Ovsynch, which allows forfixed time service,” he adds.

So has the tighter approachto reproductive performanceworked? Well the evidence speaksfor itself.

“When we started in thesummer of 2009, the calving toconception interval was around195 days giving a 475 day calvinginterval, and in 12 months haddropped by 50 days. Now thecalving to conception interval is115 days, giving a calving index ofaround 400 days,” he says. (Seegraph 2).

“Effectively we’re taking 70days off the calving to conceptioninterval and we reckon at £4/daythat is worth around £280/cow ata conservative estimate,” heclaims.

Cynics may question theimprovement, and Mr Statham isthe first to accept such figures canbe massaged by extensive culling,but he says he has not been ableto wander down that route toany great degree as herd numbers

have had to be maintained.But the proof of the pudding is

in the eating, and while it isimpossible to quantify which ofthe many inter-related program-mes has been responsible for aparticular lift in yield, neverthelessyields overall have gone up by30% over the two-and-a-halfyears.

Finally, any suggestion that sucha high tech vet approach primarilyserves to increase drug sales isfirmly rebutted.

“Far from it,” says Mr Statham,“I believe that by working in aproactive way it actually reducesthe need for veterinary medicines,and that is the philosophy wework by throughout our wholepractice.”

■ Next month we’ll be looking atthings through the eyes of thehosts, the Smith family, to findout what they thought of the KWpartnership, how they had tochange to regenerate theirbusiness and whether they feel it’sall been worthwhile.

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70002007 2008 2009 2010 2011

Milk

/cow

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Milk yield

Calving to conception

Mark Smith (left) discusses silage quality with KW’s Steve Allen (centre)and John Smith.


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DF_02_P09 26/1/12 13:42 Page 21


POTTER’S VIEW

This month Ian Potter puts a rule over the Muller deal and asks whether thefuture doesn’t lie with the no-middle-man co-ops after all?

Ian PotterIan is a specialist milk quotaand entitlement broker.Comments please to [email protected]

How will Muller cope in the liquid market?

Well I was nearlyright last month. Ipredicted majorprocessor mergersand rationalisation,

and that three liquid milkprocessors might become two.Right on the first bit, wrong onthe second.

The recent takeover ofWiseman by Muller came as acomplete surprise – not thatWiseman sold, but who the buyerwas. However, this deal does notgive the industry the liquidprocessing sector the consolid-ation it needs.

It will certainly be interestingto see how Muller gets on in thefiercely competitive UK liquidmilk world. It is already in thespotlight over prices as it was theonly purchaser to trigger a 2012price drop of 0.5ppl fromFebruary 1. It is under pressure toimprove margins (mainly due tocompetition from NOM) andcannot improve them viaretailers.

The bit that got me was thatthe company stated in its letter tofarmers that the cut was due to‘softening commodity prices andrecent falls in the AMPE index’.

How come the NFU, Mullerfarmer groups and others allowedit to get away with such anoutrageous statement? Muller didnot track AMPE when the pricewas rising, so should it track it,and blame it, on the way down?

Muller was the last milk buyerto implement a price cut in 2010and is the first to do so in 2012. Ihope it isn’t a wealth warning forWiseman’s farmers.

Muller will only fool some ofthe people some of the time withsuch statements. The realinfluencer on most GB farmgatemilk prices is not what happenson international markets but theprice supermarkets are willing topay. Retail buyers are paid bigbonuses to keep prices down, andthey appear to be succeeding.

This year’s excellent Semexconference confirmed my beliefthe day of the co-ops is dawning.Farmers are seeking to captureany value added post farmgate,rather than let the benefit beexported out of the UK.

The dam is leaking and couldsoon burst as farmers oncewedded to direct supply contractsdecide their long-term future isbest served by being co-opmembers, taking out the middleman and profiting from as muchof the supply chain as possible.

Co-opsMention a UK dairy co-op andmost GB dairy farmers only thinkof First Milk, Milk Link and (forsome) the bitter experience ofDairy Farmers of Britain.

However, the most successfulUK co-op post deregulation hasbeen United Dairy Farmers ofNorthern Ireland (which wasallowed to keep its processingbusiness at deregulation).

UDF is also processing milk inEngland and Scotland, and iscurrently seeking direct supplycontracts for an additional 50million litres for its Cumbrian andDumfries and Galloway factories.

The recruitment is sure toappeal to the numerous farmersin this area who have alreadyserved notice on their milkpurchaser, and have no shortageof buyers looking for recruits.

United has a 0.25ppl levypayment applied to the first fiveyears’ deliveries, which buys aproper share holding, and it hasno plans to ask farmers for more.

If you want to leave you canredeem your shares immediatelyand most years you receive bonusshares. It’s a simple system andCEO David Dobbin has been incharge of the co-op for 11 years.

He’s one of the industry’s best –a Sir Alex Ferguson of dairying.Milk Link’s Neil Kennedy is alsohighly rated too, which meansour top three co-ops have top

class managers.It takes strong individual

leadership to pull a co-op or anybusiness out of a near crisis, andthe early signs are that First Milk’sduo of Kate Allum and BillMustoe are on the right track.

At the Semex conference, KateAllum said her company islooking beyond this island andexporting milk products. Indoing so, it is shorting thedomestic market and probably(by default) increasing the costof the milk used in its cheeseplants.

Its members’ future is to moveaway from battling with retailerson price. Other co-ops are doingthe same.

Ms Allum openly questionedwhether the industry had a planfor the UK post-quotas in 2015.Her question was met with adeafening silence.

She said we were not going towake up one morning and findevery dairy company in the worldhad screwed up.

“The UK is behind othercountries (particularly SouthernIreland) and they will not simplystand to one side for us.”

What she effectively meant wassome industry leaders simply statethere is a crisis, trumpet theirpassion for the industry, but don’tcome up with a plan or strategyto resolve it.

If she was truly blunt, shewould have said the industrylacks leadership, and the ability tostate the raw truth and findsolutions.

That brings me neatly on to theNFUs and their various confer-ences and AGMs. I will be crossingthe border to join NFUS at itsAGM soon.

NFUS is run from a single floorin a building close to Glasgowairport with few staff, but theones it has appear to be veryeffective and punch well abovetheir weight. The NFU, mean-while, has a huge new fancy

office in Stoneleigh.Following that we have the

NFU (E&W) conference, wherepotential candidates appear to bebacking off competing for thetop job.

The NFU has faced similarleadership problems before,when potential candidates haveclimbed the leadership ladderonly for them to stop short of thetop. It has usually sorted itselfout, with someone parachuting inat the last minute. But I have analternative solution – why notmerge and consolidate both NFUsand let us have some of thatScottish drive and opennessinjected into England and Wales.At least it might deliver peoplewho want to lead down here!

Cell countsFinally, the recent milk purchasertrend to jack up milk qualitystandards on bactoscan and cellcounts is an issue which concernsme.

Numerous farmers have seennew targets introduced almostovernight and I do wonder if milkprocessors and major retailersappreciate what steps farmers aretaking in order to achieve the topbands and qualify for bonuses.

If a dairy farmer wants to cutcell counts quickly, he willnormally cull all high cell countcows. But I have also heard ofanother tactic, which I don’tintend to write about now – Iknow of farmers doingsomething which they reallyshouldn’t be doing.

I will keep my ears open onthis. If you hear of it you willimmediately know what it is too,so please contact me and let meknow what you come across.

**DF Feb p10 Potter 26/1/12 12:27 Page 1

DAIRY FARMER FEBRUARY 2012 11

DF_02_P11 27/1/12 13:59 Page 21


CONFERENCE

UK falling behind inadding value to milkThis year’s Semex conference, held in Glasgow, took the theme ‘Turn TowardsTomorrow’. Chris Walkland reports on the speakers’ vision of things to come.

Arla’s investment inprocessing at its dairiesin Stourton, Lockerbie,Westbury and nowAylesbury may have

caught the headlines, but all ofthis must be matched by similarinvestment in added valueproducts, and understandingretailers and consumers.

“European countries aremoving into added value productsmore than the UK, said AshAmirahmadi, head of milkprocurement at Arla Foods.

“We are behind, but we wantto accelerate it. That’s what weare trying to achieve.

“Our vision is to be the leadingdairy company in Europe throughvalue creation and active marketleadership in order to obtain thehighest milk prices for its farmersas possible,” he said.

There is little doubt Arla’s hugeinvestment in the UK industry willtransform the sector on a number

GENOMICS is the biggest revolut-ionary technique in genetics sincefrozen semen, believes HoracioLarrea, International SalesDirector for the Semex Alliance.

The technology helps identifyyoung bulls with the mostpotential to add positive traitsrequired for the future, but hestressed genomics is not aselection criteria but a genetictool.

“Everything moves much fasteras a result of genomics,” said MrLarrea. “We can identify superiordams and sires faster and makethe generation interval shorterand the genetic progress muchhigher.”

ValidationIn order to validate genomicproofs, Semex recently analysedinformation on 549 young bullsby comparing their ParentAverage with their GenomicParent Average (made up ofParent Average + Genomicinformation) to their progenyproofs, which are still regarded asthe ‘Gold Standard’ in terms ofaccuracy.

This showed Genomic ParentAverage was much closer to theeventual progeny proof thanParent Average alone.

“GPA is better than ParentAverage in predicting proofs forevery trait,” said Mr Larrea.

The rate of change in genomicsmay also increase further if thetechnology employed by oneleading Canadian breeder makesany headway in the UK.

Steven Velthuis, of VelthuisFarms, Ontario – one of thetop breeders in the world – isgenomically testing embryos ona regular basis in order todetermine which one will be usedon which dams.

EXCHANGE rates will largelydetermine how quickly the UKcan free itself from the bottom ofthe European milk price table.

That’s the view of WillemKoops of LTO Netherlands(effectively the Dutch Milk Board),who works on the league tableand collates and compares farmgate prices from 17 large dairiesacross Europe.

“Unfortunately there is nochampion’s league for UK teams,”he said, referring to Dairy Crest’s(Davidstow contract) and FirstMilk’s (cheese contract) positionsrooted to the bottom of thetable. “The UK has to facerelegation.”

In 2010, the UK price wasbetween € 26 and € 29/100kg(equivalent to 26c and 29c/litre).Every country other than Germanyand the UK had a price over theEU average of € 31.5/100kg.

Genomicsfor embryos

of fronts in the future. Currently ithas 26% of the UK liquid milkmarket, supplying 2bn litres to2500 supermarkets. Turnover is£1.46bn. So important is the UKmarket that it now represents25% of Arla’s global business.

However, he said the UKmarket was disadvantagedbecause retailers are fightingfiercely for consumer’s money,which has resulted in price wars.This is because our market isstructurally not developedenough; it is dominated by liquid

milk, with 55% of our suppliesgoing into that market, and 90 to95% of that is a commodityproduct; and because consumersdon’t care where they buy milk.

Critics of Arla’s investment in anew liquid milk processing plantat Aylesbury, due for completionaround January 2013, say thisadded capacity would make theretailer milk price wars worse, butMr Amirahmadi denied this.

He insisted Arla’s investmentwould have benefits for its UKproducers, even if farmers herewere not formal owners of thecompany like those elsewhere.

“This is the single mostcontroversial topic I have dealtwith since taking the job. Theinvestment by the farmers showscommitment. Arla’s Danish,Swedish and German farmerscould invest without UK farmers,but they want that commitmentto show an understanding andbelief in the principles of Arla.”

UK lags behind in milk price league

However, the UK had lowerpeaks and less extreme lows, andthe high milk prices from dairiesin Finland (at the top of theleague) and Italy (second) werecountered by higher costs in thosecountries.

But his message was not allbad news – he expected the UK’sprice to make a come-backagainst the EU price, although towhat degree, and when, wouldbe influenced by the strength ofsterling against the euro.

“I find the low UK price

particularly odd because the UK isa net importer of dairy products,”he said, and a country in deficitshould logically have higherprices.

