RABDF is pleased to announce a series of National Youngstock Association farm walks focussing on youngstock rearing, with the support of Pfizer Animal Health, Volac & NWF. These will take place from February to May 2012 across the UK. Please see the Events section of the website for other dates and locations.
16th May 2012 at Broadlea Farm, Eaglesfield, Lockerbie by kind permission of Martin Wilson
Martin has been at Broadlea Farm since 2000. They currently have 170 Holstein dairy cows but are hoping to increase numbers. They are milking twice a day. They are using an all year calving pattern. The calvesa re born and then teat bottled for the 1st 5 days before being transferred into calf igloos and an automatic feeding system. They will stay in the igloos until they are 6 months old. Since using the igloos pneumonia and mortality has been nil and the heifer growth has improved so much that they are being bulled earlier to calve at 2 years of age. They use sexed semen on the heifers.
We would like to thank the following sponsors for their kind support of this event: Arla, Carrs Billington, DairyCo, JE & EJ Roberts, JFC, Almins, NMR, NWF Agriculture, Holstein UK, Storth Machinery, Pfizer Animal Health, Vetoquinol & Volac. Please click here for full details of the sponsors for this event.
The day will commence at 10:30am and finish by 2:00pm. Lunch will be provided.
Topics to be covered include:
- Feeding calf colostrum,
- Effective diet management from calf to heifer,
- Disease prevention and control,
- Building design and ventilation.
Please note that registration is essential. If you are interested in attending the farm walk please register with Sian Mercer at RABDF on 0845 458 2711 or email sianmercer@rabdf.co.uk . Directions and further details will be sent upon registration.