Putting some farming back into the CAP
Stuart Ward (Managing Director, EFA Solutions GmbH, Brussels, Belgium)
Ongoing changes to the CAP are supposed to simplify bureaucracy and let the farmer concentrate on what he is good at. Will the MTR give the professional milk producer the platform he needs to achieve this in the UK, or have the policy makers really lost the plot?
The Italian Job
Dott. Angelo Ghislandi (Owner/Manager of Ghislandi & Ghislandi S.r.l., Covo, Italy)
Italy: it's a country very different from UK but very similar in many aspects of dairy farming, like cow numbers per farm, intensive production, high production average, commercial conditions etc. In this environment UK genetics should perform well due to the reliability of UK figures and the similarity of conditions.
North American Dairy Producers Benefit From UK Dairy Genetics
Bob Holterman (Vice President of Marketing, Accelerated Genetics, Baraboo, Wisconsin, USA)
In September 2000 Accelerated Genetics and Cogent entered into an agreement that improved the availability of UK Semen in the U.S. and Latin America. The exchange of technology between the two companies such as Semen Sexing, MOET, and Genetic Markers has benefited each company. As a result of this strategic alliance, UK Genetics are now being used as a major source of genetic improvement in North America.
Test Day Model
Gordon Swanson (Technical Director, MDC Evaluations Ltd, Chippenham, Gloucestershire)
Test Day Model is a new method of calculating PTAs for Bulls and Cows. Test Day yields, recorded 4, 6 and 8 weekly by MROs are used in preference to 305 day yields. The benefits to UK farmers include an increase in accuracy of PTAs for cows and young bulls, new evaluations for persistency and PTAs split by lactation.
The UK Fertility Index
Professor Tony Flint (Professor of Animal Physiology, Sutton Bonnington Campus, University of Nottingham)
Failure to get cows in calf is expensive. To help identify bulls with more fertile daughters, the University of Nottingham, SAC Edinburgh and the Roslin Institute have produced bull proofs for fertility. We discuss their derivation, impact and application.
Herd Health in Action
Mike Kerby (Veterinary Surgeon [dairy cattle specialist], Delaware Veterinary Group, Castle Cary, Somerset)
Poor fertility is the single most important economic loss on UK dairy farms at an estimated cost of £130/cow/year. Regular, planned veterinary visits on a 100 cow herd demonstrated a cost benefit of 1.08 p/litre (£65.62/cow/year) when there was total control over service, and even 0.3p/litre when a bull ran with the herd.
Voluntary Milking – Fact or Fiction?
Gavin Dick (Farms Director, Mackies, Rothienorman, Aberdeenshire)
Do cows choose to milk themselves and what do we need to do to utilise this ability to produce milk cost effectively? We have answered part of this question within our 300 Jersey and 200 Holstein milking cows but have also discovered more questions to answer.
How Do We Get There From Here?
Richard Smith (Manager of Dairy Sire Selection, ABS Global Inc., DeForest, Wisconsin, USA)
Why is the industry so slow to address the problems of fertility, maturity patterns and inbreeding? Why are we so slow to abandon the faulty perceptions of the past? A candid perspective on dairy sire selection by a 30 year veteran of the global AI industry who has a passion for progress and who outlines what opportuinites lie ahead.
Operating My Food Business
Nick Tyler, NDA, dipAFM, MSL, MRAL (Managing Director, Kingsplay Farming Co. Ltd., Calne, Wiltshire)
I operate an 1800 acre farm milking 450 cows, running 350 beef cattle and 900 acres of arable. The paper discusses challenges of the dairy industry, how I hope to find opportunities and why I have invested heavily in a new 550 cow green field site unit. The new unit is based on California milking principles i.e. flood washing, rotary parlour, high yields etc.
Past, Present and Future
Nick Cobb (Farmer, North Ground Dairy, Dorchester, Dorset)
Nick Cobb is a 4th generation Dorset farmer, whose main enterprise is the 600 strong Chalclyffe Holstein Herd. Nick provides an overview of the past and current dairy business including how they arrived at their chosen system, their new building project and current breeding policy. He also provides his opinion on staffing and managing large herds in this country and what it means for their future.
To read the full papers you need to be a member of the British Cattle Breeders Club. Click here for more information.