But the reasons the UK did notwere simple: “Farmers here had aweak position in the market; ourdairies were not internationallyorientated; we had contractsdirectly with supermarkets; somecontracts were based on cost ofproduction; and processors andfarmers had not invested enoughin the supply chain,” he said.

It was no co-incidence thatmany of the top performingdairies in Europe were co-oper-atives, which had invested onbehalf of their farmers.

“You cannot blame the buyerfor low prices, you have to blamethe sellers,” he said. “You mustinvest more in the supply chain toget the benefits.”

Ash Amirahmadi: accelerate.

Willem Koops: UK position is odd.

Horacio Larrea: selection tool.

**DF Feb p12 Semex Conf 26/1/12 11:27 Page 1

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DF_02_P13 27/1/12 12:10 Page 21

BREEDING

Think of Canada and youthink of Holsteins. Thecountry has a multi-milliondollar cattle industrydominated by its pedigree

Holstein breeders.It takes ‘big bucks’ to break into

the Canadian industry because ofthe price protectionism affordedby its quota system and the cost ofbuying land and cattle.

Over the past decade, the Jerseyhas emerged as an increasinglyattractive alternative to the black-and-white, especially to youngbreeders attempting to gain afoothold in the industry. Thenumber of registered Jerseyproducers has increased by 950herds in the past six years.

For the past two years, around

120 Jersey prefixes have beenregistered annually and Societymembership is 90% higher than adecade ago. Jersey registration ison track to be at the highest levelfor more than 40 years.

“The Jersey cow has becomemore relevant on a global basis,let alone within Canada,” saysformer Jersey Canada generalmanager Russell Gammon, whorecently left his post after 30 yearsto join Ontario-based SemexAlliance as its Jersey specialist.

“Dairy farmers are seeking easeof management, reduced vet bills,better reproduction and fertility,longevity, and increasing levels ofhealth and welfare.

“In the past few years, we’veseen a number of pedigree

Jerseys on march in Canada asproducers aim to curtail costsCanada is envied on a global basis for its quota system, milk prices and particularly its Holstein cattle, butin the past decade Jersey cattle have had an increasing influence. Bruce Jobson reports.

Holstein breeders incorporateJersey cows into their milking line-ups, and the two breeds haveperformed well in ‘mixed-barn’situations,” he says.

Prefix A number of young bulls havenow entered Canadian AI carryingworld famous Holstein prefixes.Bridon Farms, Ontario, home ofthe renowned Holstein sire BridonAstro-Jet, have been involved inJersey circles for several decades.Their latest star to emerge isBridon Swat, listed in tenthposition (Dec 2011) on CanadianJersey LPI.

Other world famous QuebecHolstein prefixes in the recent2011 stud line-ups include La

Presentation Glen and ComestarJDF Beautifull. There is little doubtinterest from Holstein breeders ismost welcome and the Provincehas recorded phenomenal growth,according to Jersey Quebec’sMarie-Claire Girod.

“Quebec is becoming a strongheartland for the Jersey breed. In2001 there were 140 registeredbreeders, and by the end of thedecade the number had increasedto over 622 Jersey herds. That’s anincrease of 350%,” she says.

“The Province has a lot oftraditional family farms and thecost of replacing tie-stall barnswith modern free-stall facilitiesis expensive. And modernisingestablished barns to fit theincreasing size of Holsteins is

**DF Feb p14 15 Breeding 26/1/12 12:13 Page 1

BREEDING

Remi Guay: quota investment. Marie-Claire Girod: big increase.

costly, and young breedersstarting out in the industry withlimited finance increasingly optto milk Jerseys,” she explains.

The all important first foot onto the farming ladder remains animmense challenge for youngbreeders. Remi Guay, Coaticook,Quebec, started milk productionin October 2009 after a number ofyears gearing up to become aregistered producer. The 12ha (30 acre) farm was originallyowned by his parents and Remieventually raised enough moneyto buy the land, house andbuildings in 2001.

Buying the required milk quotaremained a huge investment andwould take Remi and his wife,Caroline, a further eight years to

raise the capital required.“We were able to purchase

15kg of butterfat quota (per day),which is enough to keep about 15cows, and the investment costclose to CA$400,000 (£267,000).It’s an immense amount of moneyjust for the privilege of milkingcows,” he declares.

The cost of buying quota canvary in Canada, but a ball parkfigure of CA$25,000/kg (£17,000)of butterfat is the accepted norm.Once milk quota is purchased, theCanadian system donates 5kg tothe new producer to allow anentrant to expand by a furtherfive milking cows, states Remi.

“We can use the 5kg for fiveyears and after that time thefigure is reduced at an annual

rate of 1kg. Hopefully, we will bein a position to purchase theamount annually deducted andtherefore maintain our levels ofproduction,” he says.

“We are expecting to receive 94cents (64p) per litre for Jersey milk(Holstein 78 cents) produced thiswinter. However, we will havedeductions for transport andmarketing costs bringing it backto 88 cents (58p) per litre. Jerseysdon’t need to produce as muchliquid volume in order to fulfil thequota level.

“This is where the Jersey hasgained over the Holstein. I estim-ate 50% of the milk cheque willbe required to repay our invest-ments. After that, we have to payfeed bills, electricity and othercosts,” says Remi.

Syndicate Finding Jersey cattle and gearingup for milk production wasanother challenge. But Remi’sgrowing reputation withinCanada attracted the attention ofCanadian and internationalinvestors, and together theyformed a syndicate and purchasedseveral elite Jersey animals underthe Groupe Fleur Dys Lys (FDL)prefix.

“We have a VG full sister to thepopular Three Valley CountryMiles at Select Sires (31 US JPI Dec2011), and her dam is SunsetCanyon Centurion Maid Ex,” hesays.

“We have a VG full sister toLencrest I-Pod, out of the DecloBelle family. I-Pod is Semex’scurrent top selling Jersey bulland is listed in ninth position(Dec 2011) on Canadian LPI.

“FDL also has a half sister toBW Venerable and BW Karbala –two newly-proven Alliance bulls inthe US. They are currently listed in12th and joint 31st position (Dec2011) on US Jersey JPI listings.”

Remi considers the elite Jerseypurchases as a major long terminvestment and appreciates theconfidence of the syndicate.

Without collective involvement,acquiring elite Jersey cattle at thisstage would have been difficult.FDL’s faith in the Jersey breed’scontinued development withinCanada is already being repaid.

Three Valley Country Maid’s sonby Tbone, FDL Maid in Canada, isdue to enter progeny testing withSemex early 2012. The bull is thehighest genomic tested Canadian-bred young sire on the December2011 listing, according to Remi.

**DF Feb p14 15 Breeding 26/1/12 12:13 Page 2


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SPONSORED SERIES


Hidden toxins infeed may limitherd’s potential

LATEST UPDATE ON MYCOTOXINS

Keeping dairy cowsperforming at theiroptimum while onwinter rations shouldbe a relatively

straightforward exercise.However according to Dr

David Parfitt, managingdirector of Micron Bio-Systems,while all may appear well onthe surface, some feedstuffscould be adversely affectingcow performance and limitingtheir potential.

“It’s not the feedsthemselves which cause theproblem but the mycotoxinsproduced by moulds which canthrive on feedstuffs when inthe field, and these can have asecondary affect when feedsare improperly stored,” hesays.

Mycotoxins typically occurwhen fungi invade thefeedstuffs either in the field,during processing or instorage. They then soak upavailable nutrients and quicklyestablish themselves. As thefungus matures, it goes in toits reproductive phase andproduces mycotoxins in theprocess, explains Dr Parfitt.

Mycotoxins in livestock feeds are not visible to the human eye.

Cows at risk of acidosis are especially vulnerable to mycotoxin poisoning as the protective rumen micro-organisms are killed off.“And while livestock can

tolerate mycotoxins at some level,the presence of mycotoxins infeeds at any level should be acause for concern because of thereduced feed intake andconversion they cause, and thepotential reproductive and healthimpact,” he adds.

AcidosisDr Parfitt believes the risk frommycotoxins can be particularlygreat when cows are being fedhigh levels of concentrate as thiscan lead to the rumen being sub-clinically acidotic, killing offbeneficial micro-organisms in therumen which form the animals’natural protection from themycotoxins.

“This is a potentially devast-ating situation particularly whenmycotoxins are consumed on achronic basis. By feeding highlevels of concentrate to cows inan effort to gain maximum yield,you could be putting them athigh risk of a mycotoxin poison-ing,” he claims.

The effects of a mycotoxinpoisoning can be many fold,including a reduction in feedintakes, reduced feed conversion,

and aggravation of existinghealth problems such as swollenhocks and foot lesions.

“In severe cases there can alsobe fertility related issues too, withthe presence of mycotoxins indiets reducing conception rates byup to 25%.”

There are other side effects too,with one mycotoxin, zearalenone,mimicking oestrogen and spurringthe mammary system in toactivity. “This can lead to unservedheifers bagging up and is a classicsymptom of a mycotoxin problem.It can also reduce butterfat andprotein levels in milk,” he says.

But while the presence ofmould on crops may be thoughtof as a sign of mycotoxins thisneedn’t be the case. “It is quitepossible for moulds to be activelygrowing without producingmycotoxins, and vice-versamycotoxins may be present inhigh levels without any obvioussigns of mould being present.”

Where mycotoxins are presentmost producers will see cowsfailing to produce to theiroptimum, declares Dr Parfitt.

“However, testing formycotoxins can be tricky andoften they are only present atsub-clinical levels, holding backperformance but not creatingclinical signs.

“Where they are causing aproblem then adding a bindingagent to rations is the bestsolution. These binding agents(commonly clay-based minerals)attach to the mycotoxin in thedigestive system of the animaland then remove the mycotoxinfrom the animal in its dung.”

Issues do arise with this strategy

though as minerals with strongbinding affinities for oneparticular mycotoxin may nothave similar attractions toothers due to their differentshape, he adds.

“There are secondgeneration products availablethough which may beconsidered more effective.These contain a concentratedsource of the biologically activecompound mannan oligo-saccharide which is a complexsugar derived from the cellwalls of yeast.

Stimulatory“This has an extremely largesurface area for binding withmycotoxins and is indigestibleby mammals or pathogenic gutbacteria, but is specificallystimulatory to beneficial gutmicro-organisms.”

It therefore performs a dualrole by both binding upmycotoxins while at the sametime also promoting beneficialgut microbial activity. This helpsrestore and optimise feeddigestion where mycotoxinshave reduced feed intakes andutilisation, says Dr Parfitt.

“The latest generation ofmycotoxin treatment productsalso contain micro-organismswhich can degrade or destroythose mycotoxins, such asDeoxynivalenol (DON), that donot readily bind. Ultrasorb,from Micron, contains all threeof these active principles, givingit maximum effectiveness inshielding the animal against thewidest range of mycotoxinsfound in feed.”

**DF Feb p17 Micron 26/1/12 14:53 Page 1

LEP

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OS

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Why your cattle could be at risk from leptospirosis

If your herd isn’t already playing host to the disease, it can very easily be brought onto thefarm.Vet John Atkinson, from MSD Animal Health, tells us how to minimise exposure.

Watercourses can be a source of causative bacteriawhich can survive for months in the environment.

While the severe andsudden symptomsthat have historicallybeen associated withthe disease – such as

abortion storms and sudden milkdrop – may not be apparent in yourherd, it could nevertheless besuffering the grumbling back-ground effects that commonly dragdown health and performance.

In fact, as the disease has becomeendemic across the UK, so thesebackground symptoms – such aspoor fertility, depressed appetiteand sick calves for which no onemay have suspected a specificunderlying cause – are a more likelyconsequence of leptospirosis thanthe obvious visible signs.

But whether visible or invisible,clinical or sub-clinical, one thingthat is certain is the disease will belosing you money.

Estimates put the cost of thedisease at around £70/cow,equating to a loss of up to £7000per 100 cows. A large proportion ofthis comes from lost pregnanciesand poor fertility.

And with a massive 66 per centof UK dairy herds recently shown tohave been exposed to leptospirosis,the disease may be inflicting a hugefinancial burden across the wholeof our milk production.

