2013 Farmers Weekly Dairy finalists revealed

David Morton

Auchinbay Farm, Ochiltree, Ayrshire

Farming in the west of Scotland means David Morton is blessed with around 175cm of rain a year – ideal grass conditions for an ambitious dairyman.

David, 41, has wanted to milk cows and grow his own business from a very young age and has fulfilled his dream through hard work and a strong desire to grab every opportunity.

This resourceful father of two has expanded quickly and now has 230 milking cows and 350 youngstock in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty at Auchinbay Farm, Ochiltree, Ayrshire.

The original family business, managed by his father Wilson, began on the edge of Ochiltree village at Low Carston Farm.

This farmhouse and 16ha of land were sold more than 20 years ago to fund the purchase of Auchinbay, which had more land, a modern dairy unit and scope to accommodate more cows.

David and his wife Gillian have never looked back and have been able to buy and sell more neighbouring land and purchase Barturk Farm next door since then. This latest acquisition has added 60ha, two silage pits and a house, which delivers good rental income. More importantly, the extra acres have increased production of home-grown fodder, silage, wheat and barley and led to an increase yield of 600 litres a cow.

The business overall now operates on 200ha (both owned and rented) and employs one full-time and three part-time employees. The breeding policy is a combination of using artificial insemination and well-bred bulls and the farm has recently joined the Genus GMS Mating programme. His cows are achieving an average of 9,100 litres a cow – moving to 10,000 litres – from three-times-a-day milking. All milk is sold to a dairy in Stirling called Graham’s.

“I have a high-quality, non-pedigree herd,” says David. “When selecting bulls, I always purchase from cow families that have members who have produced at least 100t of milk, either from the dam or grand dam. The reason is to obtain a herd of longer-lasting cows that have inherited good fertility combined with longevity and health traits.”

David upgraded the Auchinbay Farm parlour last year to improve efficiency and this year has installed a new 10,000-litre tank to handle the increase in milk yield and allow for further expansion. A calf feeder was introduced last autumn to speed up weight gain. His strategy has always been to manage costs tightly by sharing machinery, forward buying of inputs and contracting out some jobs where possible. A five-year plan to cut energy use is also under way with the focus on lighting and renewables.

Communication and team development is important to David and key areas where he intends to improve skills will be in dry cow management, AI and foot-trimming

Future goals include cutting calving intervals to under 400 days by using heat detection equipment, building a new rotary parlour and installing cow tracks.

David and Gillian have two young sons, Jack and Jamie, and are determined to have plenty of family time too. David is heavily involved in the local agricultural show, enjoys rugby and golf and is current chairman of the village school reunion group.

He says he feels proud of his farming roots and what he has achieved since taking over the family business. “I have a lot of passion. I’m in a job I love and I would never change being a dairy farmer. I couldn’t ask for more than this,” he says.

Charles Reader

Cloisters Farm, Brackley, Northamptonshire

The Jersey breed has been a lifelong passion for Charles Reader who has combined his pedigree focus with a steely determination to think commercially.

From the Barnowl Jersey Stud at Brackley, Northamptonshire, Charles and his wife Frances have built up a profitable business since moving from a county council tenancy to become owner-occupiers almost 20 years ago. The enterprise, which is on 82ha of limestone brash, comprises 90 milkers and followers and has seen an 18.4% rise in profit in four years as a result of careful cost control.

Forward buying of feed, zero interest on financing of machines, solar panels and membership of a buying group all keep expenditure down and have enabled Charles to invest in a few essentials.

Up until a year ago, the Readers were planning for retirement, but their son Andrew now wants to come back to the farm and so the outlook is about scaling up.

More cattle have been bought and a new workshop/livestock yard built to prepare for Andrew leaving his driving job and getting more involved in the business. A website, www.barnowljerseys.co.uk, has also been created to help with profile and marketing. The next area requiring attention will be the milking parlour, which is 24 years old, and in need of updating. Charles works full-time on the farm and a self-employed farmworker helps part-time, while Frances is the administrator as well as her job as an exercise instructor.

The breeding policy is based on producing Jerseys with a high solids percentage. The Jersey breed is starting to follow the Holsteins with excessively straight back legs and now frailty is being mistaken for dairyness. Charles has managed to avoid this by careful selection of bulls and matching them to specific females. This is something he is well placed to do as one of the top interbreed judges who has worked with the classifiers for many years.

