Customer Testimonials
Hinton St Mary, Dorset
A dairy farm’s diet feeder must count as being the farm’s most used machine. No luxury of being parked for a few months under the barn alongside such seasonal implements as mowers or balers – the diet feeder is required to work every day of the year. And the demands on diet feeders can only become greater as dairy herds become progressively larger and adopt a permanent housing policy. The feeding regime employed by Hinton St Mary Estate for its 400-cow dairy herd – plus 225 followers – is typical perhaps of modern dairy farm looking to maximise production and profitability. A Velcourt farm managed by Mark Harvey, the farmed area runs to about 1750 acres. Of this, 1000 acres is used for arable crop production and the remainder for grass and forage maize.
Joe Delves, Sussex
At 27 years of age Joe Delves with his wife Becky must be amongst the youngest to be farming within the area. In 2005 Joe took over responsibility from his father Andy, farming 230 acres of tenanted and owned land at Burnt House Farm, Horam in East Sussex. This being the third generation of the Delves farming family. It was back in 1947 when Grandfather Ron met Joyce, a land girl out of London who he later married, at this time the herd consisted of eight cows. As expected circumstances have changed with the herd now at 187, increasing to 250 in the very near future.
Gordon Mitchell, Carlisle
The ability of the Shelbourne Powermix Pro to produce a good accurate, quality mix was not in question, for one Cumbria dairy farmer – it was the feed out elevator that was the real attraction. For Gordon Mitchell it was the feed out elevator on the Shelbourne Reynolds Powermix Pro 16m Diet Feeder that clinched the deal, he insists. "I had no doubt that the mixer could cope with work we wanted it to do but it was essential it could deliver the feed into our trough feeding system," he says. "And that required an elevator." Based at Ranghton Head, Dalston, Carlisle, Mr Mitchell and his brother farm about 1200 acres which is spread between two farms. The main enterprise on both farms is milk production with one herd numbering 200 cows and the other 280 cows.
Powermix Pro Feeder Wagon
Richard Park, Kendal, Cumbria
Powermix Pro Feeder Wagon
Low Sizergh farm, near Kendal, just south of the Lake District National Park, is a busy place – not just because there are 150 cows which need to be milked three times a day, but also because there is a farm shop and tea room which draws in over 150,000 visitors a year.
In charge of the farm, is Richard Park who exudes an energy and enthusiasm for his dairy herd that overcomes all suggestion that three times a day milking can be pretty demanding.
David Armstrong with the Powermix Pro
Aldbourne Chase Farm, Marlborough, Wilts
David Armstrong with the Powermix Pro
A high fibre content is now considered to be important part of a diet if feed efficiency is to be maximised. As such, it is essential that a diet feeder can process straw so that it becomes an integral part of the ration
The beef enterprise on Aldbourne Chase Farms managed by David Armstrong involves the running of 150 pedigree South Devons and 90 Angus x Holstein suckler cows.
Powermix Pro Popular
Peter and Robert Fare, Kirkham, Lancs
Powermix Pro Popular
The purchase of a Shelbourne Reynolds Powermix Popular diet feeder has created new opportunities for one Lancs-based dairy farm.
Peter and Robert Fare – a father and son team who run a 110-cow dairy herd near Kirkham, Lancashire – clearly believe that to get the best performance from their cows requires care, compassion and attention to detail. And it is a formula that appears to be working well.
Powermix Pro 22cum Feeder Wagon
Hartpury College, Gloucestershire
Powermix Pro 22cum Feeder Wagon
Milk is big business for Gloucestershire-based Hartpury College – a college which majors in providing education and training to the land based animal science and sports sectors.
With a herd of 450 cows housed, fed and milked in the very centre of the college farm’s educational activities there is perhaps, a greater emphasis on getting the job right than for dairy herds based say, in less exposed situations.
Powermix Pro 13m Popular
Furtho Manor Farm, Milton Keynes
Powermix Pro 13m Popular
Having a mixer wagon capable of producing properly formulated rations which enable livestock to fully utilise the nutritional value of feed is clearly essential – particularly when the cost of feed is now so high.
A member of a family partnership, Robin Welton runs a herd of 270 cows at Furtho Manor Farm, which is near Old Stratford, Milton Keynes. The farm itself runs to 300 acres of which just over a third is used for the production of forage maize with remainder down to grass.
3C & ME
When four dairy farmers wanted to cut their feeding costs they decided to purchase a mixer wagon and a tractor and share the running costs between them. Should you ever come face to face with a farming co-operative called the 3C & ME don't hesitate to inquire how it acquired such a name. You will be told, hopefully, that it is formed by taking the first letter of four Wiltshire villages - Calstone, Cherhill, Compton Bassett and Mile Elm. And before you can ask why, some one will tell you that in each of these four villages there is a member of the co-operative who has a dairy farm and has a part share in the running of a mixer wagon. 3C & ME was formed four years ago by a group of dairy farmers who were anxious to reduce their feed costs - not by what they fed their cows but with what they used to feed them with.
Evershot Farms, Dorset, UK.
As dairy herds get bigger their reliance on mixer wagons to provide accurately mixed rations becomes ever greater. Further more they need to be able to do it day after day. We take a look at two of Velcourt's Dorset-based dairy farms which opted to use large twin auger machines. Maximising milk yields - but not at the expense of extra cost - is the aim of many of the UK's dairy farms. It is a message not lost on two of Velcourt's dairy units based in Dorset - one at Melbury and the other an hour's drive away in Abbotsbury.
Glympton Farms, Glympton, Reading, Berkshire, UK
The Glympton herd of pedigree Aberdeen Angus cattle is well known in the world of cattle breeding. But such respect does not come without a great deal of skilled selective breeding, top class management and attention to matters of the diet The word immaculate is not a word to be used loosely or indeed where words with greater accuracy can be employed - such as neat and tidy. But for the stock section of Glympton Farms, with its acres of concrete, modern cattle housing and cosseted inhabitants, immaculate on this occasion would appear to be an entirely appropriate word.
Julian Taylor, Harleston, Norfolk, UK
A Combination of breeding and feeding has seen Julian Taylor's Norfolk based dairy herd move from fifth to the number-one slot for Norfolk in the latest NMR Annual Production Report rankings.
This puts the herd right among the top production names in the national rankings- it's now in 12th place.
Julian runs his 120-cow herd plus 100 followers, at Starston, near Harleston, with help from herd manager Trevor Collier. He has seen production increase from 10,929 Kg of milk at 3.67 per cent fat and 3.19 per cent protein for the year ended September 2004, to 11,508Kg of milk at 3.83 per cent fat and 3.11 per cent protein for the year ended September 2005. This is the first time his herd has made it into the NMR top 1 per cent nationally based on production.
Maple Durhum Estate, Reading, Bershire, UK
Let's face it, adding ingredients to a mixer wagon to a required weight is not easy. Mistakes can happen and, as a result, milk yields can fall. For a large dairy unit near Reading it was a problem that needed solving. While it is everyone's intention to add the correct amount of each ingredient to a mixer wagon when creating a diet, the reality is that mistakes happen and, for dairy rations at least, milk yield can be adversely affected.