But these losses can be avoidedaccording to vet John Atkinson,from MSD Animal Health, who says

there’s a good argument for regul-arly testing your herd to see if theoffending bacteria are present.

“A bulk milk test will give you aninitial idea of the disease status ofyour herd, and as with any infect-ious disease, if you find you don’thave it, you’ll want to take steps tomake sure you don’t get it,” hesays.

This means ensuring biosecuritycontrols are in place and consider-ing vaccination, which can protectanimals that are free from disease.Similarly, if the herd is alreadyinfected, vaccination can help toraise the level of immunity andreduce shedding of the bacteriathrough the cow’s urine.

“Every farm is different,” says MrAtkinson, “so I’d advise dairyfarmers to speak to their prescrib-ing professional and devise astrategy to avoid the disease and itsspread.”

Two strainsOne likely strategy is to tackle everysource of infection, which forleptospirosis comes down to twokey strains of bacteria.

New work undertaken by MSDhas shown the two strains –Leptospira hardjo prajitno andLeptospira hardjo bovis – to bewidespread across the British herd.


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■ Talk to your vet about testing yourherd for the presence of the bacteriathat cause leptospirosis. This starts witha bulk milk test or blood tests.■ Put in place biosecurity controls torestrict introduction of the disease fromoutside sources.■ Use a vaccine which will act againstboth strains of the bacteria which areknown to cause the disease.

Protection

Consider all potential sources of infec-tion on the farm. These include:■ Co-grazing sheep■ Bought-in animals■ Natural service sires■ Water coursesDevelop a biosecurity plan to limit theseroutes of infection.

Biosecurity

“It’s early days for this work, but weknow both strains are out there andwe know they both cause disease,”says Mr Atkinson. “So this means it’sessential for vaccination to deal withboth strains, which in the UK willmean using Leptavoid-H as it’s theonly vaccine licensed to protectagainst both prajitno and bovis.”

Similarly, protocols for using thevaccine should be carefully applied toensure the vaccination programmehas the desired effect.

“This means following manufact-urer’s recommendations, using theright dose at the right time andthrough the right route, and lookingafter the vaccine properly when it isstored,” he adds.

“Careful planning is needed toensure animals are protected beforeturnout in spring which is a key timefor transmission,” he continues.

“The bacteria are water-lovingand can survive for months in the

John Atkinson: tackleevery source.

**DF Feb p18 21 Lepto 26/1/12 15:08 Page 1

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What are the signs yourherd might be infected?

Leptospirosis may not attract the headlines like some other diseases but it can dountold damage to a herd’s productivity and profitability, warns vet Ed Simmonsof Tibbs and Simmons Farm Animal Vets, Redhill, North Somerset.

The product is licensed:■ Against both strains of leptospirosis ■ To improve herd fertility,where L. hardjo is diagnosed ■ To be administered at thesame time as Bovilis BVD.

Leptavoid-H

Ed Simmons: tell-tale signs.

Recent data from MSDAnimal Health’sDairyCheck samplingscheme showed morethan 66% of dairy herds

sampled had been exposed tothe disease.

“Not only that, but lepto-spirosis is a zoonotic diseasemeaning it can spread tohumans and can cause kidneyfailure in people who contractit. Most cases result in severe flulike symptoms, but it canprogress from there, making it asignificant human health risk,”explains Mr Simmons.

There are two distinct scenariosin herds affected by leptospirosis,he adds. “Firstly, infected cowswill show a significant milk drop,losing up to 50% of productivity,and secondly there is abortionand infertility to worry about.”

Most infected cows which aborttend to do so from about threemonths onwards, he explains.

“But there will be embryoniclosses before this which arereabsorbed and so irregular heatsare a tell-tale sign leptospirosismay be in the herd,” he adds.

In most herds affected, MrSimmons says up to half can beinfected with a significantreduction in the number of cowsholding to first service.

“Additionally, infected cowstend to have soft and flabby bagswhere milk drops off rapidly.”

The main risk factors for thedisease are natural water coursesand purchased stock, and headvises fencing off ditches anddykes wherever possible toprevent cattle drinking potentiallyinfected water. “You have toassume all water courses areinfected and be particularlycautious of those which passthrough other livestock farms orhave shared boundaries where

environment, so given the rightconditions at turnout the diseasecould easily be picked up orpassed on.”

Biosecurity considerationsshould revolve around anypotential source of infection,although this can be challengingin some situations.

“Research has shown that herdsare more likely to be positive forleptospirosis if stock are boughtin, natural service used, havecontact with sheep or access towatercourses,” says Mr Atkinson.

“On many farms it may bedifficult to control these riskfactors, which means thatvaccination will be the mosteffective and practical means ofcontrol.”

Transmission Further concerns revolve aroundits transmission to man throughthe shedding of bacteria in theurine of infected animals that maysplash into eyes, wounds or eventhe mouth.

“If you have flu-like symptomssuch as a fever, headache ormuscular pain, it’s important tomention any connection withcattle to your doctor,” declares MrAtkinson.

“Equally, herd owners need tobe aware of their responsibility toother people, whether that’sfamily or staff or people comingon to the farm,” he says.

“With leptospirosis, it can beeasy to convince yourself there’snothing wrong and live with thegrumbling background effects.But this will inevitably take its tollon health and fertility, which addstime, cost and worry to the dailymanagement of the herd,” hesays.

“So, if you’re suspicious thatleptospirosis may be impairingherd performance, it’s better tovaccinate rather than waste timeagonising over whether youshould or shouldn’t.”

other stock are held.“Strip grazing also presents an

increased risk due to the concent-ration of urine on small areas ofpasture.”

Sheep are symptomless carriersand excrete the disease too, soparticular caution must be takenwhen overwintering sheep.

“Where sheep are over-wintered it is essential to vacc-inate the herd prior to turnout tolimit the chances of cowsbecoming infected,” he adds.

ProtectionBut with two strains of lepto-spirosis infecting cattle in the UK,protection against both is theonly way to be sure your herd willremain safe, says Mr Simmons.

“Both Leptospira interrogansserovar hardjo (hardjo Prajitno)and L. borgpetersenii serovarhardjo (hardjo Bovis) can infectcattle, so farmers should be surethey protect against both strains.MSD Animal Health’s vaccineLeptavoid-H does this, and is alsothe only vaccine of its typelicensed to improve fertilitywhere leptospirosis is theidentified cause.

“Failing to protect against bothstrains would leave a herd

potentially open to infection andisn’t a risk worth taking,particularly where there is a highchance cattle could becomeinfected, such as where theyregularly drink from naturalwater courses.”

When it comes to quantifyingthe losses caused, Mr Simmonssays many of the losses arehidden in terms of infertility, earlypregnancy failures or re-absorpt-ion of the foetus.

“On top of this when cows areinfected later on in pregnancythey may deliver a full-term calfwhich is weak and sickly and thensuffer milk drop themselves.”

And with re-absorptions, thereare also the costs of extra AI andextended calving intervals toconsider, making leptospirosispotentially a very expensivedisease and one that is clearlypresent on many farms at anunderlying level.

“Only in naive herds do we seemajor breakdowns. Most mildlyinfected herds will suffer the oddabortion here and there andlower than desired conception tofirst service, usually about 25%below normal rates.”

However, unlike some diseasesthere is no risk of vertical trans-mission to calves in pregnancy,explains Mr Simmons. “There isthough a high risk of a calfpicking it up from its mother inthe immediate post-calving periodfrom either urine or calving fluids.

“But infected bulls can pass itto cows in their semen, soknowing the status of any bullbeing run with the herd is crucialto preventing the disease beingunwittingly spread.”

When diagnosing leptospirosisthe main differential diagnosiswill be between it and BVD andIBR, he adds. Farmers should talkto their vet for detailed advice.



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Measures for controllingthe disease in your herd

Taking control of leptospirosis in a herd isn’t impossible, according to Leyburn-based John Watkinson of HollinRigg Vets, a member of Dale and Vale Vets, North Yorkshire.

John Watkinson: unless you know your herd’s status you’re fighting blind.

The crucial aspect ofleptospirosis control andmanagement is establishingyour herd’s disease status inthe first place, believes John

Watkinson. “Once you’ve done this then your

vet will be able to identify the bestway forward to control the diseasein your herd,” he says.

In most cases this controlprogramme will involve vaccinationto ensure the whole herd isprotected against the disease, heclaims.

“When it comes to assessing aherd’s level of infection the firstoption is generally a bulk milk testwhich can be done under MSDAnimal Health’s subsidisedDairyCheck scheme. This test willgive a good indication of whetherthe herd has been exposed to thedisease or not and is particularlyuseful for flagging up herds withvery high or very low levels ofinfection.

“But for herds where the bulkmilk test indicates a middlinglevel of infection, then furtherinvestigation by blood sampling isthe best way of establishing thestatus.”

Once the level of infection isknown then management decisions,including decisions regarding themanagement of incoming animals,can be discussed and implemented.“If you don’t know your herd’sstatus you’re fighting blind.

Abortion For some farms a high prevalence ofabortion can also act as a spur forfurther investigational work, saysMr Watkinson.

“When a herd is found to becompletely naive to the disease,then it is essential to implement avaccination policy as there is verylittle chance of keeping the diseaseout when it is waterborne and canbe carried by sheep.

“It may sound great when the vettells you your herd is completelyclear of the disease, but this meansthat should it rear its head you’revery likely to get an abortion stormwhich could cause untold losses,” hedeclares.

Implementing a vaccinationstrategy for leptospirosis is relativelystraightforward, with Leptavoid-Hvaccine licensed for protectionagainst both UK prevalent strains ofthe disease, explains Mr Watkinson.

“But what is important toremember is that all stock mustreceive the first two primary coursesof the vaccination four to six weeksapart. Failing to give the secondvaccination means the immunesystem won’t be fully primed andany subsequent booster vaccinationswill be wasted too.”

Timing of vaccination is criticaltoo and even more so when itcomes to giving the annual boostervaccination. “This should always begiven prior to turnout before cattlehave access to natural water coursesand could be grazing pastureinfected by urine from diseasedcows.

“This means it may well have to betimed to fit around a number of othervaccinations, although Leptavoid-Hand Bovillis BVD are now licensed asthe only leptospirosis and BVD vaccinecombination that can be given at thesame time.”

Immune systemHowever, Mr Watkinson advisesagainst giving more than twovaccinations at the same time. “Twoshots are probably ample for theimmune system to cope with at onetime. So other vaccinations, such asIBR vaccines, should be given afortnight either side of leptospirosisvaccination.”

And while vaccination may seem tobe the end of the matter, it is alsoimportant to maintain effectivebiosecurity whenever possible.

“It can be difficult to do this indairy herds when you’ve got to milkbought-in stock, but if at all unsureabout the status of bought-in stockthen blood test them and whereappropriate vaccinate them.”

No matter what your herd’s status itis important to discuss your plans withyour vet.


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Leptospirosis can playhavoc with your blockcalving programme

A desire to maintain high conception to first service in a block calving herd and the need to optimise the health ofthe herd are the main drivers for leptospirosis vaccination in the 340-cow herd managed by Clifford Mitchell atNorwood Place Farm, Norwood Hill, Surrey.

Clifford Mitchell: tight pattern.

Rob Drysdale: bought-in stock.

The herd, owned by MessrsWestnedge and Knight, isan autumn block calvingherd, meaning goodconception to first service

is essential to maintain a tightcalving pattern and have all cowsin milk by the end of October.

“This is a heavy clay farm, sodoesn’t really suit a spring calvingherd as we can’t always get cowsout to grass early when theground is lying wet in spring. Butto maximise production in theherd we like to have everythingcalved in a tight block, starting atthe end of August and all calvedby the end of October,” says MrMitchell.

IdentifiedHe explains some 20 years ago theherd was suffering with poorfertility and leptospirosis wasidentified as one of the issues.“Ever since then we’ve vaccinatedagainst it and last year our firstservice conception rate was 66%.”

