Low cost changes make big financial impact on dairy farm

A 150-cow dairy farm in Staffordshire has seen milk yield increase by 225 litres a day following the implementation of key recommendations from an Alltech Navigate feed efficiency assessment.

Dairy farmer, Stuart Barrow, explains the changes made since the visit, and the subsequent benefits he has witnessed.

“The Alltech Navigate assessment identified that increasing water trough space per cow could help boost water intake, which in turn would improve feed intake, efficiency and utilisation.

“We’ve since increased the number of water troughs within our sheds meaning trough space per cow has risen from 6cm to the recommended 10cm, and also moved cows around to achieve a lighter stocking density.

“I’m impressed by the difference we’ve seen. The suggested changes were all relatively low-cost to implement and milk yields have increased by an average of 1.5 litres per cow per day.

“Milk solids have also increased, which was an unexpected benefit, as often an increase in yield can be associated with a reduction in solids. This will only help with future plans we have for the farm business.”

Since Alltech Navigate was launched less than a year ago, more than 20,200 cows have benefited from the pioneering advice service.

Andrew Linscott, Alltech technical sales manager, explains that the assessment is a simple three-step process which firstly looks at the critical pinch points across the whole feed process, before analysing the financial opportunities behind these pinch points, and providing actionable recommendations to better utilise invested inputs.

“We recognise that every farm business is different with its own unique set of challenges and opportunities. We therefore spend at least two hours on-farm carrying out the initial farm assessment, which we can do so unaccompanied so farmers can continue with their day, and we will then take farmers through our findings and recommended course of action.

“At Stuart’s farm, the increase in milk production to 1.5 litres scales up to £21,352 per year when milk prices are at 26 pence per litre, which is significant. Seeing results like this not only assures on-farm production profitability, but also plays a wider role in helping to reduce carbon footprint intensity and improve sustainability.”

To find out more about Alltech Navigate, visit: http://www.alltech.com/uk/alltech-navigate