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.
"Our breeding policy has changed during the past 10 years and we're now seeing the results of our efforts, particularly since we began feeding the herd with a TMR to help maximise its genetic potential," says Julian.
Breeding has moved away from using one stud. Herd manager Trevor now looks across all the bulls that are available when making his selections.
"He's looking for type, particularly feet, legs and udders. Production is no longer an issue now that the herd is averaging more than 11,000 litres, so we don't set a minimum when selecting bulls" he says.
Favourites in the AI flask at the moment include Mesland Duplex and Comestar Stormatic. "We use the right bull for each cow - I match them myself. And we have up to eight different bulls in the flask at any one time," says Trevor. "We're trying to breed a cow that will eat a huge amount of feed, will milk well and last in the herd.
The key to feeding, according to Julian, Trevor and nutritional consultant Tanya Coleman is to keep it simple, Julian began feeding a complete diet after purchasing a Shelbourne Reynolds Powermix II 11m vertical diet feeder 3 years ago. The main ration comprises grass and maize silage, brewers grains and a blend. This ration provides maintenance plus 38 litres and is fed all year round, although the forage proportion is reduced slightly in the summer to allow for grazed grass. Concentrates are still fed to yield in the parlour, but to a maximum of just of just 2Kg.
"The ingredients in the ration haven't really changed. We're just feeding it in a simpler and more rumen-friendly way. We're getting higher dry matter intakes and better feed conversion efficiency as a result. In three years we've seen yields increase from around 8,000 litres to where they are today", says Julian.
"Butterfat is also up at 4.12 per cent and still rising".
Milk from his pedigree herd is sold to the East of England Co-operative Society on an ‘Exclusively East Anglian ‘ liquid milk contract.
"We were selected on the basis of our low somatic cell count and high standards of animal welfare, as well as for our proactive and ambitious approach to dairying," explains Julian.
Julian's next plan is for expansion. He has 50 heifers waiting to calve - each will average around 10,000 litres in their first lactation - and so he expects the herd to number 150 cows by March 2007. He also hopes to see the herd continue to move up through the NMR production rankings. "The progress we've made during the past few years has been phenomenal and I suspect that there's still a little more to come.