Leptospirosis vaccination inthe herd is very much aimed atpreventing any potentialproblems and, with sheep alsooverwintered on the farmpresenting another big riskfactor, Mr Mitchell believesvaccination with Leptavoid-H isthe best policy.

“We take in about 350 ewes

over winter to keep the grass ingood condition, but obviouslywith sheep being leptospirosiscarriers they represent a big riskto the herd.

“Vaccination means this is a riskwe don’t have to worry aboutand means we can continue usingthe sheep to ensure we havegood quality grass for the herdcome turnout in spring.”

With the drive to achieve atight calving pattern too, thevaccine was a good choice as itis unique in that it is licensed toimprove fertility when infertilityis caused by leptospirosis.

Additionally, he says the needto prevent staff contractingleptospirosis is another driver incontinuing to vaccinate. “We’vea good team on the unit and wecan’t afford to have anyoneunnecessarily ill. The danger ofbeing splashed with urine in theparlour is too great and it’ssimply not a risk worth taking.

“The farm owner did considerceasing vaccination, but decidedto continue for herd health aswell as the health of the staff,”he declared.

VaccinationCows are vaccinated each springwhile pregnancy diagnosis istaking place, with in-calf heifersgiven their booster vaccination atthe same time.

“Youngstock receive twocourses of the vaccine at sevenmonths old to get them on theprogramme and then an annualbooster after that.

“IBR and BVD vaccinations aredone in the autumn to avoidhitting cows with too many

vaccinations at the same time,”he adds.

Access to natural water is alsoprevented to ensure there is nochance of any cattle picking up aleptospirosis infection, althoughcows don’t graze any fields withready access to natural wateranyway. “The youngstock graze acouple of fields where they couldget to natural water sources, butthey’ve been fenced off to besure there is no risk.”

The farm’s insistence onvaccination is backed by theherd’s vet, Rob Drysdale, ofWestpoint Vet Group, Warnham.

“Leptospirosis can wreak havocwith a herd’s fertility andsignificantly reduce conceptionrates. In a block calving herdwhere the aim is to calve in astight a period as possible lowconception can’t be tolerated.

“Lost pregnancies at grass alsomeans lost stock from the herd ata cost of about £400 a headminimum, the differencebetween pregnant and barrencow value. And that doesn’t takeaccount of the lost milk yieldeither.”

The policy of vaccinationat Norwood Place Farm is vitalto maintaining herd fertility,explains Mr Drysdale.

“Particularly with the over-wintered sheep posing a big riskfactor as they can shed a lot ofdisease on to pasture over thewinter which could be picked upby the cows once they’re turnedout in spring.”

But on top of that, with agood number of people workingon the farm the importance ofpreventing any of them from

contracting leptospirosis isn’t tobe underestimated either, headds. “In humans leptospirosistypically shows as flu-likesymptoms but, in rare cases, cancause kidney failure and can befatal, so it’s simply not worthtaking the risk.”

Mr Drysdale says one majorfactor in the herd’s favour is thatno stock is bought in, with allreplacements homebred and allservice done by AI. “Incomingstock can pose a big risk to herdhealth and where animals arebought in their disease statusshould always be checked beforethey’re allowed to mix with theresident herd. Effective quarant-ine, testing and vaccinationprotocols are vital for anyonebuying stock in,” he stresses.

The product is licensed:■ Against both strains of leptospirosis ■ To improve herd fertility,where L. hardjo is diagnosed ■ To be administered at thesame time as Bovilis BVD.

Leptavoid-H



MAIZE

The importance of cell walldigestibility is that it has adirect impact on theenergy density of maizesilage, as measured by its

ME content. “The energy value of maize

silage is derived from two sources– the starch in the cobs and thecells contained in the stover andleaves,” says Limagrain technicalmanager Richard Camplin.

“The starch and soluble sugarsfound inside the maize cobs are100% digestible, which is whybreeders aim for varieties having ahigh starch content, but 50% ofthe crop yield is from the rest ofplant.

“The cell contents from the restof the plant are nearly 100%digestible but the cell walls, that isthe fibres, are not. These cell wallsare made up of hemi-cellulose andcellulose, which range from 20%-100% in digestibility, and lignin,which is totally undigestible but isessential as it provides the supportthat prevents plants from lodging.

“To improve the ME value ofsilage, Limagrain has been devel-oping varieties with improveddigestibility, achieved throughincreasing the digestibility of thecell walls,” he says.

European data compiled byLimagrain demonstrates thatmaize CWD can vary incommercial varieties from around40% to 60%. In the UK, thecurrent NIAB List has CWD valueswhich range from 53% to 62%.

“The benefits of a variety with ahigher CWD are clearly reflectedby the higher ME valuesachieved,” says Mr Camplin.

“For instance, of the first choicevarieties on NIAB’s Less FavourableList, Adept tops the board with aCWD of 58%, which together witha high starch content of 35.4%,adds up to an ME value of 11.6MJ/kg DM – the highest on this list.

High energy“Similarly, on the Favourable List,the highest CWD is found inAtrium at 62%. This is supportedby a respectable starch content of33.0%, and produces the top MEon this List of 11.8 MJ/kg DM.

“By comparison, varieties whichare low in starch content and/orlow in CWD can have ME values ofonly around 11.1-11.3 MJ/kg DM.

“The difference in availablefeed between silage made fromthe best and worst varieties forCWD is around 0.8t/ha ofdigestible yield, or put another

Cell wall digestibility playspart in lifting energy levels For the first time, this year’s NIAB List for forage maize includes data on cell wall digestibility. Limagrain’sRichard Camplin explains the impact selecting varieties with improved CWD can have on silage energy value.

way, an extra 5% of digestiblefeed yield by choosing maizevarieties with a high CWD,” hesays.

“Looking wider, if you considervarieties which have a good starchcontent and good digestibility, theconsequently higher ME willprovide greater financial return.

“For example, take a 100-cowherd, milked 300 days/year, with afeed intake of 20kg DM/day, ofwhich maize silage accounts for12kg/day. A variety such asAtrium, with an ME of 11.8 MJ/kgDM will deliver an extra 0.4 MJ/kgDM, when compared to a ‘goodME’ variety. This equates to anextra 4.8MJ of ME per cow perday, and on a herd basis willsupport around an extra 27,000

litres of milk production. Assum-ing a 27p milk price, that’s £7290gained, just by choosing a highenergy maize variety,” he says.

Newly launched this year is theLG Animal Nutrition (LGAN)accreditation, which is awarded tonew LG varieties which promise allround performance to deliversuperior nutritional feed value.

Of the eight performanceparameters considered in theevaluation, cell wall digestibility isone of the most important.

The first two varieties to begiven LGAN status are Ambitionand Activate.

“When they appear on theNIAB List in 2013, Activate isexpected, like Atrium, to have thepotential to produce silage withan ME which is 0.4 MJ/kg DMhigher than ‘good ME’ varieties.However, unlike Atrium, it is oneof the earliest maturing varietiesavailable.

Evaluation “The LGAN evaluation is based onfive years of data from bothLimagrain and NIAB trials.

“Compared to varieties such asES Picker and ES Regain, Activateis 2% higher in starch content and1-2% better in CWD. These twofactors account for Activate’s veryhigh energy content.” (See Fig 1).

“To maximise energy density ofmaize silage for this next winter,growers and their contractorsneed to consider two points,” hemaintains.

“Firstly, select varieties whichcan deliver starch content and/orhave improved cell wall digestib-ility so the consequent ME value ishigh.

“Secondly, take into accountthe growing conditions at themaize site and ensure onlyvarieties that will have reachedmaturity at harvest are grown.This will ensure the geneticpotential for starch accumulationis achieved,” he says.

40

38

36

34

32

30

2810.9 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.5 11.6 11.7 11.8 11.9

ESAGREEMENT

DOMINATOR

APOSTROF

KROESUS

IXXES KONSORT

SALGADOKREELKOUGAR

ESPICKER

ESREGAIN

NKBULL

ACTIVATE

ME (MJ/kg DM)

Star

ch c

on

ten

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)

Figure 1: LGAN evaluation based on Limagrain and NIAB data 2003-2010

Richard Camplin: an extra 4.8MJ.

**DF Feb p22 Maize (Cell Wall) 26/1/12 11:30 Page 1

www.huntseeds.co.uk

Kaspian

Working Together for British Farmers

Forage Maize Variety


HUNT 1 WP DF 27/1/12 11:58 Page 1


MAIZE

Maize growers needto re-focus theirattention ongetting good, earlyestablishment

from the most vigorous, earlymaturing varieties if they are to avoid a repeat performance of some of the problems seen in 2011.

That is the view of forage seedspecialist Francis Dunne of FieldOptions, who says he has neverseen so many issues with thecrop as he had last year.

Production costs“The bottom line is that manyfarmers had crops which simplydidn’t make money. Withproduction costs of around£850/ha, you need yields of35t/ha to break even, whichmany won’t have secured lastyear,” he says.

“The problems started whencrops went into a very dry springand cold, dry, late May and Juneperiod. Then, when this wascompounded by the dry, but coolsummer weather, some cropsstruggled to reach potential.

“At the end of the day, while

many on good sites will havehad decent crops, elsewheresome varieties didn’t produceacceptable cobs, leaving growerswith a poor DM, low qualitysilage.”

Mr Dunne says that worst hitwere crops on soils whererooting was restricted due topoor structure. This exacerbatedthe effects of the drought.

“Growers now have theperfect opportunityto put things right.Best approachwould be to muck,plough and thensubsoil, leaving theground to weatherdown to easeseedbed creation.

He says the differencesbetween early and late sowncrops are very marked.

Some late drilled varieties didnot mature in the cold seasonand there was nothing growerscould do about it.

In these situations, it is eithera case of picking ultra earlyvarieties which are quick off theblocks, or accepting that youwould be better off with 26t/ha

What we should learnfrom last year’s cropsLast year’s peculiar weather conditions gave us some clues as to what maize willtolerate and what it won’t. Seed specialist Francis Dunne gives us an insight.

(10.5t/acre) of wholecropspring barley silage.

“In recent years, a numberof varieties have been devel-oped with much betterestablishment figures and thisdoes allow earlier drilling.

“The vigour these varietiesprovide is increasinglycommercially valuable, as wehave seen this year, and shouldbe an important factor to

consider priorto next year,”he says.

In terms ofvarietyselection, oneof the mostreliable earlyvarieties with

high vigour has been Lapriora. “No variety has proved more

stable than Lapriora with goodpollination and cob develop-ment in the cold damperconditions in the west as wellas in drought stressed areas ofthe country,” says Mr Dunne.

“This ensures a very highstarch yield from a variety thatcan be taken for grain as wellas forage,” says Mr Dunne.

“In addition, Lapriora is alsoone of the most tolerantvarieties to eyespot, a diseasewhich is increasing in crops,particularly in the south ofEngland and other coastalregions.

“Of the new hybrids we aretesting, Severus has doneparticularly well. This has beenconsistently earlier thanLapriora and appears to bemuch higher yielding thanKaspian or Kentaurus.

“Alternatively, if high fibre isimportant, look at the semi-compact variety MAS09A,” headvises.

For those considering secondearlies with higher potentialyield, Mr Dunne highlights NKBull and Konsensus as beingparticularly reliable.

“NK Bull has exceptionalquality, with good cell walldigestibility and is backed byhigh yields. Konsensus offershigh yields of silage or grain – ithas earlier cob developmentthan NK Bull and dries downslightly faster.”

Looking ahead to this spring,Mr Dunne says those who drilledshallow in 2011 were caught outby the drought and, as a result,two to three stage germinationwas an issue last year.

Deeper drilling“Deeper drilling at up to 4in(10cm) may be the answer,provided the tilth above the seedis relatively open. However, thekey objective is to conservemoisture in the top 2in-3in (5cm-7.5cm), and over-workingthe soil doesn’t help.

