Five years ago saw the Truesdale family, from Ballyward in Co. Down, switch the focus of their beef and sheep farm to milking cows.
It was a transition that was very much grass-focused with the end result, up to this point, confirming that it is possible to milk high yielding cows successfully within a hill environment.
The Trusedale’s home farm is situated at an altitude of 600ft above sea level – it sits in the very heart of the picturesque Dromara Hills.
Philip Trusedale recently hosted members of the Ulster Grassland Society on a farm walk at his site.
He explained that a combination of light soils and limited rainfall could combine to restrict summer grass growth. As a result, the dairy enterprise is centred on a herd of autumn calving cows.
This means that most of the herd output can be secured from good quality silage and a feed-to-yield concentrate regime during the back end and the winter months of the year.
Conversion to dairy
The Truesdale herd currently comprises 100 cows.
Philip said: “The cows are currently averaging 9,650 litres of milk at 4.1% butterfat and 3.44% protein. This level of performance is achieved from a meal feeding rate of 0.36kg/L.”
The conversion to dairy was marked by a significant farm building investment programme. This has been facilitated to a large extent by a switch away from clamp silage to bales.
In turn, this switch freed up silos, which have been converted to calf and young stock sheds.
Significantly, Philip confirms that the switch to baled silage has in no way reduced the performance achieved from the cows.
He said: “We feed a TMR through a paddle feeder that has been fitted out with a double set of cutting knives.
“It represents the perfect feeding system, given the silage stocks that we have on the farm.”
There is scope on the farm to push the herd up to 150 cows.
“But it’s all about having the labour resource to make this happen,” Philip admitted.
“I have a brother who is keen to come home and work on the farm.
“If this happens, then upping the cow numbers would be looked at very seriously. It would also require a further investment in additional buildings and infrastructure.
“The cubicle shed put up when we first switched to milk production have been designed with robots in mind. And robotic milking may well be the direction of travel for the business in the longer term,” the Co. Down farmer surmised.