Welfare of his stock is paramount and a DairyCo herd health plan is in place. Disease control measures are taken seriously with all cow purchases subject to pre-movement testing for TB, BVD, IBR and Johne’s. His calving policy involves using frozen clean colostrum to supplement the calf if needed.

Turnout is usually early- to mid-April, but unlike many herds, he rarely sees a increase in yield at turnout. He is achieving just over 7,000 litres a cow compared with a general Jersey herd average of 5,545 litres on a milk price average of 32.35p/litre from Arla.

Although he no longer farms organically, Charles prefers to manage his part-owned and part-rented land as best he can without artificial fertilisers. Limited water supplies in some areas of his farm have made life difficult

Yet these challenges have not deterred him from participation in research projects that benefit other Jersey breeders. Charles is currently supporting a science initiative at the University of Reading to explore the suitability of Jersey milk for cheddar cheesemaking, either on its own or blended.

Charles and Frances believe sound business ethics are vital to their success – looking after the cows, being fair to suppliers and supporting the wider industry.

“I am optimistic about the future,” said Charles. “I have always thought the breed comes first and we have been determined to put the Jersey on the map as a commercial cow.”

And there is plenty of evidence that he has done just that. Charles has represented the Jersey breed on virtually every trade organisation, hosted the World Jersey Cattle Bureau Conference Tour and been involved in dairying experiences for young people globally. He is on the NFU Regional Milk Committee and has just enjoyed his time as chief steward at the Livestock Event in Birmingham.

Hugh McClymont

Crichton Royal Farm, Dumfries

It cannot be easy delivering excellence in dairy farming while under the scrutiny of industry and academia, but that’s exactly what Hugh McClymont is doing at the Crichton Royal Farm, Dumfries.

This unique farm is a dairy research centre owned by the Scottish Rural College (SRUC) and Hugh has been its research farm manager for 11 years.

He is responsible for the overall management of 310ha on a tenanted holding, which includes two separate dairy units (at Acrehead and Crichton) with 510 cows and 310 youngstock. He also grows grass, maize, wheat, red clover, spring beans and lucerne.

The Crichton Estate was built as a psychiatric hospital in the 1830s and a farm was established to provide work and food for its mental health patients. The farm’s original listed buildings are still used today by Hugh and his team of seven full-time and seven part-time staff.

Hugh has been involved with Crichton since 1979 when he left agricultural college for his first job as a herdsman. He later got promoted to farm foreman, assistant farm manager and finally research farm manager. Remarkably, he is as enthusiastic about the place as the day he started, even as his work and role continues to change.

Running a high-performing dairy operation is key and over the past five years Hugh has grown the business through herd expansion by renting more neighbouring land and investing in a new milking parlour.

As part of a five-year research project, two new milk production systems have been introduced at the main unit at Crichton. Hugh has 100 cows on feeds bought from a by-product source, plus another 100 cows that are totally fed from the farm with only minerals and vitamins bought in. Both systems have created a lot of interest from the dairy sector as they evaluate the pros and cons. Other research studies include cow behaviour, genetics, feeding trials and greenhouse gas emissions.

Hugh has managed to increase efficiency on farm by reducing reliance on nitrogen fertiliser from 130t 10 years ago to less than 50t today. No P and K has been bought for more than eight years as a result of introducing a mobile slurry separation system.

Every year he challenges a different bit of the business to tighten costs. The vet bill has been cut by £10,000 and this year its focus is power and machinery spending.

Animal welfare is one of Hugh’s strongest cards and he has been exploring new ways of calf rearing with large igloos to make the most of open ventilation.

Flexibility is fundamental to this research environment where there are two dairy systems, so developing a technically capable, talented team is essential to his success. Both dairy units are on a three-times-a-day milking regime, which suits the contract with Arla.

Environmental management and leadership are also high on his agenda as the farm is a Leaf Innovation Centre. As chair of the Maize Growers Association, Hugh has organised a trip to southern Ireland this summer to better understand growing maize under plastic. He is passionate about educating consumers and children about farming and is a local director of the Royal Highland Education Trust. It is a wonder his wife, Christine, and teenage twins Ben and Lucy see him at all.

While the Crichton Royal Farm is no normal dairy enterprise, Hugh aspires to continually improve performance. His labour and power costs, compared with those of the average dairy farm, are high as there is no family labour. Rent charged by the Scottish government is also higher due to its research status. Despite the competing demands, Hugh farms it as if it is his own business, and is constantly looking to the future.