“Precision drilling also paiddividends in 2011, and thosewho put a starter fertiliser downthe spout should have seen adifference because residualphosphate was barely availablein the very dry soils. Starterfertiliser has made a week’sdifference in terms of maturity insome parts of the UK,” he says.

“Those using standard drillswill find they need 10% moreseed to gain an acceptable plantstand, and so it will almostcertainly pay to get thecontractor in to do the jobproperly.

“Above all, though, there willbe a big move towards earliermaterial, and those in the northor on difficult sites whose cropwasn’t ready by the end ofSeptember, must reconsider theirvariety choice to cut these risks,”says Mr Dunne.

Growers now have theperfect opportunity toput things right.

Francis Dunne

Francis Dunne examines a crop of the new hybrid Severus.

Lapriora has shown good pollination and cob development in cold, dampconditions and also performed well in drought stressed areas.

**DF Feb p24 Maize (F DUNNE) 26/1/12 12:29 Page 1


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DF_02_P25 27/1/12 12:10 Page 21

MAIZE

ME yield drivesprofitable production

NK BULL

Maximising Metabolisable Energy (ME) yield from maize improves cost efficiency and drives output in dairy, beef and biogas enterprises.

The variety with the highest ME yieldon the NIAB Descriptive List 2012 isNK Bull, making it the number one choice for many maize growers across the country.

For cost effective production it’s all about ME – and nothing delivers more per hectare thanNK Bull.

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Registered Office 30 Priestley Road, Surrey Research Park, Guildford GU2 7HY. GQ02037. September 2011.

Maize growers inmarginal areas are reportingsignificantly higheryields and much

earlier harvesting by growing thecrop under film.

Patrick Barrett and Mark Pethickfarm four miles apart nearCallington in east Cornwall, whereboth grow large acreages ofmaize. Despite the extra cost offilm, both are convinced it morethan pays for itself.

Mr Barrett grows 61ha (150acres) of forage maize, whichaccounts for 70% of his Holsteinherd’s feed ration, while MrPethick produces around 2000tonnes of crimped maize grain to

sell to livestock farmers. They haveboth been growing maize underfilm using the Samco system forfive years.

Mr Barrett, who milks 450 highyielding Holsteins at TrellasickFarm, has doubled yields to morethan 20t/acre with starch and drymatter levels over 30%, while MrPethick, of Church Park Farm, sayshe has increased the crop yield by2t/acre of grain and is achievingmoisture levels of 35%.

Insurance At Trellasick Farm, consistent yieldsand crop quality are a priority.“Plastic film is our insurance policy,it smoothes out any seasonalvariations and means we have a

large enough crop to feed 12months of the year,’’ says PatrickBarrett. “We are getting goodstarch and D values and that givesus an ME of over 11. That’s whatdrives milk production.’’

His herd produces a yield of9500 litres, with a butterfataverage of 3.4% and 3.3%protein.

Mr Barrett harvested the cropon October 16, allowing himenough time to sow grass seed insome of the fields. Where he isnot sowing grass seed, he firmlybelieves sub-soiling maize fieldsduring the winter is beneficial tothe following season’s crop. “It isdefinitely having a yield benefit,’’he says.

He says maize production waschallenging before he used film.“I was really struggling to ripenthe cobs which meant I had poorstarch levels, low yields and acidicwet silage. I had to feed a starchsupplement to counter this.”

Agronomist Barry Mills of TheGrain Maize Company saysgrowing maize under plastic willaccelerate harvesting by fourweeks, with obvious benefits.

“If maize is being grownconventionally, it is a bonus if afarmer can plant a crop the sameautumn after grain maize. Usingthis system, it more or lessguarantees that,’’ he says.

There are benefits for the soiltoo, as later harvests mean the

How using plastic can bringsuccess with marginal maize Apart from any yield benefits, plastic will allow growers to get the crop in early and off early, which isimportant in marginal growing areas. Debbie James reports on its use in Cornwall.

**DF Feb 26/27 Maize (Samco) 26/1/12 11:57 Page 1

MAIZE

it’s all about

ground is more likely to be wetand runs the risk of severecompaction.

“Normally crimped maize isharvested in November orDecember, and this can damagethe soil structure, impacting onthe yields of the following crops,”says Mr Mills.

The price per acre averages£100, although it is likely to beslightly higher this year becauseof the strong dollar (all resin isimported from the USA), but MrMills reckons for every £100invested, a farmer can expect areturn of £300.

EarlinessAs a testimony to earliness, MrPethick has harvested crimpedmaize at the end of Septembersince he started using the system.

He farms 364ha (900 acres) ofarable crops, including 161ha (400acres) of maize. His land rises to700ft (210m) and the averagerainfall is 1700mm (67in). Headmits the conditions are lessthan ideal for maize production.

“We had been muddling alongfor years, but were getting pooryields. Film guarantees us adecent crop,” he says. “In a good

year, we can get forage yields upto 27t/acre.”

He started using film when hedecided to focus on growingmaize for crimping.

“We couldn’t get the cropmature enough in this areawithout film. It brings maturityforward by up to six weeks,’’ he adds.

He is also able to drill earlier –last year on March 23 – becausethe soil temperature under the

film quickly reaches around20deg C and protects thegerminating seeds and youngplants.

“Without plastic, we wouldhave to wait until the soiltemperature was around 8-10degC, but with plastic it can be as lowas 3deg C. We have even drilled itin the snow,’’ he says.

The soil at Church Park Farm is amedium loam and the soil analysisis typically two index for phosp-

hate and one index for potash,and purchased phosphate andpotash at £37.50/acre (£92.66/ha)and nitrogen at £70/acre (£173/ha)is applied.

Crucial to the success of themaize crop is the structure of theseedbed, partly to give the seeds agood start and because residualherbicides rely on a fine seedbedto be effective. Mr Pethickploughs, subsoils and powerharrows before drilling.

Soil temperature under the plastic quickly reaches 20deg C to get the seed off to an early start.

**DF Feb 26/27 Maize (Samco) 26/1/12 11:57 Page 2

Increasing the maize acreageand drilling the crop twoweeks earlier than usual hasturned out to be a lifeline onthe drought stricken dairy

enterprise of J E Utting and Sons,Mettingham, Suffolk.

Without these measures, DavidUtting says he simply wouldn’thave been able to feed thefarm’s 270-strong dairy herd andyoungstock this past winter. Thatis because it follows the failure ofgrazing and silage crops lastsummer due to lack of rainfallaffecting much of the south-east.

Not only has the droughttolerance of the maize cropensured the farm’s focus ofgetting as much as possible outof home-grown feeds hasremained intact, it has alsomaintained margins overpurchased feeds of over£1300/cow/year and minimisedthe need to buy in additionalfeedstuffs.

And having just secured a newliquid milk contract, David andbrother Shaun are confident theycan improve their margin of18.83p/litre of milk and that theynow have the best formulapossible to cope with thechallenges of both the marketand the variable climate in thefuture.

“Our maize to grass forageratio is now up to 80:20 which isfar higher than we wouldnormally have thought realistic,but the economics make sense.The cows are healthy and overallwe do seem to be in a muchbetter position than a lot ofother milk producers in theregion. Many just don’t have anywinter feed left now.

“Yields are around 8500litres/cow with butterfat holdingat around 4.2% and milk proteinat 3.2%, so either by luck orjudgement we seem to havemade some good decisionsrecently.”

The 900-acre Grove Farm is afairly self-contained business byany measure. David and Shaunrear all their own replacementsand finish all the other calves –dairy bulls included – for beefand feed all crops produced onthe farm to their stock. Davidreckons there is around 760animals on the farm at any onetime.

Three cuts “We’re now growing around 180acres of forage maize, 50 acres ofwheat for wholecrop and rolling,and about 25 acres of beet.We’ve also got about 100 acresof rotational grass on the landthat is slightly higher up thanthe rest. This is a two-yearperennial and Italian ryegrass leyused for silage for the highyielders, and the rest is grazingand marshland.

“We would normally aim totake up to four good cuts ofsilage – occasionally five – butlast year we managed three lightones, and that was it. On the plusside we did manage to get our

maize sown in the second weekof April – at least two weeksearlier than our normal May startdate.”

The crop took well, but drillinga further 18 acres some weekslater proved to be a nightmare asthe soil was so dry it was almostimpossible to coax it into adecent seedbed, despite fivepasses with a power harrow.

But as the dry weathercontinued and the grazing andsilage crops took a hammering,all the maize became well estab-lished and continued to grow.

According to James Todd, ofmaize and forage specialistGrainseed, who advises theUttings on their maize product-ion, the crop’s drought toleranceand reliability is something whichis becoming increasingly import-ant as the climate becomes moreunpredictable.

“Many maize varieties are nowable to deliver high performancein a wide range of conditionswith some showing outstandingdrought tolerance. In particularsome of the new ‘Bred forBritain’ early varieties are sorobust they can produce highyields and full maturity inconditions that simply knock outother forage crops,” he says.

Star maize performer at GroveFarm last year was the varietyDominator, which was harvestedin mid September with yields upto 45t/ha at 27% dry matter. InNIAB trials the variety is thehighest yielding group 7 varietythere is with exceptional cob

ripeness, maturity and a yield107% of the control.

Analysis of the material in theclamp at Grove Farm is 27.1% drymatter, 9.0% protein, 72.5 D-value, 11.5 MJ/kgDM and 29.8%starch – which is outstandingconsidering the difficult growingseason, James Todd contends.

Although a couple of weeksmore would have put the drymatter over 30%, the advantageof the early harvest was thatDavid and Shaun were able todrill 100 acres of wheat behindthe maize at the optimum timewithout all the soil damage andworry caused by late drilling,particularly on their heavier land.

The performance of the maizethis year has been both an eyeopener and a life saver, saysDavid Utting.

“We’ve been growing maizefor well over 25 years now andhave seen it really move ahead inthat time. We’ve harvested somany green crops in the past, buthave now come to rely on thenew generation early varieties tofinish properly and allow arelatively early harvest.

“That said, the yields andfeeding quality achieved this lastyear in such difficult conditionshave really surprised us. We wouldhave been truly stuck without it.

“When you add in the econ-omics, the flexibility and thedegree of confidence it givesyou, it’s very difficult to arguethe case against growing andfeeding a lot more maize in thefuture,” he said.


MAIZE

With grass silage running out and a clamp full of quality maize silage, one Suffolk family has upped themaize to grass silage ratio to 80:20 in the herd’s diet and seems to be getting good responses.

Maize saves the day whengrass silage running short

Rations at Grove Farm (kg/cow/day)High yielders Low yielders

Maize:grass forage ratio 80:20 80:20Maize silage 32.0 32.0Grass silage 8.0 8.0Brewers’ grains 5.0 5.0Molasses 1.6 1.2Rapemeal 1.0 2.8Dairy blend 4.0 2.0Chopped straw 0.5 0.5

David Utting: ratio of 80:20 is farhigher than normal.

**DF Feb p28 Maize (Drought) 26/1/12 13:21 Page 1

ECOSYL WP DF 27/1/12 11:26 Page 1


MAIZE

Increasingly challenging andunpredictable seasons areputting a premium on robust maize varieties andagronomy across the country –

especially so on less favourablegrowing sites.

This is the conclusion of thelatest results from MasstockSMART Farming’s extensive seriesof annual maize variety andgrowing trials on commercialfarms throughout England andWales.

“Forage maize performance hasvaried more widely than ever overthe past season,” explainsMasstock forage managerBrendan Paul, who co-ordinatesthe trials. “Some crops havedelivered excellent ME yields,while others have been highlyvariable and disappointing.

“It all depended on the specificsite, local weather conditions and,critically, how well the plants wereable to establish. Crops on lessfavourable sites found lifeparticularly difficult,” he adds.

“At our trials at Barnstaple,Devon, for instance, favourableconditions meant the samevarieties averaged 11,000 MJME/ha more this season than theydid in 2010 – an increase of 6.5%.In complete contrast, under the650ft (200m) high challenge ofour Barnsley site in Yorkshire, the

controls gave 53,000 MJ ME/ha –30% less than the year before.”

