Farmer Focus: R E Archer Farms Ltd
Fourth-generation farmer Stewart Archer and his wife Helen run Hall Farm in Bradley, Ashbourne. They milk 120 pedigree British Friesians on their 500-acre farm and take full advantage of the Cattle Information Service’s portfolio of services by milk recording monthly, and quarterly health testing for IBR, Johne’s, Neospora, Liverfluke & Lepto, along with using PregCheck for principal pregnancy detection.
The Archers benefit from using the Pedigree Complete service as most female calves are registered and they like to classify regularly. Stewart, who is supported by CIS Area Manager Amanda Wilkes, finds that the Pedigree Complete service works a treat for them, making registrations very simple and cost-effective.
The Pedigree Packages, from CIS, are a one-stop shop offering milk recording services, female pedigree registrations and type classification visits for a single fee. The packages spread costs over a 12-month period, in essence, there are three services for one fee. The participating breeds for the Pedigree Packages are Holstein, Friesian, Ayrshire, Jersey, Guernsey and Brown Swiss. All results from the service are accessed on the secure online YourHerd portal or via the MobileHerd app.
The closed herd are milked twice a day by the small team of staff in their five-year-old 12 aside Fullwood parlour, and calve all year round. All staff working on the farm have the CIS ‘Mobile Herd’ app on their phones so they can check up on a cow’s progress wherever they are, whether it be down the field or sorting out ‘near to calving’ in the dry cows. Helen oversees the record keeping by using the medicine book, also on the app.
“We aim to feed the milking herd with grass as long as possible in our high output, low input system. When the herd is housed we add rolled homegrown barley to their diet. With 120 acres of arable crops we can provide the winter provisions and have plenty of straw for the youngstock and steers”, says Stewart.
The monthly milk recording provides Stewart and Helen with a wealth of useful data which importantly includes the pedigree records as well as monitoring the overall herd and individual cow health. The quarterly health testing ensures, if anything does rear its head, they can act on it quickly before it escalates.
Anything that has been served over 60 days at the time of milk recording is pregnancy tested using PregCheck. “I have been using this service since 2012 and I find it to be extremely accurate. It is non-invasive and done as part of the regular milk recording. Testing in this way prevents cows from having to be sorted and stand around waiting for the vet, with the added benefit of saving man hours and vet costs.” concludes Stewart. PregCheck can be used from 28 days after service, to identify open cows, and 60 days after calving, and any inconclusive tests are done free of charge.
Bradash Pedigree British Friesians recently collected awards for winning the British Friesian Breeders Club herd competition and the Best Home Bred 50 tonne Cow with Apeldoorn 23 BFE 95 (5).
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