Holehouse herd scoops 2022 NMR RABDF Gold Cup award
The RABDF’s Di Wastenage (left) presents the 2022 Gold Cup award to Anne and Alistair Logan © MAG Charlotte Cunningham A high-tech approach to cow welfare and investment in renewable energy have earned an Ayrshire farming family a top dairy accolade.
The Logans were presented with the NMR RABDF 2022 Gold Cup – sponsored by the Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers (RABDF) and National Milk Records (NMR) – at Dairy-Tech, Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire, on 1 February.
See also: Meet the 2022 NMR RABDF Gold Cup finalists
The fifth-generation family farm in a partnership with Alex, Tom and Hugh, and Tom’s sons Alistair and Stuart, at Holehouse Farms, Kilbirnie, Ayrshire. Alistair, and his wife Anne, were at the event to collect the award.
Farm facts
Holehouse Farms, Kilbirnie, Ayrshire
- 1,930ha (4,767 acres)
- 280 pedigree Holstein cows, with the majority red and white, plus 160 suckler cows and followers, and 1,700 ewes
- Herd calves year round, housed indoors
- Average yield 10,500 litres at 4.10% butterfat and 3.40% protein
- Somatic cell count 115,000/ml
- Replacement rate 32%
- Calving interval 382 days
- Pregnancy rate 23%
- Mastitis rate 28%
Figures based on the qualifying year to September 2021
The farm is home to a 280-head pedigree Holstein herd, which are mainly red and white. Yield averages 10,500 litres at 4.1% butterfat and 3.4% protein. Milk from the year-round-calving herd is sold to Muller.
The use of technology and data to maximise cow welfare is one of the things that made the Logans stand out from the other finalists, as well as how they incorporate renewable energy into their system.
The farm is a net exporter of electricity via solar panels, a biomass boiler and a 950kW hydroelectric plant, and they have plans to install wind turbines next year.
The Logans believe this will help them progress and future-proof their business.
‘Exceptional performance’
Congratulating them on the win, NMR chairman Trevor Lloyd said: “For me, what characterises the winners is the level of exceptional performance that goes into running that business from every aspect – from technical ability to financial acumen and the ability to manage both animals and people.
“It’s genuinely inspirational and the winner represents the very best of our industry.”
The judges, the RABDF’s Di Wastenage and Peter Alvis, and 2019 Gold Cup winner Robert Sloan, added that the Logans “ticked every box”.
To qualify for the Gold Cup, herds must have more than 100 animals with qualifying lactations in the milking herd, as well as an average somatic cell count of 200,000/ml or less – or 250,000/ml for organic herds.
Herds must also have a minimum profitable lifetime index value specific to the breed, or a minimum spring calving index or autumn calving index value.