Mr Paul sees the rapid progressbeing made by breeders incombining earliness with highyields as important in helpinggrowers cope with this challenge.

He points to the fact manyvarieties joining the NIAB Listtoday are fully two weeks earlierand 15% higher yielding thanlong time market leader Hudson.

Performance“Among the earlier maturers, oneoutstanding new variety, Fieldstar,delivered 20% more ME/ha thanestablished favourite Avenir atBarnstaple last year,” he says.

“And it topped our perform-ance league at Barnsley. It’s thissort of consistency in practice thatcomes from varieties robustenough to deal with whatever theenvironment throws at them.”

As well as choosing robustindividual genetics, Mr Paulbelieves growers can do much toreduce their agronomic risk bygrowing two complementaryvarieties in the same field tosafeguard pollination and tospread the harvest window. Giventhe extent to which dry or wetspells can play havoc with boththese elements of production, thisapproach has obvious benefitsunder today’s far less predictable

Dual cropping may be answerto combat adverse conditionsLast year, maize produced some highly variable results owing to the abnormal weather conditions, butchoosing a more robust variety or sowing dual crops may be one answer.

and more extreme weatherconditions.

“To make it work best, we’vefound you need to combinevarieties that are neither toosimilar nor too dissimilar in theirmaturities,” he advises. “That waytheir tasselling and silkingoverlaps nicely for an extendedpollination period with far lessweather risk.

“Combining a somewhat earlier(drier) variety with a later (wetter)one also makes for maximumharvesting flexibility.

“If the autumn is dry, you canhold off harvesting to take fulladvantage of the higher outputcapacity of the later maturer. Butif it turns wet, the earlier matur-ing partner gives a crop ripeenough for you to harvest beforeground conditions get too bad.

“For those in most favourableforage maize areas, we’ve foundSalgardo and the slightly latermaturing Atrium fit well together.Also a combination of ES Capriswith slightly earlier Fieldstar, oreven very early Kentaurus, will dothe job where earliness isparticularly important. Equally,early ES Capris works well withlater Salgardo for sites in themiddle of the growing spectrum,”he says.

Another thing that has becomeparticularly apparent to theMasstock SMART team over thepast year is the critical importanceof optimum forage maizepopulations. The crop’s verylimited capacity to compensateputs the onus firmly on correctdrilling. More than anything else,Mr Paul and his agronomistcolleagues say this means usingthe correct sowing rate.

In their experience 100,000-110,000 plants/ha (42,000-45,000/acre) is the population toaim for – the higher levels beingbetter suited to the generallysmaller plants of earlier varieties.

At a typical 90% establishment,this in practice means a sowingrate of 110,000-120,000 seeds/ha

(45,000-50,000/acre). “Our trials have shown average

ME outputs can be increased byup to 17% by raising the sowingrate from 45,000 to 50,000seeds/acre as a direct result ofhigher plant populations,” saysMr Paul.

Row width “This needs to be accompanied bydecreasing the row width from30in to 15in-20in to avoid toomuch competition between plantsin the row. And since they meanearlier canopy closure for lessmoisture loss and weedcompetition, I’m convincednarrower rows offer majorimprovement opportunities formost growers.

“It’s early days yet, but we’realso seeing valuable establishmentand performance benefits fromthe specialist phosphite seedtreatment, Take-Off, which ourarable colleagues have been usingwith such success in cereals andoilseed rape,” he adds.

“This year’s treated cropsyielded around 15% more ME perhectare than untreated ones.We’ll definitely be investigatingthe seed treatment in more depthin the coming year. It could wellprovide growers with an extraway of adding robustness to theirmaize growing,” he says.

Brendan Paul checking cobs in acrop of Salgado maize.

A healthy looking crop of Fieldstar grown at 75cm (30in) row width.

**DF Feb p30 Maize (Masstock) 26/1/12 15:11 Page 1

www.huntseeds.co.uk

Kougar

Working Together for British Farmers

Forage Maize Variety


HUNT 2 WP DF 27/1/12 11:59 Page 1


MAIZE

Grain maize tofill energy gapInstead of buying crimped maize in, Hartpury College decided togrow the crop themselves with some impressive results.

The introduction of grain maize inthe rotation has providedHartpury College with a valuablehigh-energy feed to replacebought-in stocks.

With yields of 11.2 and 11.3 tonnes perhectare over the last two years, from acrop crimped at 30% moisture content,the performance has been very impressive.

The college farm first bought in wholemaize for crimping to replace rolled wheatfive years ago, but with the pricebeginning to mirror that of feed wheatplus a premium, Velcourt farm managerPeter Lord decided to grow his own crop.

With more than 100ha (247 acres) offorage maize already grown and a changein their dairying system, he opted to spiltthe area in half, growing early maturingCoryphee alongside high quality foragemaize varieties.

Lower costsNow, two years on, he has been pleasedwith a crop which is combined, crimpedand clamped before the end of October,with a cost of production lower thanbought in supplies would be.

And, with a neighbour growing someforage maize for the farm, Mr Lord findsgrain maize helps cut costs across themixed farm unit, producing a feed whichis currently worth in excess of £145/t.

“In the past, we bought in 300t ofcrimped maize, so growing our own cropis costing considerably less,” he says.

Mr Lord uses the grain maize with avariety of ingredients to make the TMRrations. “Its high starch value means it isfed to the fresh calved and high yieldinggroups to boost pregnancy rates and milkyield. At the same time it also fits in wellalongside our three forage crops of grass,winter wheat wholecrop and foragemaize,” he says.

The variety Coryphee was originallyselected on the advice of maize specialistDavid Bright. “While it is not cheap and heinitially had to twist my arm to take it, ithas not disappointed,” says Peter Lord.

Across the last two contrasting seasons,it has proved remarkably consistentproducing the same 11.2-11.3t/ha yieldacross both years.

“We were budgeting on 9t/ha in our

first year and were surprised by the extra2t/ha. Then again this year, after a delayedstart to the season followed by a long dullperiod prior to ripening, the repeat yieldsare just as impressive,” he adds.

Mr Lord puts the Coryphee’sperformance in part down to its flyingstart. “I’ve not seen maize germinate andgrow on to the two leaf stage as quick asCoryphee. Its vigour over the first sevendays of growth in particular was quitephenomenal, and once established thecrop continued to grow on.”

The Coryphee – treated with Mesurol –is planted on ground that had been winterploughed and worked down in ampletime to produce a good seedbed.

“As soon as the soil temperature was aconstant 8degC or above the crop wasdrilled – in 2010 on April 7. In 2011, thewarmer but drier spring saw the cropbeing drilled one week later than theprevious year.

Agronomy is similar to that for foragemaize, with the exception that the grainmaize was sown at a slightly lower plantdensity of 86,485 seeds/ha compared to98,840 seeds/ha. “This ensures you get thequality and growth needed from eachplant,” he says.

The grain maize crop, like the foragemaize, has fertiliser applied as slurrywhich is injected into the soil prior to

Early maturing Coryphee cob at Hartpury.

▼

**DF Feb p32 34 Maize (Hartpury) 26/1/12 15:10 Page 1


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DF_02_P33 27/1/12 12:09 Page 21


MAIZE

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preparing the seedbed in thespring. A small quantity of

Nitrogen is top dressed seven to 10days after planting.

Weed control was relativelysimple with the farm employing aCallisto and Samson mix in 2011.“We steered clear of pre-emsbearing in mind the dry soils earlyon in the season, but the postemergence herbicides, while notcheap, worked well,” he says.

In both years the crop wascrimped at 30% moisture, but withsuch a large area and surprisingyield in 2010, a proportion was leftanother 10 to 14 days to dry downto 15% and then sold on toCountrywide at a premium abovethe feed wheat price.

While the 2010 harvest wasfinished on the last day ofOctober, last year the crop wastaken just in advance of theforage maize and was crimpedand clamped in the second weekof October. “This allowed thedrilling of the following wheat tobe completed in good time.”

At crimping, Biotal’s Biocrimp isadded to the maize. This helpsbreakdown the cellulose walls andlignin in the clamp ensuring thatmore energy is available in therumen when fed out.

Mr Lord says it is only when youanalyse the clamp you can see howmuch energy there is in crimpedgrain maize. You need a goodnutritionist – in this case RobbieTaylor at Velcourt – to ensure bestrationing of such a potent feed.

He says the best way to gainthese high starch values from themaize crop is to ‘understand yoursoil’. This starts by adjustingfertiliser use according to theindices and ensuring that the soilis well structured, and it is just asimportant to select a fastgrowing, vigorous variety to makethe most of the conditions youhave created.

ExpansionSalisbury-based forage specialistsBright Seeds has seen the area ofCoryphee expand every year forthe last three years.

“The big downside with grainmaize is lateness,” says DavidBright. “For 10 years we’ve beenstruggling with varieties that areborderline for harvest date. Thenalong comes Coryphee, bringingcombining forward by three weekswith no apparent yield loss.

“Growers have been quick tocatch on,” he says. “They nowplant wheat up behind it in the

autumn in good time withoutlosing a king’s ransom at today’swheat prices from loss of yield byhaving to go to spring cropping.

“Coryphee’s strong vigour leadsto good early establishment andthe tall, well-rooted plant looksafter itself during the summer.

“Last year, the big issue wasrain in August, which slowedgrowth. While earlies were stillearly, late varieties were late.

“As a result, most growers gottheir Coryphee off in early to mid-October, when we’d expect themto, whereas later varieties were amonth behind,” he says.

This performance was mirroredin Bright Seeds trials across twosites in the south of England thisyear. See chart.

While all other grain maize

types, bar a coded newcomer, haddry matters below 71%, Corypheeaveraged 73% and still had thesame 11.5t/ha grain yield asFalkone.

Based on these results andpractical experience, Mr Brightexpects many growers to growwall-to-wall Coryphee nextseason. “Certainly on dodgy, stickyground Coryphee is the onlychoice,” he says.

“Elsewhere, on lighter land inthe south, there are alternativessuch as Falkone and Harvi, butchoice depends on managementneeds and I would still advocateCoryphee if you are looking tofollow it with grass.”� For further details email DavidBright on [email protected] call 01747 873 930.

�

**DF Feb p32 34 Maize (Hartpury) 27/1/12 12:48 Page 2

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DONOTLETTHISBEYOURLAST ISSUE!

FG House Reg WP DF 27/1/12 09:27 Page 1


NEW PRODUCTS

New products are now featured in each issue ofDairy Farmer. Please sendinformation and photographsto Jennifer MacKenzie [email protected] call 01768 896 150.

New productsLeptospirosis � This season’s new Leptavoid-H 100 dose Spring TurnoutPack aims to make ‘bestpractice’ for the control ofleptospirosis more achievable,helping avoid performancelosses.

Leptavoid-H is the onlyvaccine licensed against bothstrains of the diseaseimportant to UK cattle. It isalso uniquely licensed toreduce the shedding ofLeptospira interrogans serovarhardjo (prajitno) in urine, andimprove herd fertility whenLeptospira hardjo is the causeof infertility.

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Extensive information forthe company’s beef portfoliocan also be found.Details at www.cogentuk.com

NEWS IN BRIEF

GEA’s new multi-boxrobotic milkingsystem, just launchedin the UK, is designedto optimise labour

productivity and cow perform-ance while being able to reducefeed costs.

Each single unit of themodular box configuration,which can be extended to meetfuture herd expansion plans, iscapable of performing between135-165 milking sessions a day –or up to 675 milkings per day ifexpanded to five units, suitablefor larger herd sizes.

To maximise the effectivenessof the robotic system in a similarway to a milking parlour, GEAprefers guided entry and guidedexit, using proven cow segreg-ation technology, rather thanfree entry and free exit.

The cow, after resting, goes toher feed via the robot. Feed costsavings in the area of £5000 a

year are claimed by the companyon a typical 120-cow dairy farmby feeding less concentrate inthe robot and more at the feedfence once she has finishedmilking.

