Cornish chemist-turned-farmer crowned Calf Rearer of the Year

Cornish farmer Andrea Semmens has been crowned Calf Rearer of the Year at the inaugural award presentation at this year’s National Youngstock Conference in Devon.

The award, sponsored by Wynnstay, was launched to promote and raise awareness of best practice among beef and dairy calf rearers.

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Andrea oversees the management and rearing of all the calves at the family farm in St Levan, Cornwall. Raftra Farm is home to a 225-head herd of Holstein Friesians, rearing all replacements and calving all year round.

About 65-70 heifers are retained each year as followers. Everything else is put to an Aberdeen Angus sire – previously Belgian Blue – with stock kept on farm until about 18 months old.

Calves are kept on milk replacer until 8-10 weeks and are weaned only when they’re happily eating 2kg of feed a day.

Andrea Semmens © Charlotte Cunningham

Colostrum management

Before coming home to start farming, Andrea worked in chemistry — a role she says has armed her with transferable skills that she has applied to her calf rearing operation over the past two years.

Formal protocols were limited before she took over the calf rearing, so setting out clear, measurable actions were important for her.

“I changed so many things, but changing colostrum management has been key – I really tightened up the protocols there – as well as [the approach to] hygiene.”

The main changes to management have been pasteurising all colostrum, checking quality with a Brix refractometer and recording the data: “Anything under 22% (50mg/ml immunoglobulin) is discarded,” says Andrea.

In terms of administering colostrum, she ensures that every calf receives a feed within the first two hours after birth to maximise calf health and immunity through antibody absorption.

A system in the freezer ensures colostrum is stored in date order so the oldest is always used first.

Better bedding

Andrea has also moved to a two-layer bedding system. Previously, calves were on straw only, but now a layer of sand is used underneath too.

This helps with drainage and keeps ammonia levels down in the shed, improving air quality and respiratory health.

Andrea has also recently applied for grant funding to expand the calf housing and provide youngstock with more space and new facilities.

Weighing is something that was not previously done regularly. Andrea now weighs calves at birth and weaning using a recently bought weigh platform. She says all calves are achieving more than 0.8kg/day daily liveweight gain, but her target is 1kg/day.

“I used to use a weigh band, but wasn’t sure how accurate this was, so I’ve just purchased a weigh platform with some grant funding,” she says.

She has also worked closely with her vet to carry out an animal health review and actioned changes according to those findings.

“It feels great [to win],” she says. “I’m seeing my first heifers come through now and I’ve got a 100% conception rate. I feel like I’ve achieved so much in such a short time frame. These calves are the future of our dairy herd.”

Passion for calf rearing

Competition judge Tim Potter of Westpoint Vets says something that really stood out with Andrea was how she embraced teamwork. He says: “This is both with members of the farm team, making sure they’re all following protocols, but also with her nutritionist and vet to ensure that they’re achieving a massive, dramatic improvement with performance.”