Building on its expertise inother areas of milk production,housing design and cowmanagement to provide a wholesystem approach, GEA’s MIone isbuilt around a single milk centrewhere the farmer can easilywork with herd data and milkinginformation.

The MIone features built-inautomated cow and milkhygiene systems, with onedelivery line to the bulk milkholding tank.

Another feature is its ease ofaccess to allow sometimesnecessary manual milkingespecially with freshly calvedcows.� Details on 02476 692 333 orwww.gea-farmtechnologies.com

GEA moves intorobotics with itsmulti box system

DAIRY Daughters is offeringa limited quantity of straws ofE-Longview CM – which ranksnumber eight on the US’sprestigious TPI (Total PerformanceIndex) list – at just £18 each.

The bull has the addedattraction of offering outcrossbloodlines, which will bewelcomed by Holstein breederscurrently overrun with sons ofOman, Goldwyn and Shottle.

CM is sired by the new sireof sons, Jeweled Acres Sharky(Ricecrest Brett x Pen-Col Emery),and his dam is an EX91 ComestarOutside daughter whichcompleted a second lactation of16,000kg at 4.2% fat and 3.6%protein (305 days).

His PTA (Predicted TransmittingAbility), which includes 686kgmilk and over 25kg fat, iscomplemented by long daughterlifespans (Lifespan Index +0.4),outstanding daughter fertility(Fertility Index +0.3), and easycalving (Direct Calving Ease +0.2).� Details on 0800 614 904 or visitwww.dairydaughters.co.uk

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ENVIROSYSTEMS has launched anew battery and mains operateddispenser for its slurry inoculant,SlurryBugs and SlurryBooster.

The inoculant is proven toimprove slurry nitrogen content bymore than 17%, according toKingshay, a figure which equatesto extra value of £2700 on a 200-cow herd over an eight-monthwinter period.

Suitable for storage facilities fornormal slurry or separated slurry

for herds of250 cows orabove, thedispensercarries two20-litredrumscontainingsufficient

inoculant to continually treat freshslurry prior to entering storage forthree months.� Details on 01772 860 085.

New slurry inoculant dispenser Kuhn ISOBUS compatibilityCOMPATIBILITY with the standardcontrol interface ISOBUS is now afeature on specific models withinKuhn’s Axis 50.1 W and Axis 40.1W twin-disc spreader ranges.

Models in both ranges areavailable with and without the CCI100 control box, offering flexiblesolutions whether tractors are pre-fitted with ISOBUS or not.

The Axis 50.1 W, which includesintegral weigh facilities and – witha 2000-litre base unit plus 2000-

litre hopper extension – canoperate with a payload of 4000kg.

The 40.1 W has a 1200-litre basecapacity and a 3000kg loadcapacity with hopper extensions.

The Telimat automatic borderspreading limiter is now fitted asstandard on both these machines.

The range offers working widthsfrom 12m to 36m and hoppercapacities from 1200 to 4000 litres.� Details 01952 239 300 or [email protected]

**DF Feb p36 New Prods 26/1/12 11:32 Page 1


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DF_02_P37 27/1/12 12:01 Page 21


MILK PRICES

Milk PricesMilk price analyst StephenBradley comments on the latest milk industry developments.

Despite Müller’s 0.5ppl cutfrom Feb’12, some ofthe heat has been takenout of dairy commodityprices and the focus is

on hopes for price stability. This month our league table

looks a bit different as wereview how well our league tablemilk prices have performedcompared with basic commodityreturns over the last two years.We have compared this month’srolling 12mth to Nov’11 priceswith same period to Nov’09.

The latter period encompassesmilk price cuts in 2008/09 after thelast commodity price boom in2007. We have also carried out thesame analysis on the averageAMPE for the two periods.

The average AMPE figure(bottom of the table) of 21.1ppl inthe year to Nov’08 rose 11.1ppl to32.2ppl in the year to Nov’11. Thiscompares with the simple averageleague table milk price of 24.34ppland 26.96ppl respectively, anincrease of just 2.62ppl.

This month we have highlightedthe increases by individual buyers.In most cases, those with a productportfolio more closely aligned tothe commodity markets have beenin a better position to pay largerincreases over the two year period.

NI United Dairy Farmers toppedthe ranks with an increase of8.96ppl, followed by Saputo UK,up 4.87ppl. Arla Foods producersswitching from standard contractsto Sainsbury’s also saw increasesabove 4ppl.

Milk Link catches the eye at thetop end of the table withmanufacturing contracts up morethan 4ppl, with liquid at 3.9ppl.

Buyers managing to beat thetable average of 2.62ppl includeFirst Milk Manufacturing, SouthCaernarfon and Glanbia Llangefni,all with increases above 3ppl. FirstMilk liquid and Wyke Farms withParkham Farms paid the average.

Mid-ranking increases includeDairy Crest Sainsbury’s andDavidstow on 2.46ppl and 2.44pplrespectively, with Arla Foods Asdamanaging 2.33ppl. Our RobertWiseman producer moving to TheCo-op Dairy Group contract saw a2.27ppl rise, beating fellowsuppliers in JS contracts at 2.09ppl.

Premium price payers took thelower half rankings, with the likesof Robert Wiseman and DairyCrest liquid contracts postingincreases of 1.7ppl to 1.8pplrespectively, while Arla Foods Non-aligned came in at 1.96ppl.

The increase paid by Waitroseat 1.17ppl has not kept pace withM&S at 2.22ppl, which is why M&Snow tops our normal league bysome considerable margin.

Dairy Crest’s Milk & More rose1.15ppl, including a 1ppladditional bonus paid from Apr’11after doorstep milk prices werepushed up by more than 10ppl.

Cadbury’s price paid to SelkleyVale had the lowest rise of 0.57ppl.We doubt they will be searchingfor sympathy, having just received1.48ppl from Jan’12, taking ourstandard price above 30ppl.

Price increases ■ MILK price rises for Nov’11included Lactalis raising itsCaledonian price by 1.23ppl,taking our standard litre(4%b/f, 3.3% prot, bactoscansof 30,000/ml, SCCs of200,000/ml, 1mltrs/yr on EODCand before seasonality) up to28.93ppl. Milk Link increased0.5ppl to 28.5ppl on liquidand manufacturing contracts,while Wensleydale DairyProducts added a further0.26ppl, taking their price to28.49ppl.

NEWS IN BRIEF

AMPE jumps 11.1p asmilk price up 2.62ppl

The Labour Saver

Completely eliminates the back-achingtasks of forking ‘nosed out’ Silage

back to the feed barrier.Front or rear mounted models available

Rear model is used in reverse to clear the way for the tractor wheels.

HARELAND ENGINEERINGTelephone/Fax: (01323) 841227www.harelandengineering.co.uk

In just 30 seconds the nosed-out silagealong 200 feet of feed barrier is back

within easy reach of the feeding stock.

**DF Feb p38 39 Milk Prices 26/1/12 16:15 Page 1

MILK PRICES


Profit from our knowledgeSee a video of them in action visit www.opico.co.ukOPICO Ltd, Bourne, Lincs. Tel: 01778 421111. Email: [email protected]

A spring and autumn pass with the OPICO SWARD SLITTER toalleviate compaction in the topsoil caused by her 1,600 sheep hassignificantly improved the quality of grassland, says Julie Brown,flock shepherd at Thornborough Farm.Aerating the soil has improved nutrient uptake and prevented waterlogging. Digging a soil profile has revealed a better soil structure withbetter grass root growth and a vast reduction of soil mottling. Theflock is also benefiting from better quality pastures which helpsmaintain our stocking rate and supports outdoor lambing.

Two ways to better Grassland next Spring

OPICO SWARD SLITTER

OPICO SWARD LIFTERRemoving the compaction and improving the soil structure of claysoils in autumn has helped enhance grass root development andwater drainage. Our cows now benefit from an earlier turnout whichin turn helps lower my feed costs.Comparing fields that had not been sward lifted with those thathad, quickly convinced me that sward lifting should become aroutine operation. The difference is remarkable.

NEW“Our pastures are providingfar more forage.”ME Bell, Thornborough Farm, Corbridge,Northumberland

“Swards look greener and healthierafter sward lifting.”

Derek Garrett, Park Mill Farms, Thornbury, Bristol

Nov’11 Nov’11 12mth 12mth Diff

4.0/3.3 4.0/3.3 Ave Ave Nov’09

Before 1mltr Dec’10 Dec’08 v

Seas’lty SAPP Nov’11 Nov’09 Nov’11

(ii) **(iii) (iv) (ppl)

United Dairy Farmers ≠ 28.81 28.80 27.50 18.85 8.65

Saputo UK – Level supply # 28.21 28.21 26.39 21.52 4.87

Saputo UK – Seasonal # 27.91 29.41 26.09 21.22 4.87

Arla Foods – AFMP Sainsbury’s •• 30.33 30.32 28.42 24.18 4.24

Milk Link – Manufacturing ¢• 28.51 28.50 26.38 22.23 4.15

Milk Link Rodda’s ¢• 28.91 28.90 26.76 22.72 4.04

Milk Link – London Liquid 28.50 28.49 26.73 22.83 3.90

Milk Link – West Country Liquid 28.50 28.49 26.73 22.83 3.90

South Caernarfon 28.02 29.01 25.86 22.11 3.75

First Milk – Cheese § 27.50 29.20 25.39 21.92 3.47

First Milk Balancing § 27.50 29.20 25.37 21.92 3.45

Glanbia – Llangefni (flat) 27.85 28.11 26.09 23.00 3.09

Glanbia – Llangefni (Constituent) 27.78 28.04 26.00 23.00 3.00

First Milk – Liquid § 27.90 29.63 25.54 22.62 2.92

Wyke Farms 29.00 29.00 27.13 24.22 2.91

Parkham Farms 28.82 30.81 26.59 23.97 2.62

D.C – Sainsbury’s 30.79 32.83 28.78 26.32 2.46

Paynes Farms Dairies 28.45 28.45 26.33 23.88 2.45

D.C – Davidstow ∞ 28.99 31.03 27.48 25.04 2.44

First Milk – Highlands & Islands § 27.97 29.69 25.90 23.54 2.36

Arla Foods – Asda•• 29.23 29.22 27.51 25.18 2.33

Meadow Foods – Seasonal 28.38 29.38 26.22 23.95 2.27

RWD – The Co-op Dairy Group 29.78 31.28 26.90 24.63 2.27

Wensleydale Dairy Products 28.49 28.50 26.87 24.64 2.23

D.C – M&S ∞ 32.10 33.62 29.79 27.57 2.22

Belton Cheese 27.80 27.80 26.20 24.09 2.11

Meadow Foods – Level 28.38 28.38 26.06 23.95 2.11

Caledonian Cheese Co – Profile ‡ 29.56 29.43 27.32 25.22 2.10

Arla Foods – AFMP Standard •• 28.48 28.47 26.28 24.18 2.10

Caledonian Cheese Co 28.93 28.93 26.71 24.62 2.09

RWD – Sainsbury’s Central Scotland 30.53 32.03 28.70 26.61 2.09

RWD – Sainsbury’s England 30.53 32.03 28.70 26.61 2.09

Barber A.J & R.G 28.61 28.61 27.12 25.09 2.03

Arla Foods – AFMP (Non-Aligned) •• 28.73 28.72 26.53 24.57 1.96

Joseph Heler 27.99 27.99 25.98 24.03 1.95

RWD – Tesco Scotland 30.21 31.71 29.40 27.56 1.84

RWD – Tesco England 30.21 31.71 29.40 27.56 1.84

Meadow Foods Lakes ∞^ 28.46 28.38 26.16 24.33 1.83

Robert Wiseman – Aberdeen 28.43 29.93 26.45 24.63 1.82

Robert Wiseman – Central Scotland 28.43 29.93 26.45 24.63 1.82

Robert Wiseman – England 28.43 29.93 26.45 24.63 1.82

Arla Foods – Tesco •• 29.96 29.96 29.18 27.37 1.81

D.C – Liquid Regional Premium ∞ ¶ 28.61 30.65 26.39 24.62 1.77

Blackmore Vale Farm Cream 28.65 28.65 26.86 25.22 1.64

D.C – Waitrose ∞^ 31.09 32.62 28.91 27.74 1.17

Grahams Dairies 28.60 28.60 26.63 25.47 1.16

D.C – Liquid Milk & More ∞ ¶ 27.80 29.84 25.77 24.62 1.15

Cadbury – Selkley Vale Milk 28.56 28.56 27.69 27.12 0.57

Average Price 28.86 29.60 26.96 24.34 2.62

12mth rolling AMPE - - 32.20 21.10 11.10

Notes to tablePrices paid for 1mltr producer supplying milk of average constituents 4% butterfat and 3.3% protein, SCCs of200,000/ml and Bactoscans of 30,000/ml on EODC excluding capital retentions and MDC levies. SAPP = SeasonallyAdjusted Profile Price. (ii) Nov’11 prices before seasonality. (iii) Seasonally adjusted profile price for Nov’11 takinginto account monthly seasonality payments and profiles of supply. ** Seasonal adjusted profile supply for 1mltrsupplier (using monthly RPA figures) for Nov’11=2,682ltrs/day, flat supply=2,740ltrs/day. (iv) Table ranked on theseasonally adjusted price for the 12mths to Nov’11.§ SAPP reflects 80% of producer’s previous year’s daily averagevolume (2,269ltrs/day) paid as a core price with the remaining marginal volume (413ltrs/day for Nov’11) priced @140% of the core price for Nov’11. ¢ SAPP reflects 2,726ltrs (Aug to Dec’10 daily average) paid as ‘A’ ltrs with theremaining ‘B’ ltrs paid @ 130% of the ‘A’ price (ie constituents plus Market Related Adjustment) for Nov’11. • No‘B’ litres/day applicable for Nov’11 with daily volume of 2,682ltrs/day below the ‘A’ volume of 2,726ltrs. 0.5pplproduction bonus for Milk Link & First Milk applicable in the seasonal price due to Nov’11 daily production aboveOct’10 based on RPA monthly figures. •• No balancing charge for Nov’11.∞ Price before seasonality includes12mth rolling profile payment of 1.21ppl to Nov’11 (n/c from the previous month). Milk & More 12mth rollingprofile payment also 1.21ppl.∞^ Price before seasonality includes 12mth rolling profile payment of 0.57ppl toNov’11 (n/c on previous month). # Constituent payments priced by volume. ≠ Seasonality built into monthly baseprice. Arla Foods-AFMP Standard reflects price before the addition of 0.25ppl Non-Aligned Farm Premium. ¶ Priceincludes 0.4ppl Regional Premium. ‡ Non-seasonal price includes 12mth average rolling profile 0.63ppl to Nov’11(unchanged on previous month). Tesco milk prices include the 0.5ppl bonus for co-operation with Promar costings.Milkprices.com cannot take any responsibility for losses arising. Copyright:Milkprices.com

**DF Feb p38 39 Milk Prices 26/1/12 16:16 Page 2


WORKSHOP TIPS

This month Mike Donovan takes a look at how one producer cured theproblem of his tractor’s weak three-point linkage.

MikeDonovanMike is a respected machinery columnist whogives us useful tips on building or modifying ourown farm equipment. Sign upfor his free newsletter atwww.farmideas.co.uk

Linkage repairs thatkeep tractor working

Dairy farmers are good atcoping when things gowrong, and part of thereason must be that,like the Windmill

Theatre, the show must go on. If something fails to work, thedairyman will get it going – oneway or another.

This article is a good illustrationof that, and this novel solutioncan be usefully applied to a largenumber of farms.

Take, for example, a Case 895which had a weakness in thethree-point linkage. The link armshad needed repair andstrengthening, and on twooccasions the check chains hadbroken – each time, of course,when the tractor was carrying aheavy implement.

Repairs simply returned themachine to usable condition, untilthe next occasion when theweakness was re-discovered.

The tractor is preferred to

others for spraying and fertilisingboth grassland and arable cropsbecause it is sufficiently powerful,well balanced and, moreimportantly, lightweight. Thedamage from heavy machinery,even when running on wide, low

pressure tyres, rises exponentially. Soil compaction in grassland is

an expensive problem and it is farbetter to keep the weight off theland in the first place.

Check chains With check chains having a historyof breaking, link arms that flexalarmingly, and a linkage liftwhich drops and then jerks itselfback into position, the tractorback end either needed a majorre-build – which may itself lastonly a few years – or havesomething different, butworkable, done.

The result was simple, andinvolved no work on theunreliable parts. Instead, thefarmer built a link arm supportwhich rests on the drawbar, usingheavy box section and steel plate.

The support is fixed with adrawbar pin in the clevis, and theends of the lift arms rest on a

steel support, which is angled andhas a lip on the side to preventthe arm from slipping off.

This simple solution to theproblem of weak check chainsand a worn lift cylinder creates atractor and implement that hascompletely different handlingcharacteristics. The two machinesare locked together to make onesolid whole.

As the tractor sways down arutted lane, the sprayer orfertiliser spreader stays entirelystationary on the linkage.

OK, I accept the linkage bar hasits limitations, and of course it isless useful for a machine thatneeds to lifted out of workcontinually, such as a haybob, orone which needs a floatingposition such as a cultivator, butthese are of less danger andsignificance.

Yet where it can be applied, thebar has real benefits on the wearand strain on the tractor.

With the weight of theimplement partly supported bythe drawbar rather thanhydraulics, further damage to thecylinder is unlikely, and damageto the check chains does nothappen.

The support bar is heavily built and designed to match the linkagewidth of the sprayer, and has lips to prevent the arms slipping off.

The lightweight Case handles a heavy sprayer with no problems withthis linkage modification.

**DF Feb p40 Donovan 26/1/12 14:07 Page 1


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Ihave never liked farmassurance, but I alwaysthought it was a price whichwe had to pay for the BSEdebacle.

I never felt personally respons-ible for BSE but farm assurance,and in particular traceability, wasan almost inevitable result. To befair, it came on a background ofthat poor thin cow slipping abouton concrete on television screensmost nights, linked to direwarnings about how many peoplewould die as a result.

Fortunately these stories havegone, like BSE, and we all givethanks for that. But farmassurance hasn’t gone. It hascreated a little industry whichnurtures itself, so it grows andgrows. ‘Shoulds’ become ‘musts’with regularity and nowhere doesthis manifest itself more than indedicated supermarket contracts.

I know farmers on thosecontracts who are heartily sick ofit all and who are starting toquestion if the premium they getis worth the hassle. The retailerssay it is all driven by whatconsumers want, but most of theirconsumers don’t even knowwhere milk comes from so howcan they possibly have an opinionabout how it is produced? So theextra standards demanded bysupermarkets are dreamt up bytwo groups of people – welfaregroups and, yes, the people whodo the farm assurance inspections.All paid for by you and me.

If those farmers on supermarketcontracts go back to a non-aligned contract, it could be thestart of a fight back by all of us. Iwish somebody in the NFUelections would champion this as Ireckon it could take them a longway. One thing is for sure, if we asfarmers don’t say enough isenough, it will grow and growand nothing will stop it, and if wedon’t do something we will onlyhave ourselves to blame.

As I write it’s early January. The

outside temperature indicator onmy truck tells me it’s 10 degC andI’m in my top field. It’s got to behigh up because just over thehedge in my neighbour’s field is atelevision mast which serves thelocal area.

In my field there is an ash treein the hedge andunderneath it is oneof those ordnancesurvey stones whichtells me it is at 984ft.The field is 25 acresand it is sown downto stubble turnipswhich we put in afterwinter wheat. It’s not a goodcrop of stubble turnips becauseit’s been too dry since they weredrilled. There’s no bulbs on theturnips but quite good leaf.

Lying in the corner of the fieldare 20 dry cows. They are alllying down cudding and lookfull and content. It isn’t alwayslike this up here. Two days ago itwas freezing cold in a gale andwith hail which felt it would cutyou in two. But if that weathercomes back the cows can retreatdown a track to better shelter.

What is important to me isthat the cows are fit and content,and in improving condition.What is important as well is that

they are harvesting what goes inat one end and taking care ofwhat comes out of the otherend. I don’t have to gather it up,cart it about and spread it.

These dry cows have only beenhere three days, prior to thatthey have been on 20 acres of

grass for threeweeks. Thisgrass shouldhave been afourth cut ofsilage but timehas gone onand once againthey harvested

it themselves.They had a ring feeder of

wholecrop wheat on two snowydays but otherwise nothing else.It has been wet but they havedone no damage. We have hadto do things like this because oneof our silage clamps looks sadlyempty.

We have eight heifers whichwere too small to go to the bullwith the latest batch and theyhave spent the autumn tidyingup new seeds, nothing else, andimproved. Stuff like this iscommonplace on what we callgrazing dairy farms. We canlearn a lot from them, we maynot all be able to farm like that

but we can pull the best bitsout. It cuts costs and itencourages us to try things wehave not tried before.

Everything which we havecome to do conventionally overrecent years is now hugely moreexpensive and so we have to testourselves to do things differentlyand at lower cost wherever wecan. Like most things it has aname, a label, and its name in thiscase is sustainability. It is selfexplanatory, but will what we dosustain our dairy business in thelong term? What we have beendoing probably won’t. So if wespend less of our time cartingstuff in for our cows to eat, andwe spend less of our time cartingthe muck back out, we’ll probablybe better off, and being better offincludes a better lifestyle.

I have been thinking. There isa young lad in our village whohas a few pedigree Texel ewes.The last two years he’s lambedthem in the out-buildings at thepub. A perfect place. Everyonewho went out for a smokewould have a look over thegate. There is always a fairnumber of farmers in the pub ifassistance was needed. Thelandlady in the pub wouldcosset them by day and visitthem every hour by night. Buthe’s rented some buildings thisyear further away. So why don’tI calve my cows there?

Some of my dry cows are inbuildings I rent in the nextvillage so they come home tocalve in a trailer and have to gopast the pub anyway. The more Ithink about it the more I like it.‘Where are you going at thistime of night?’ ‘Going to see ifanything is calving.’ ‘Why haveyou got changed?’

Could be expensive but themild winter so far means Ihaven’t spent all my winter fuelallowance yet, and anyhow theydon’t say what sort of fuel youhave to spend it on!


GOOD EVANS

This month Roger Evans tells us why we must all make a stand against the ever growing assurance industry,and why he thinks housing his down-calving heifers near the pub could definitely have its attractions.

Why I’m definitely not thebiggest farm assurance fan

If we as farmers don’tsay enough is enough, itwill grow and grow andnothing will stop it.

**DF Feb p44 Good Evans 26/1/12 11:42 Page 1

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Alistair Vanstone, Devon - 200 cows

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Fabdec WP DF 26/1/12 13:52 Page 1

Treat everyday mastitis with Metacam.

LIVES ARE AT STAKE.

†20mg/ml *Penethamate hydriodide. Reference: 1. McDougall et al. J. Dairy Sci (2009) 92:4421-4431.2. Bryan, M.A. BCVA 2009 presentation, Southport. Based on Dairy Co. Datum 2009.Advice on theuse of Metacam or other therapies should be sought from your veterinary surgeon. Metacam containsmeloxicam. Prescription only medicine. Further information available from Boehringer IngelheimVetmedica, Bracknell, Berkshire, RG12 8YS, UK. Email: [email protected] of preparation: Jun 2011. AHD6758. Use Medicines Responsibly (www.noah.co.uk/responsible).

www.mastitis.co.uk/metacamCattle

A large scale (n=727) landmark study clearly demonstrates that routine use of Metacam† with an antibiotic,* to treat farmer-diagnosed mastitis, significantly reduces somatic cell counts and culling rates.1 With proven financial benefits,2 can anyone afford NOT to include Metacam in their mastitis treatments now?

Long-acting treatment. Longer-life milkers.

Boehringer WP DF 26/1/12 12:12 Page 1

Dairy Farmer Digital Edition Feb 2012

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